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TESTIMONY OF THE AGES: 



OR, 



Confirmations of the Scriptures, 



FROM 



Modern Science and Recent Discoveries; Ancient Records 
and Monuments; The Ruins of Cities and Relics of Tombs; 
The Greek and Latin Classics ; Assyrian Inscriptions and 
Egyptian Hieroglyphics; Antique Sculptures, Coins, 
Gems and Medals; The Ordnance Survey of 
Sinai; The Late Exploration of Palestine; 
The Literal Fulfillment of Prophecies, 
as Attested by the Writings of Hea- 
then Nations; etc., etc.: 



EVIDENCES 

Which the PLAIN READER can understand, which the SCHOLAR will appre- 
ciate, and which the SKEPTIC cannot refute. 



by 

HERBERT W. MORRIS, D.D., 

Author of "Science and the Bible; or, The Work Days of God," "Present Conflict of Science 
with the Christian Religion ." etc. 



The stone shall cry out of the wall, 

And the beam out of the timber shall answer it." 



With Numerous Illustrations. 



PUBLISHED BY 

J. C. McCURDY & CO., 

PHILADELPHIA, PA,, 
Chicago, III. , Cincinnati, O ; St. Louis, Mo. 






^ ESTATE OF 
UJOJJAS EWING ffff 
OCTO&ER 23, 1947 
UK UBRARY OFCONSREIf 



Copyright, by Herbert W. Morris, D. D., 1880. 



0~- 



Contents. 



PAGES 

Introduction - • - - --•«.... 3-12 

Testimonies to the Old Testament Scriptures ... 15-644 

Testimonies to the New Testament Scriptures ... 645-962 

List of the Principal Authorities, Inscriptions, and 'Records, 
whose Testimonies are given in the Work, with Notes of 
the Times, Languages, and Countries in which they were 

WRITTEN •-.-. 963-976 

A. General and Complete Index -.---. 977-1002 

(S) 



List of Illustrations. 



Royal Palace of Sennacherib Frontispiece, Old Testament. 

Tower of Hippicus, Church of Yacobeia and Anglican Church Frontispiece, New Testament. 

page page 

A. M. 



Aaron's Rod Changed into a Serpent 137 

Ancient Altars 817 

Ancient Egyptian Threshing-FIoor 254 

Ancient Harbor of Caesarea 800 

Ancient Port of Sidon 837 

Apamaean Medal 64 

Arch of Titus 714 

Assyrians Torturing their Captives ... 277 

B. 

Baal, or Melkart 305 

Babylonian Baked Brick 566 

Bethany 778 

Bethlehem 648 

Body of Archers. 276 

Bozrah 485 

Bridle in Prisoner's Lips 489 

C. 

Cana 648 

Capernaum 652 

Cart Drawn by Oxen 257 

Christ Raising Lazarus 784 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre 739 

Coasts of Tyre and Sidon 687 

Coin of Vespasian — Judea Capta 770 

Colossae 899 

Corinth 867 

Counting the Hands cut off 240 

Cyrus Entering Babylon 473 

D. 

Dagon 256 

Daniel Interpreting the Writing on the Wall 569 

David Spares the Life of Saul 271 

Deborah Giving the Signal 241 

Destruction of Sennacherib's Army 331 

Doom of the Altar * 301 

E. 

Egyptian Bellows 510 

Egyptian Thrones 298 

Embalming the Body of Joseph 127 

Engraved Rocks 376 

Ephesus 887 

Esther before Ahasuerus 359 

Excavation in the Ruins of Nineveh.. ., g 



Fighting with Beasts 876 

Fractured Chaldean Tablet 67 

G. 

Gaza 612 

Gerizim and Ebal 233 

Gethsemane— Present Appearance 771 

Great Stone in the Quarry 290 

Guests at the Table 357 

H. 

Heathen Priests and Victims 804 

High Priest at the Altar of Incense 176 

J. 

J Jerusalem in the Saviour's Time 711 
Jewish Captives in Babylonia 43 T 
ob and his three Friends 369 
ohn Baptist in Prison 683 
udgment Balances 57° 

K. 
Kiosk 607 

L. 

Lifting up of Hands 4°<5 

Lion 45 x 

M 



Moses Viewing the Promised Land 228 

Mosque of Hebron 100 

Mount of Olives 767 

N. 

Nazareth 643 

Nebo 498 

Nehemiah Surveying the Ruins 351 

Nimrod Strangling a Lion 74 

Nisroch 334 



Obelisk of On ... 112 

Ostrich and Nest 394 

P. 

Peace be with You 787 

Personal Ornaments , . 466 

Plague of Hail 145 

Plaited Hair 937 

Priest with Gazelle 555 

Putting out the Eyes of Prisoners 336 

Q. 

Queen of Sheba Entering the Court of Solomon.. . 295 



Roman War-Horse 397 

Rome 851 

S. 

Samaritan Hebrews Bearing Tribute 327 

Sennacherib on his Throne 343 

Seven Churches in Asia 951 

Shishak, King of Egypt 300 

Siege of Damascus 326 

Singers of the Temple Service 399 

Sychar 778 

T. v 

Tabernacle Made in the Wilderness 173 

Theatre of Ephesus — its Remains 824 

The Capture of Babylon 539 

The I mage of Gold 562 

The King's Horse 364 

The Lost Home . 51 

The Moabite Stone 317 

The Molten Calf 181 

The Ring in the Nose 333 

Thessalonica 903 

The Swift Dromedary 509 

Tiberias, City and Lake 778 

Tiglath Pileser in his Chariot 325 

Tirhakah 33© 

Tomb at Petra 487 

Tomb of Absalom 283 

Tomb of Darius 348 

Tombs of Gadara 669 

Tombs of the Kings 4 6 ° 

Tower of Babel 76 

Trampling on the Conquered 23? 



Upright Idols . 



U. 



SX4 



View of Athens 813 

Vision of Paradise 959 

W. 

War Chariots in the Streets 627 

Warrior and Armor-Bearer 293 

Wild Asses 39 

Wiue Vase and Cups 3J 



U 



Introduction. 




HE HOLY SCRIPTURES claim to be God's messages to 
mankind in all the world, and through all generations ; and 
testimonies to the truth and validity of this claim have been 
springing up and multiplying ever since those messages were 
first delivered to men. Every successive age has produced not only 
additional proofs, but proofs peculiar to itself, of their Divine Origin. 
And our own age has been fruitful beyond any that went before both in 
the development of new testimonies, and in the recovery of old and lost 
ones. Every branch of modern science, every field of modern research, 
every pursuit which has been made the subject of modern study, has 
yielded both numerous and diversified corroborations of the Sacred 
Record. While the Bible makes everything speak for God, God, in these 
last days, has made everything speak for the Bible — even " the stone has 
cried out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber has answered it," 
that prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of 
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 

These widespread testimonies and corroborations, so diversified in their 
sources, so striking in their character, and many of them so marvelous in 
their preservation and discovery and interpretation — all these, collected 
and methodically arranged, cannot but compose a volume of interest and 
importance unsurpassed in the estimation of every intelligent Christian 
reader. This will be evident from the following statements. 

The Natural Sciences have supplied numerous and remarkable con- 
firmations of many of the fundamental truths taught in the Bible, such as 
these : that there is a God ; that there is but one God ; that the world was 
created, and had a beginning; that its formation was a progressive work 
carried on through so many days or stages ; that the order in which it was 
fashioned and planted and peopled was that indicated in the first chapter 
of Genesis ; that all nations of men have been made of one blood ; that the 
Deluge of Noah was but one of many similar cataclysms that had occurred 
before ; that all mankind were once of one speech or language ; that they 

(5) 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

scattered to cover the whole earth from one common centre. Science, while 
it offers demonstrative evidence of all this, also bears clear testimony to 
the truth and correctness of the Bible statements and allusions in regard 
to a multitude of other natural facts in the sea, on the land, and in the 
heavens. 

Another wide and fruitful field of corroborative evidence we have in the 
Ancient Literature which has come down to us. This embraces not 
only the voluminous productions of the early Christian Fathers, but also 
the Greek and Roman Classics — the History, Poetry and Philosophy of 
men who were the contemporaries of the Inspired Authors ; of Seneca 
and Lucan, who occupied distinguished positions at Rome at the very 
time when Paul was detained there a prisoner in chains ; of Pliny and 
Statius and Martial, who were witnesses of the persecutions which ban-? 
ished John to Patmos, and gave Ignatius to be devoured by lions ; of 
Cicero, Terrence and Plautus, who flourished during the first and second 
century b. c; of Plato and Xenophon, who were coeval with Nehemiah 
and Malachi : of Thucidydes, Herodotus and Euripides, who travelled and 
studied and wrote still earlier ; of Sophocles and ^Eschylus and Pindar, 
who composed their works within the same half century that Haggai and 
Zechariah delivered their prophecies ; of Pythagoras, Phocylides, Theognis 
and Anacreon, who were the contemporaries of Ezra, Esther and Daniel ; 
of Sappho and Alceus, who lived in the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel ; 
of Mimnermus, Tyrtaeus, Callinus and Hesiod, who flourished in the 
period embraced in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles ; of Homer, who composed 
his Odyssey and Iliad when Solomon sat upon the throne of his father 
David ; of Linus, Musaeus and Orphaeus, who lived in times still 
anterior. The writings of these and of others who lived in ages 
equally remote, furnish a great number and variety of corroborations 
of scenes, events, characters, laws, practices, wars, commerce, famines, 
captivities, pestilences, idolatries, crimes, etc., which are related or 
described in the Bible. And not a few of these ancient authors are 
eminently interesting and important to us, as, in following the thread 
of their discourses and narratives, they unconsciously relate the minute 
and complete fulfilment of numerous prophecies concerning cities and 
kingdoms, nations and individuals. As these writers must have been in 
total ignorance that any such predictions had ever been uttered, their 
testimony to their accomplishment is placed beyond all doubt and all 
suspicion. 

The mystic Records of Egypt, likewise, present a rich mine of Scrip- 
ture evidences. These have been preserved to us in the Hieroglyphics 
graven on her temples, tombs and obelisks, some of which date back as 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

far as the days of Abraham ; and in her Papyri, as old as the Hebrew 
exodus. Both these, after having faded out of the knowledge and 
memory of the world, and remained sealed for thousands of years, 
have of late been successfully studied and translated into the speech 
of living men, and have thus revealed to us ages of history running 
parallel with that of the Sacred Volume, and bearing many notable 
testimonies to its truth. Egypt has also been found rich in Relics of 
greatest antiquity and most interesting nature ; among these have been 
recognized various articles named or described in the early chapters of 
Scripture history. Besides all this, in that ancient Land, there have been 
bequeathed and handed down to us, from times equally remote, great 
numbers of graphic Pictures, clear in their outlines and fresh in their 
colors, exhibiting Egyptian life in all its grades and phases and occupa- 
tions, and which both illustrate and confirm the Scripture narratives of 
Abraham's visit there, of Joseph's rule, of the Hebrews' bondage, of their 
deliverance by Moses and Aaron, and of numerous other events of later 
dates. 

As on the banks of the Nile, so along the valleys of the Tigris and 
Euphrates, corroborative evidences of highest antiquity and importance 
have been brought to light still more recently in Assyrian Sculptures 
and Inscriptions. On the eastern bank of the latter river a cluster of 
irregular hillocks had been known from time immemorial. These were 
covered with grass and weeds and bushes such as prevailed over the 
surrounding regions. On their summits villages had been built, and on 
their slopes vineyards had been planted, and fields of barley sown and 
harvested for centuries. They appeared like natural elevations, and by the 
natives were regarded as old as creation. But something now more than 
thirty years ago the idea dawned upon the mind of one or two intelligent 
Europeans of making an examination and a search into these hillocks. 
Accordingly, shafts were sunk and tunnels were drilled into them at 
various points ; and lo ! what had been deemed natural hills were dis- 
covered to be through and through vast mounds of ruins — here was the 
site of " Nineveh, that great city " — here were entombed in their ashes her 
palaces, and temples, and monuments, once the pride of kings and the 
glory of the East. After protracted toil the pavements of streets and the 
walls of edifices were traced and cleared ; and a Botta, a Layard, a Raw- 
linson, walked through the halls, rested in the courts, and wandered 
through the galleries, once occupied by Sargon, and Sennacherib, and 
Esarhadon. In these they found a vast number and variety of relics, 
tablets and statuary of greatest interest. 

On the marble-paneled walls were Sculptured Pictures of objects and 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

scenes pertaining to public and private life — battles, sieges, engines of 
war, chariots of pleasure, hunting expeditions, smoking altars, kings upon 
their thrones, captives in their chains, officers at their posts, and crafts- 
men at their toil. Not a few of these have furnished proofs of Scripture 
statements that had been disputed, and flashed unexpected light upon 
passages that had ever been regarded as doubtful or obscure. 

But the most precious and important of all the discoveries made have 
been the Cuneiform Inscriptions, which have put us in possession of a 
large part of the early literature of Chaldea. From the ruins of Nineveh, 
and also from those of Babylon, Ur, Accad and Erech, there have been 
exhumed a very great number and variety of Tablets, Cylinders and 
Obelisks, all crowded with these inscriptions, often cut in characters clear 
and compact as those upon the printed page. In one instance, the 
remains of an extensive library, supposed to have originally contained no 
less than 10,000 inscribed tablets, were discovered lying together in a 
fragmentary condition, embracing (as afterwards appeared) the collected 
records of many preceding centuries. At first discovery these strange 
writings were sealed and silent mysteries ; none could read them, none 
divine their significance. But at length, though written in languages and 
in characters that long ages since had passed out of the knowledge and 
memory of all the living world, by insight and perseverance beyond 
example in human history, they were deciphered and translated into the 
languages of the present day. Some of them have been found to record 
histories that run back to the age of the earliest Patriarchs ; others 
embody the account handed down to that age of the Creation, the Deluge, 
and the Tower of Babel ; others relate the movements of armies that 
invaded the Land of Israel, and the amount of spoil and number of Cap- 
tives they carried away from Samaria and Jerusalem ; and others still 
record the laws, the political precepts, the science, the philosophy and the 
religion of the time. Altogether these Assyrian Sculptures and Inscrip- 
tions furnish a number and variety of testimonies to the truth of the 
Scriptures that are equally marvelous and convincing. Having lain 
buried for full twenty-five centuries, they are as so many witnesses risen 
from the dead, whose testimony can neither be gainsayed nor resisted. 

The systematic Survey and Exploration of Bible Lands, which 
have been made within a few years, have supplied another important con- 
tribution to the sum of Scripture evidences. These were undertaken at 
the expense and under the direction of Christian Associations, and con- 
ducted by companies of learned men and professional engineers, selected 
for their skill and experience, and equipped with the most perfect and 
costly instruments, as well as all other conveniences necessary for their 




EXCAVATION IN THE RUINS OF NINEVEH. 



m 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

work. The survey was carried on upon the same method of exact obser- 
vation and triangulation as that adopted in surveying the coast and 
country in England. The whole " wilderness of Sinai " was thus accu- 
rately measured and mapped. The course of the Israelites through it was 
traced out ; and many of their successive stations and halting-places, 
including the Wells of Elim, the waters of Marah, and the mount of the 
Law, were identified. Palestine also has been surveyed and mapped 
in like manner : the extent of its plains, the height of its mountains, the 
course of its streams, the indentations of its coast, and the depth of its 
lakes, have been carefully determined ; its rocks and soil, its vegetation 
and living tenants have been patiently studied ; the return and tempera- 
ture of the seasons, the fall of rain, and even the directions of the wind 
have been registered. From all this there have been gathered scores and 
hundreds of happy evidences to the uniform correctness of Scripture state- 
ments and allusions respecting localities, distances, scenery, productions, 
climate, etc., of the Bible Lands. 

Much also has of late been accomplished for the confirmation of 
Scripture by Individual Enterprise. Men of intelligence and ample 
means — men versed in ancient languages and literature — men of science 
and observation — animated by Christian benevolence, or commercial 
enterprise, or love of learning and discovery, have made their way into 
every region and province on which the light of Revelation originally 
shone. They have stood where either prophet, priest, or king ever 
stood ; their eyes have rested on the same natural phenomena ; their ears 
have taken in the same sounds from wind and flood ; and their nostrils 
have inhaled the odors of the same fields. They have gazed on the 
Oriental heavens ; they have contemplated Oriental scenery ; they have 
studied Oriental life. Some have tarried and devoted themselves to deter- 
mine the sites and to delve into the ruins of cities whose names and his- 
tories have come down to us in the Sacred Volume ; or, to search out the 
caves and explore the dark recesses that served for refuge to holy men 
of old; or, to scale perilous heights in order to read and copy rock- 
inscriptions that have survived the storms of fifty, sixty, and even seventy 
generations. Others have gone forth with the nomad tribes of the desert, 
followed their flocks, travelled with their caravans, eaten in their tents, 
drank from their wells, lodged in their khans, and in the heat of day 
rested beneath the shade of their vines and fig trees. Others still have 
directed their chief attention to their social spirit and religious rites, their 
marriage songs and funeral waitings, their maxims and daily proverbs, 
their imagery of speech, and their idiomatic forms of expression. All 
these have returned laden with the rich results of their respective industry 



INTRODUCTION. H 

— results that have served either to confirm or to illustrate the sacred 
Scriptures at a thousand different points. 

Such is the " cloud of witnesses," such the numerous and diversified 
testimonies we have to the truth of the inspired writings. In short, it 
may now be safely affirmed that the materials are at hand — in other 
words, that evidences enough have already been actually discovered for 
the satisfactory confirmation of nearly every narrative, passage, fact, and 
event of essential importance in the whole Bible. But these testimonies 
and confirmations are widely scattered through a multitude of books — 
books treating of different subjects, written for different ends, and com- 
posed in different languages — and are, therefore, to a large extent out of 
the reach of the general reader. The great desideratum in this field has 
been, and still is, to have these multitudinous and diversified evidences 
collected and conveniently arranged. By this means only can a great 
part of them be made generally accessible; and in this way only can they 
be rendered available in their full and fair force to establish the credibility 
of the sacred volume as a whole. 

This is the task which the writer has undertaken in the present Work, 
namely, To gather from all the foregoing sources, and from others, all known 
testimonies, of whatever nature, that serve to confirm the Inspired Book; and 
to arrange them in a convenient order for readers in general. Here are pre- 
sented all the most important and direct evidences in support of the Bible 
which have been developed by the historian, the classical scholar, the 
astronomer, the geologist, the geographer, the archaeologist, the ethnogra- 
pher, the philologist, the chemist, the zoologist, the botanist — in a word, 
by the student of nearly every branch of modern science and research. 

This mass and variety of proofs and confirmations, it will be no 
presumption to say, have been reached and brought together by a course 
of reading and investigation far more extended than the circumstances of 
multitudes of Bible readers will permit them to hope to pursue for them- 
selves. To this class, such a volume as the present, it is believed, cannot 
but prove both interesting and profitable. 

The plan of the work is simple, and needs but little explanation. The 
passages of Scripture which receive confirmation are taken and produced 
in the book in the order in which they stand in the Bible throughout. 
Immediately under each of these passages are placed the testimonies to 
its truth or correctness. Each testimony is given in the exact words of its 
author or source, and followed by a full reference to the chapter or page 
of the work where it may be found, so that the reader can readily verify 
the evidence for himself. 

At the close of the Volume is placed a complete Index of the subjects 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

mentioned in it, and also a list of the principal authorities, inscriptions 
and documents whose testimonies are adduced in it. The names of 
modern writers are followed by the Titles of their works which are 
quoted. To the names of the ancient authors is annexed, as nearly as # 
can be ascertained, the date or period at which they flourished, as upon 
this, in many instances, the value of their testimony must depend. 

Of the need and importance of a work of this character the writer 
entertains no doubt. To the Christian, whatever contributes to illustrate 
or confirm the teachings of God's Word is always welcomed, always 
interesting. And with them who are not Christians, no class of evi- 
dences will have greater weight than such as are presented in this book. 
Here are placed upon the stand Witnesses whom they can neither charge 
with prejudice, nor suspect of partiality. Here are produced evidences 
that none can refute, and none deny, unless they deny the testimony of 
their senses. In the hope, therefore, that the light of facts accumulated 
through so many ages, and scattered over so many lands, thus concen- 
trated into one focus, will serve to dissipate the doubts of the unbelieving, 
and to confirm the faith of the Christian, this Work, the product of years 
of toil, is now respectfully commended to the prayerful and candid 
consideration of both. H. W. M. 



" How long will man vex Heaven with unjust complaints ? Will he never open his eyes to 
the light, and his heart to the insinuations of Truth and Reason ? This Truth everywhere 
presents itself in radiant brightness, and he does not see it ! The voice of Reason strikes his 
ear, and he does not hear it ! Unjust man ! if you can for a moment suspend the delusion 
which fascinates your senses ; if your heart be capable of comprehending the language of argu- 
mentation, interrogate these ruins ! read the lessons which they present to you ! And yon sacred 
temples ! venerable tombs ! walls once glorious ! the witnesses of twenty different ages appear 
in the cause of Truth herself! . . . O names, forever glorious ! celebrated fields ! famous 
countries ! how replete is your aspect with sublime instruction ! How many profound truths are 
written on the surface of this earth ! Ye places that have witnessed the life of man in so many 
different ages, unveil the causes of his misfortunes, teach him true wisdom, and let the experi- 
ence of past ages become a mirror of instruction, and a germ of happiness to present and future 
generations." — Volney's Ruins of Empires. 

" The Shasters of the Hindoos contain false astronomy, as well as false physiology ; and the 
Koran of Mohammed distinctly avows the Ptolemaic system of the heavenly bodies; and so 
interwoven are these scientific errors with the religions of these sacred books that when you have 
proved the former you have disproved the latter. But The Bible, stating only facts, and adopting 
no system of human philosophy, has ever stood, and ever shall stand, in sublime simplicity and 
undecaying strength ; while the winds and the waves of conflicting human opinions roar and 
dash harmlessly around, and the wrecks of a thousand false systems of philosophy and religion 
are strewed along its base." — Prof. Edward Hitchcock's Highest Use of Learning. 

(13) 




HINDOO REPRESENTATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE. 



'"'■ "'■■' ■iiiii.ii-i- .■■.■ii..i.. J .n.n..intm 



■J ■■■■,""V'!'-H"-",1,LII.I-'Jm'-I 




EGYPTIAN SYMBOLS OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. 
(14) 



GENESIS; 

OR, 

The Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth. 



Reginald Stuart Poole, M. R, S. L., etc. — The Biblical Cosmogony stands 
alone, as of all ancient accounts of the origin of things the only one which is 
not, on the very face, irreconcilable with the truths of natural science. The 
cosmogonies of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Greeks are utterly irreconcilable 
with natural truth ; yet more, are hopelessly opposed to it ; whereas that of the 
Hebrew Scriptures has not been proved to this day to contain an insurmountable 
difficulty. — The Genesis of Earth and Man, p. 8, n. 

William Fraser, LL. D. — As a historical record, the first chapter of Genesis 
is without a compeer. It is unapproached. Its first announcements distinguish 
the Bible from all other books. Its simplicity, its directness of statement, its 
boldness of conception, its subdued grandeur, are throughout conspicuous. 
Vast in its outline, it is yet so scrupulously strict in its minuter details, that 
it may be read without dubiety, not only in the midst of the exactest records 
of antiquity, but in the light of those modern discoveries in physical science 
which bear most directly on its statements. In reliableness and in consistency 
it stands alone. In the very first verse we have an announcement which 
distances all that natural science can reach or reveal. — Blending Lights, p. 1.5, 
20, 22. 

THE BEGINNING. 

Genesis i: 1.— In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 
t Sir William Thomson, F. R. S., etc.— The earth is filled with evidence that 
it has not been going on forever in the present state. — Geological Time, p. 16. 

Sir Charles Lyell, F..R. S., etc. — There is not an existing stratum in the 
body of the earth which Geology has laid bare, which cannot be traced back to 
a time when it was not ; and there is not an existing species of plants or animals 
which cannot be referred to a time when it had no place in the world. Their 
beginnings are discoverable in succeeding cycles of time. It can be demonstrated 
that man, also, had a beginning, and all the species contemporary with him; 

(i5) 



16 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and that, therefore, the present state of the organized world has not been sus- 
tained from eternity. — In Blending Lights, p. 26. 

Prof. William Whewell, D. D. — The existence of a resisting medium in 
space leads us towards a point which the Nebular Hypothesis assumes — a be- 
ginning of the present order of things. There must have been a commencement 
of the motions now going on in the solar system. Since these motions, when 
once begun, would be deranged and destroyed in a period which, however 
large, is yet finite, it is obvious we cannot carry their origin indefinitely back- 
wards in the range of past duration. The argument is, indeed, forced upon 
our minds, whatever view we take of the past history of the world. The doc- 
trine of a resisting medium once established, renders the idea of the earth's 
eternity untenable ; and compels us to go back to the origin, not only of the 
present course of the world, not only of the earth, but of the solar system 
itself; and thus sets us forth upon that path of research into the series of past 
causation, where we obtain no answer of which the meaning corresponds to out 
questions, till we rest in the conclusion of a most provident and most powerful 
Creating Intelligence. — Bridgeivater Treatise, American Ed., p. 112, 113. 

Prof. Pritchard, Oxford. — As to the idea of all things being potentially 
contained in atoms — our knowledge of these atomic forces, so far as it at pres- 
ent extends, does not leave us in serious doubt as to their origin; for there is a 
very strong presumptive evidence drawn from the results of the most modern 
scientific investigation that they are neither eternal nor the products of evo- 
lution. No philosopher of recent times was better acquainted than Sir John 
Herschel with the interior mechanism of nature. From his contemplation of 
the remarkably constant, definite, and restricted, yet various and powerful 
interactions of these elementary molecules, he was forced to the conviction 
that they possessed all the characteristics of manufactured articles. The ex- 
pression is memorable, accurate, and graphic ; it may become one of the ever- 
lasting possessions of mankind. Prof. Maxwell, a man whose mind has been 
trained by the mental discipline of the same noble university, arrives at the 
same conclusion ; but, as his knowledge has exceeded that of Herschel on this 
point, so he goes further in the same direction of thought. "No theory of 
evolution," he says, "can be formed to account for the similarity of the 
molecules throughout all time, and throughout the whole region of the stellar 
universe, for evolution necessarily implies continuous change, and the molecule 
is incapable of growth or decay, of generation or destruction. None of the 
processes of nature, since the time when nature began, have produced the 
slightest difference in the properties of any molecule. On the other hand, the 
exact equality of each molecule to all others of the same kind precludes the 
idea of its being eternal and self-existent. We have reached the utmost limits 
of our thinking faculties when we have admitted that, because matter cannot be 
eternal and self-existent, it must have been created. These molecules continue 
this day as they were created, perfect in number and measure and weight, and 
from the ineffaceable characters impressed on them we may learn that those 
aspirations after truth in statement, and justice in action, which we reckon 



GENESIS I. 17 

among our noblest attributes as men, are ours because they are the essential 
constituents of the image of Him, who in the beginning created not only the 
heaven and the earth but the materials of which heaven and earth consist." 
And this, my friends, this is the true outcome of the deepest, the most exact, 
and the most recent science of our age. A grander utterance has not come 
from the mind of a philosopher since the days when Newton concluded his 
"Principia," by his immortal scholium on the majestic personality of the 
Creator and Lord of the universe. — Address before the Church Congress, at 
Brighton, England. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — That the universe must have 
had a beginning no one now needs to be told. If any philosophical speculator 
ever truly held that there has been an eternal succession of phenomena, science 
has now completely negatived the idea by showing us the beginning of all 
things that we know in the present universe, and by establishing the strongest 
probabilities that even its ultimate atoms could not have been eternal. — Origin 
of the World, p. 88. 

William Fraser, LL. D. — By this positive exclusion of eternity from the 
existence of the universe, and by repelling the idea of accidental creation, the 
fact of a "beginning" is raised in the Bible not only above all the entangling 
speculations of recent philosophy, but above the boldest reasonings of modern 
scepticism. — Blending Lights, p. 23. 

PRIMEVAL CHAOS. 

Gen. i : 2. — And the earth was without form and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the 
deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S., F. G. S.— The material of our 
globe is held by many of the scientific to have existed at first in the form of an 
extended vaporous mass or cloud, spread out over a space nearly two thousand 
times greater in diameter than that which it now occupies. Within this mass, 
slowly and silently, the force of gravitation is compressing the particles in its 
giant hand and gathering the denser toward the centre, while heat is given 
forth on all sides from the condensing mass into the voids of space without. 
Little by little the denser and less volatile matters collect in the centre as a 
fluid molten globe, the nucleus of the future planet ; and in this nucleus the 
elements, obeying their chemical affinities hitherto latent, are arranging them- 
selves in compounds which are to constitute the future rocks. And now the 
atmosphere, still vast in bulk, and dark and misty in texture, contains only the 
water, chlorine, carbonic acid, sulphuric acid, and other more volatile sub- 
stances ; and as these gather in dense clouds at the outer surface, and pour in 
fierce corrosive rains upon the heated nucleus, combining with its materials, or 
•flashing again into vapor, " darkness," dense and gross, settles upon the 
vaporous deep. In the meantime, radiation, and the heat abstracted from the 
liquid nucleus by the showers of condensing material from the atmosphere, 
have so far cooled its surface that a crust of slag or cinder forms upon it. 
Broken again and again by the heavings of the ocean of fire, it at length sets 



18 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

permanently, and receives upon its bare and blistered surface the ever-increasing 
aqueous and acid rain thrown down from the atmosphere, at first sending it all 
hissing and steaming back, but at length allowing it to remain. Then began 
the reign of "the waters" — a shoreless sea — filled with earthy and saline 
materials, thick and turbid, until these were permitted to settle to the bottom 
and form the first sediments and first stratified rocks. Perhaps no word-picture 
of this period of the first phase of mundane history can* ever equal the two neg- 
ative touches of the inspired penman — " without form and void " — a world des- 
titute of all its present order, and destitute of all that gives it life and anima- 
tion. — The Siory of the Earth and Man, p. 2-12. 

Hugh Miller. — During the Azoic period, ere life appears to have begun on 
our planet, the temperature of the earth's crust seems to have been so high that 
the strata, at first deposited apparently in water, passed into a semi-fluid state, 
became strangely waved and contorted, and assumed in its composition a highly 
crystalline character. A continuous stratum of steam, then, that attained to 
the height of even our present atmosphere, would wrap up the earth in a "dark- 
ness," gross and palpable as that of Egypt of old, a darkness through which 
even a single ray of light would fail to penetrate. And beneath this thick 
canopy, the unseen deep would literally boil as. a pot, wildly tempested from 
below ; while from time to time more deeply seated convulsions would upheave 
sudden to the surface vast tracts of semi-molten rock, soon again to disappear, 
and from which waves of bulk enormous would roll outwards to meet in wild 
conflict with the giant waves of other convulsions, or return to hiss and sputter 
against the intensely heated and fast foundering mass, whose violent upheaval 
had first elevated and sent them abroad. Such would be the probable state of 
things during the times of the earlier gneiss and mica schist deposits — times 
buried deep in that chaotic night which must have continued to exist for 
mayhap many ages after that beginning of things in which God created the 
heavens and the earth, and which preceded the first day. — The Testimony of the 
Rocks, p. 196, 197. 

FIRST DAY. 

Gen. i : 3. — And God said, Let there be light : and there was light. 

J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F..R. S., F. G. S.— With this fiat the actual work 
of reducing old chaos to order and life begins, and begins with scientific 
appropriateness. The Hebrew word used here for light includes the allied 
forces of heat and electricity. It represents that incomprehensible ether which 
vibrates, and whose vibrations are so regulated as to give light with its pris- 
matic colors, and heat with all its vast powers, and the .still more strange and 
wonderful actinic power which puts in motion all the vital machinery of plants, 
and so is the material source of life. If science can anywhere find evidence 
of design in the revelations of physical agencies, if it can anywhere find a 
stepping-stone to lift it from the grossness of atomic matter, surely it is here. 

It is a remarkable fact that Moses can distinguish light from luminaries, and 
that he attaches so great importance to the introduction of that marvelous 



GENESIS I. 19 

etherial vibration (or luminiferous ether) to which we owe all the great vivi- 
fying powers of nature ; and that thus without any actual scientific teaching or 
committing himself to any theory, he falls into harmony with all that we know 
up to this time of Light, Heat and Electricity, all of which are included under 
the word he uses. — Nature and the Bible, p. 92, 94. 

William Fraser, LL. D. — The sublimity of the description in the Bible of 
the origin of Light has often been lost amid the sneers of the infidel and the atheist. 
" How could there be light before the sun?" was one of the triumphant ques- 
tions which Voltaire and his followers rarely failed to press upon the Bible 
student. But the mystery has been receding as discovery has advanced. That 
there may be light without the visible sun is now admitted ; and it is not going 
further than the facts warrant to suppose that light of old did thus exist. When 
it was said, " Let there be light," there was not so much a new creation as the 
evolution of a new fact, or rather the presentation of a new condition of things 
in the already created heaven and earth. This view is sustained by recent 
inferences to which observation of the sun has led. — Ble7iding Lights, p. 

Baron Humboldt. — Light is developed not only through the influence of the 
sun upon the planets, but also through an independent agency belonging to the 
planets themselves. The phenomenon of Northern Light derives most of its im- 
portance from the fact that the earth becomes self-luminous, and that in the 
capacity of a planet, besides the light which it receives from the central body, 
the sun, it shows itself capable, in itself, of developi?ig light. The intensity of 
the terrestrial light exceeds somewhat, in cases of the brightest colored radiation 
toward the zenith, the light of the moon in its first quarter. Occasionally 
printed characters have been read by this light, without difficulty. This almost 
uninterrupted terrestrial development of light in the polar regions of the earth, 
leads us to th^ interesting phenomenon presented by Venus. The portion of 
this planet which is not illumined by the sun, often shines with a phosphorescent 
light of its own. It is not improbable that the Moon, Jupiter, and the Comets 
shine with a light of their own, in addition to reflected solar light, noticeable as 
such through the polariscope. Without speaking of the problematical but very 
common species of cloud-lightning, in which a heavy lowering cloud may be 
seen to shine with an uninterrupted flickering light for many minutes together, 
we still meet with other instances of terrestrial development of light in our 
atmosphere. — Cosmos, Vol. L, p. 207. 

Prof. Elias Loomis, LL. D. — Auroras exhibit an infinite variety of appear- 
ances, and their duration is very variable. Some last only an hour or two ; 
others last all night, and occasionally they appear on two successive nights under 
circumstances which lead us to believe that, were it not for the light of the sun, 
an aurora might be seen almost uninterruptedly every clear night. In the neigh- 
borhood of Hudson's Bay, the aurora is seen for months almost without cessa- 
tion. Auroras are sometimes observed simultaneously over large portions of the 
globe. The aurora of August 28th, 1859, was seen over more than 140 degrees 



20 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of longitude, from California to Eastern Europe, and from Jamaica on the 
south, to an unknown distance in British America on the north. The aurora 
of September 2d, 1859, was seen at the Sandwich Islands; it was seen through- 
out the whole of North America and Europe ; and the magnetic disturbances 
indicated its presence throughout all Northern Asia, although the sky was over- 
cast, so that at many places it could not be seen. An aurora was seen at the 
same time in South America and New Holland. — Treatise on Meteoi'ology, p. 177. 

G. H. von Schubert. — May not that polar light, which is called an aurora of 
the north, be the last glimmering light of a departed age of the world, in which 
the whole earth was enclosed in an expanse of aerial fluid, from which, through 
the agency of the electro-magnetic forces, streamed forth an incomparably 
greater degree of light, accompanied at the same time with animating warmth, 
almost in a similar mode to what still occurs in the luminous atmosphere of our 
sun? — Wettgeb.,p. 218. 

Prof. John Henry Kurtz, D. D. — Let us not be understood to assert that 
that light which, according to the Mosaic account, was created before the sun, 
was a northern light, or a phenomenon related to it ; we desire only to show 
(from facts such as the above) that even yet, since the establishment of the rela- 
tion which now exists between the sun and the earth, the latter still possesses in 
itself a capacity of developing light; and that there is nothing to prevent us 
from ascribing to it prior to that point of time, the same capacity in a degree 
much greater and vastly more magnificent and effective. — The Bible and 

Astronomy, p. 431. 

SECOND BAY. 

Gen. i: 6. — And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide 

the waters from the waters. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S., etc. — The statements in Gene- 
sis respecting the expanse, or " firmament," suppose a previous condition of the 
earth, in which it was encompassed with a cloudy, vaporous mantle, stretching 
continuously upward from the ocean, and not divided by the film of-clear trans- 
parent air, which in all but a few exceptional cases now separates the clouds 
above from the sea below. Such a condition probably antedates geological time ; 
yet it is not unknown to scientific theory. If, as seems probable, the earth was 
once in an intensely heated state, a time would come, in the process of cooling, 
when a heated ocean would send up abundant vapors, producing a perpetual 
mist or fog to be constantly condensed by the cold of space without into con- 
tinual rains. The change from this to the present state of the earth would 
introduce that nice and delicate balancing of evaporation under the influence of 
the sun, and condensation from the radiation of heat into space and the mix- 
ture of air at various temperatures, which now gives us the stratum of air in 
which we live and move, the beauty of the azure sky and its floating clouds, 
and the regulated supply of fertilizing rain. — Nature and the Bible, p. 51, 52. 

William Fraser, LL. D. — This harmonises with what is known of the pro- 
ves of evaporation to which the clouds are subject as they float above us — Jakes 



GENESIS I. 21 

of water in the azure vault. The firmament sustains the waters collected in its 
scattered clouds, and separates them from those resting on the surface of the 
earth. — Blending Lights, p. 71. 

Professor E. Loomis, LL. D. — Rain is but the condensed vapor of the air, 
and this condensation can only be caused by cooling the air below the temper- 
ature of the dew-point. And there is no mode in which this ca"» be done so 
readily as by forcing the air up to an elevation of one or two miles above the 
earth's surface. The temperature of the air sinks about thirty-five degrees in 
two miles of elevation ; and if air from the earth's surface should be forced up 
to this height, a large portion of the vapor which is carried up with the air must 
be condensed, and fall in rain. The average annual fall of rain in the State of 
New York is thirty-seven inches (that is, a sufficient quantity to convert the 
entire State into a lake more than three feet deep). In Virginia, the Carolinas, 
Tennessee, and Kentucky the average annual fail amounts to forty-eight inches; 
in Alabama and Louisiana, to fifty-six inches. The average rate increases as we 
advance toward the south; in latitude 20 , it amounts to seventy inches; in 
latitude io°, to eighty-five inches; at the Equator to 104 inches. On the 
island of Guadeloupe, near the summit of a mountain of 5,000 feet elevation, 
the fall of rain, in 1828, was 292 inches, while near the base it amounted to no 
less than 127 inches. Along the western coast of Hindostan runs a range of 
mountains whose summits are deluged with rain, the average amounting to 254 
inches. At Vera Cruz, 278 inches of rain have been known to fall in a single 
year, and the mean annual fall is 185 inches. On the southern slope of the 
Himalaya Mountains, at a height of 4,500 feet, there have been registered in a 
single year 610 inches or rain; and of this 147 inches fell in the month of June. 
In India fifteen inches of rain have fallen in a single day; while at several 
places in the vicinity of Switzerland thirty inches have been reported to fall in 
a single day. — Treatise on Meteorology, 110-119. 

J. W. Dawson, LL. D,, F. R. S., etc. — The quantity of water suspended in 
the atmosphere is enormous; and the rains, the springs, and rivers which fertilize 
the earth and sustain its inhabitants, are only the overflowings of this vast aerial 
reservoir, upheld by the laws established by God. — Nature and the Bible, p. 53. 

John Kitto, D. D. , F. S. A. — With these facts of nature before us, it is 
easy to apprehend what is meant by the sacred historian when he tells us that 
''the firmament divided the waters that were under the firmament from the 
waters which were above the firmament." One portion of the dense watery 
shroud which had invested the surface of the earth, the lighter particles thereof, 
was exhaled, rarefied and carried up into the clouds, remaining suspended in the 
upper regions of ether; the remaining and heavier portion was at the same time 
forced down, and merged into the waters that covered the earth; and the ex- 
panse left void by their separation is the expanse or "firmament" which formed 
the work of the second day. — Daily Bible Illustrations, Vol. J., p. 24. 



22 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THIRD DAY. 

Gen. i: 9. — And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one 
place, and let the dry land appear : and it was so. 

J. W*. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S., F. G. S. — Under the primeval ocean were 
formed the first stratified rocks, from the substances precipitated from its 
waters, which must have been loaded with solid matter. In the meantime all is 
not at rest in the interior of the new-formed earth. Under the crust vast 
oceans of molten rock may still remain, but a solid interior nucleus is being 
crystalized in the centre, and the whole interior globe is gradually shrinking. 
At length this process advances so far that the exterior crust, like a sheet of ice 
from below which the water has subsided, is left unsupported; and with terrible 
earthquake-throes it sinks downward, wrinkling up into huge folds (or ranges 
of lifted land), between which are vast sunken areas, into which the waters sub- 
side. So arose the first dry land. — The Story of the. Earth and Man, p. 12. 

Prof. Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D. — The present continents of the 
globe (except, perhaps, some high mountains) have been for long periods be- 
neath the ocean, and have been subsequently elevated. Proof 1. Two-thirds 
at least of these continents are covered with rocks, often several thousand feet 
thick, abounding in marine organic remains; which must have been quietly 
deposited, along with the sand, mud, and calcareous or ferruginous matter in 
which they are enveloped, and which could have accumulated but slowly. 
2. Some very high mountains contain marine fossils at or near their summits. 
For example, there are marine shells of cretaceous age upon the tops of the 
Pyrenees; cretaceous and tertiary fossils upon the summits of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and foraminifera of cretaceous age high up on the flanks of Mt. Lebanon. 
— Elementary Geology, p. 370. 

G. Chaplin Child, M. D. — Mountains exhibit wonderful proofs of the force 
displayed in the arrangement of the surface of the earth. Geology tells us that 
many of them, like the lofty peaks of the Andes, or Ailsa Craig, or Teneriffe, 
have been cast forth as liquid lava from the interior of the earth by the force of 
fire. Others, again, though deposited originally at the bottom of the seas, have 
been lifted as it were on the back of other rocks, so as now to form lofty 
ridges. There are limestone strata of marine origin, labelled with shells iden- 
tical with others found in low-lying beds near Paris, which are now placed at a 
height of 10,000 feet above the ocean, crowning the summit of the Diablerets 
among the Swiss Alps. Examples of similar elevations are met with among the 
Himalayas, in Tahiti, and elsewhere. Many mountain masses and level strata 
consist chiefly of the remains of animals that formerly existed on the globe. 
Many species of beautiful marbles owe their variegated" markings to the shells 
which successive generations of creatures built up and left behind. And one 
feels astounded at the profusion of ancient life revealed by those " medals of 
creation. " — Benedicite, p. 227. 

Prof. William Buckland, D. D. — All observers admit that the strata were 
formed beneath the water, and have been subsequently converted into dry land ; 



GENESIS I. 23 

and whatever may have been the agents that caused the movements of the gross 
unorganized materials of the globe, we find sufficient evidence of prospective 
wisdom and design, in the benefits resulting from these obscure and distant 
revolutions, to future races of terrestrial creatures, and more especially to man. 
— Bridgewater Treatise, p. 44. 

Gen. I: 10. — And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters 
called He Seas ; and God saw that it was good. 

Prof. Arnold Guyot. — In inorganic nature, the bodies are only simple ag- 
gregations of parts, homogeneous or heterogeneous, and differing among them- 
selves, the combination of which seems to be accidental. Nevertheless, to say 
nothing of the law that assigns to each species of mineral a particular form cf 
crystalization, we see that every aggregation, fortuitous in appearance, may 
constitute a whole, with limits, and a determinate form which, without having 
anything of absolute necessity, gives to it, however, the first lineaments of indi- 
viduality. Such are the various geographical regions, the islands, peninsulas 
and continents. Each of these terrestrial masses, considered as a whole, as an 
individual, has a particular disposition of its parts, of the forms which belong 
only to it, a situation relatively to the rays of the sun, and with respect to the 
seas or the neighboring masses, not found identically repeated in any other. 

In considering them simply in a geological point of view, it may appear quite 
accidental that such a plain should or should not have arisen from the bosom of 
the waters; that such a mountain rises at this place or that; that such a conti- 
nent should be cut up into peninsulas, or piled into a compact mass, accom- 
panied by or deprived of islands. But in physics, neither of these circum- 
stances is unimportant. Simple examples, without further demonstration, will 
be sufficient to set this in a clear light. 

Is the question of the forms of contour? Nothing characterizes Europe 
better than the variety of its indentations, of its peninsulas, and of its islands. 
Suppose, for a moment, that beautiful Italy, and Greece with its entire Archipel- 
ago, were added to the central mass of the continent, and augmented Germany or 
Russia by the number of square miles they contain ; this change of form would 
not give us another Germany, but we should have an Italy and a Greece the less. 
Unite with the body of Europe all its islands and peninsulas into one compact 
mass, and instead of this continent, so rich in various elements, you will have 
a New Holland with all its uniformity. 

Do we look to the forms of relief, of height? Is it a matter of indifference 
whether an entire country is lifted into the dry and cold regions of the atmos- 
phere, like the central table-land of Asia, or is placed on the level of the ocean? 
See, under the same sky, the warm and fertile plains of Hindostan, adorned 
with the brilliant vegetation of the tropics, and the cold and desert plateaus of 
Upper Tibet ; compare the burning region of Vera Cruz and its fevers, with 
the lofty plains of Mexico and its perpetual spring ; the immense forests of the 
Amazon, where vegetation puts forth all its splendors, and the desolate paramos 
of the summits of the Andes, and you have the answer. 



24 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

And the relative position ? Do not the three peninsulas of the south of 
Europe owe to their position their mild and soft climate, their lovely landscape, 
their numerous relations, and their common life? Is it not to their situation 
that the two great peninsulas of India are indebted for their rich nature, and • 
the conspicuous part one of them, at least, has played in all ages ? Place them 
on the north of their continents : Italy and Greece become Scandinavia, and 
India a Kamtschatka. 

All Europe is indebted for its temperate atmosphere to its position relatively 
to the great marine atmospheric currents, and to the vicinity of the burning 
regions of Africa. Place it at the east of Asia, it will be only a frozen peninsula. 

Suppose the Andes, transferred to the eastern coast of South America, 
hindered the trade wind from bearing the vapors of the ocean into the in- 
terior of the continent, and the plains of the Amazon and Paraguay would be 
nothing but desert. 

In the same manner, if the Rocky Mountains bordered the eastern coast of 
North America, and closed against the nations of the East and of Europe the 
entrance to the rich valley of the Mississippi ; or if this immense chain ex- 
tended from east to west across the northern part of this continent, and barred 
the passage of the polar winds, which now rush unobstructed over these vast 
plains ; — let us say even less ; if preserving all the great present features of this 
continent, we suppose only that the interior plains were slightly inclined towards 
the north, and the Mississippi emptied into the Frozen Ocean, who does not see 
that, in these various cases, the relations of warmth and moisture, the climate, 
in a word, and with it the vegetation and the animal world, would undergo the 
most important modifications, and that these changes of form and relative posi- 
tion would have an influence greater still upon the destinies of human society, 
both in the present and in the future ? 

But to contemplate the form and elevation, the relations and functions of the 
great masses of dry land, as it was elevated from the deep, from a physical stand- 
point merely, is not enough. To understand and appreciate them at their full 
value, to study them in their true point of view, we must rise to a higher posi- 
tion. We must elevate ourselves to the moral world to understand the physical 
world ; the physical world has no meaning except by and for the moral world. 
The earth was made to be the abode of man. — Earth and Man, p. 24-29. 

Gen. i : 11. — And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit 
tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the. earth : and it was so. 

Prof. John Tyndall, LL. D., F. R. S. — There are the strongest grounds for 
believing that during a certain period of its history the earth was not, nor was 
it fit to be, the theatre of life. Whether this was ever a nebulous period, or a 
merely molten period, does not much matter — its condition was unfit for either 
animal or vegetable life. — Fragments of Science, p. 158. 

Prof. Sedgwick. — It is beyond dispute, and is proved by the physical re- 
searches of the earth, that there, the visible forms of organic life (plantal as 
well as animal), had a beginning in time. — Discourse, p. 17. 



GENESIS I. 25 

Prof. Huxley, LL. D., F. R. S. — As the result of his experiments, Francesco 
Redi, a man of the widest knowledge and most versatile abilities, reached the 
conclusion, that no life, animal or vegetable, is of spontaneous generation. 
Omne vivum ex vivo, no life without antecedent life, aphoristically sums up his 
doctrine. The researches of Schroeder and Dusch, in 1854, and of Schroeder 
alone, in 1859, confirmed this doctrine by experiments which are simply refine- 
ments upon those of Redi. And the last link necessary to complete its demon- 
ctration was supplied by M. Pasteur in those beautiful researches which will ever 
render his name famous ; and which, in spite of all attacks upon them, appear 
to me now, as they did seven years ago, to be models of accurate experimenta- 
tion and logical reasoning. — Lay Sermons, No. XV. 

William Fraser, LL. D. — Plant-life — whence is it? How has it appeared? 
It is a result beyond physical law. Mark how it acts. Vital force overcomes 
the law of gravitation, and while it uses chemical combinations, is in its origin 
independent of them. To all intents and purposes, plant-life is, in relation to 
the inorganic world, miraculous or supernatural. Higher laws are framed which 
suspend or modify chemical and mechanical forces. All that chemistry has 
achieved amid transformations which often startle, and always instruct us, has 
failed to organize a single form in which life may take up its abode. Life makes 
its own form, and plies its own force. Plant-life was a new thing in our world. 
It came into or upon it, supernaturally, not from it. — God said, Let the earth 
bring forth. — Blending Lights, p. 342. 

Gen. i: 12. — And the earth brought forth grass, and herbs yielding seed after his kind, and the 
tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind : and God saw that it was good. 

Prof. James D. Dana, M. A., LL. D. — It strikes us naturally with wonder, 
that even in senseless plants, without the emotional repugnance of instinct, and 
with reproductive organs that are all outside, the free winds being often the 
means of transmission, there should be rigid law sustained against intermixture. 
The supposed cases of perpetuated fertile hybridity are so exceedingly few, as 
almost to condemn themselves as no true examples of an abnormity so abhor- 
rent to the system. They violate a principle so essential to the integrity of the 
plant-kingdom, and so opposed to Nature's whole plan, that we rightly demand 
long and careful study before admitting the exceptions. — Quoted in What is 
Truth? p. 189. 

William Fraser, LL. D.— The brief description of Moses is (in v. 12) 
repeated with emphasis, as if it were intended to be noticed. Its aptness, as 
related to Botanical science, will be acknowledged even by those who refuse to 
admit otherwise its importance. While the Linnsean system of classification 
according to distinctions in the flower, was brought as near perfection as possi- 
ble, and served useful ends, it was felt to be inadequate, and in some degree 
unscientific. Botanists strove to establish a more natural method, and they have 
succeeded by making the character of the seeds and other affinities of structure 
the basis of classification. This was found to be so satisfactory, that not long 
ago it was regarded as another trophy of science. It was, indeed, a new-height 



26 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

gained, or rather an old one reached ; for Moses was seated there with that 
very principle written on his scroll, more than three thousand years ago. His 
distinctions are the same ; plants are classified by him according to their "seed" 
and "kind" or structure; he intimates a basis which is sufficient for every 
natural division, by whatever route it may be reached, whether by the elementary, 
the nutritive, or the reproductive function, and to which the labors of Jussieu, 
De Candolle, Endlicher, Lindley, and others, have added nothing essentially 
new. — B/ending Lights, p. 48. 

The Compiler. — And God saw that it was good. — Nothing can be more 
astonishing than the unbounded variety of trees, herbs and grasses that furnish 
and adorn the earth ; nor can anything more clearly exhibit the abounding 
goodness of the Creator. Nothing that either the necessity, or the improve- 
ment, or the pleasure of His creatures could demand, appears to be wanting. 
Grasses and herbs, in endless diversity, abound, to meet the various tastes 
and habits of all living things. Fruit-plants and fruit-trees, adapted to every 
climate and soil, proffer food to man and beast and bird, in every form and 
of every flavor. Flowers to delight us with their beauties, and to regale 
us with their odors. Shrubs and vines, without number, to shade and adorn 
our habitations. Add to all these the forest-trees, which offer to man timber 
fitted for all the purposes of art and industry — the soft pine and poplar ; the 
hard oak, beech and holly ; the light cedar and lime ; the heavy ebony and 
lignum vitae ; the flowery mahogany and rosewood ; the tough hickory and elm; 
the incorruptible teak, and durable yew; and a hundred other kinds adapted 
both for use and ornament. What munificence is here displayed ! And the 
grass, the general vegetative covering given to the earth — in this, as in all else, 
the Divine wisdom and goodness are equally conspicuous. Upwards of three 
hundred genera, and more than five thousand different species of grass, grow 
upon the surface of the earth. This needful sustenance of our herds and flocks, 
and of the beasts of the forests, is everywhere spread over its dusky soil, and is so 
constituted as to grow without care or cultivation; nay, in spite of every kind of 
abuse and violence. Like a living carpet, it covers and adorns the face of Nature. 
Self-propagating and self-perpetuating, it supplies the wants of every passing 
age, with undiminished abundance. Though ever trodden upon, and fed upon, 
it still lives. Lay it low to-day, and to-morrow it is stronger than before. Cut 
it down, and it renews and multiplies its shoots with fresher vigor. Crush it 
with the foot, and it sends up richer perfume. Bury it through all the winter 
months, beneath ice and snow, and in the spring it starts forth with all the 
glowing verdancy of its first creation. And then the beauty of the grass — in 
every landscape it is the most conspicuous object, the ground color on which 
nature embroiders her varied patterns, and from the midst of which the gay hues 
of flowers 'come forth in greater brilliancy, by the force of contrast, to arrest 
the admiring gaze. " The grass of the field : " the very sound carries in it all 
the charms of nature, all the delights of spring and summer; the silent scented 
paths ; the green banks of the murmuring brook ; the waving meadows ; the 



GENESIS I. 27 

pastures of the meditative shepherd; the verdant lawns, glittering with the 
pearls of early dew. What a concourse of wonders and beauties and blessings, 
have we, then, even in the grass, that we so heedlessly and constantly trample 
under foot ! How true and appropriate the words that close the record of the 
third creative day — "And God saw that it was good." — Science and the Bible, 
p. 202-204. 

FOURTH BAY. 

Gen. i: 14, 15. — And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide 
the day from the night ; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for 
years : and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the 
earth : and it was so. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — The dry land has appeared; the waters have 
retired to their ocean beds ; the scene is invested with all the variety and beauty 
of vegetation. What more is wanting? More light; by the full manifestation 
of those bright luminaries, that as yet are hidden by the dense clouds above, 
which their rays have not been able to dissipate and rarefy into pure azure 
sky. — Bib. Illustrations, p. 27. 

Hugh Miller. — That lower stratum of the heavens, formerly occupied by 
seething steam, or gray, smoke-like fog, has been cleared and made trans- 
parent, only in an upper region do clouds appear. But there, in the higher 
strata of the atmosphere they lie, thick and manifold, an upper sea of great 
waves, separated from those beneath by the transparent firmament, and, like 
them, too, impelled in rolling masses by the wind. A mighty advance has 
taken place in creation, its most notable feature being the existence of a trans- 
parent atmosphere; of a firmament stretched out over the earth, that separates 
the waters above from the waters below. And now, again, the Creator speaks, 
and those manifold clouds break up, disperse, and the stars look out from open- 
ings of deep unclouded blue ; and as day rises, and the planet of morning pales 
in the east, the broken cloudlets are transmuted from bronze into gold, and 
anon the gold becomes fire, and at length the glorious sun arises out of the sea, 
and enters on his course rejoicing. It is a brilliant day; the waves of a deeper 
and softer blue than before, dance and sparkle in the light; the earth, with 
little else to attract the gaze, has assumed a garb of brighter green; and 
as the sun declines amid even richer glories than those which had encircled his 
rising, the moon appears full orbed in the east, to the human eye the second 
great luminary of the heavens, and climbs slowly to the zenith as night ad- 
vances, shedding its mild radiance on land and sea. — Test, of Rocks, 207-209. 
Gen. i: 16. — And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser 
light to rule the night : He made the stars also. 

Robert Boyle, F. R. S. — In almost all ages and countries the generality of 
philosophers and contemplative men were persuaded of the existence of a Deity 
from the consideration of the phenomena of the universe ; whose fabric and 
conduct they rationally concluded could not justly be ascribed either to chance 
or to any other cause than a Divine Being. — Tract on the high Veneration 
Man' s Intellect owes to God. 



28 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Idem. — I am by all means for encouraging the contemplation of the celestial 
part of the universe, and the shining globes that adorn it, and especially the sun 
and moon, in order to raise our admiration of the stupendous power and 
wisdom of Him who was able to frame such immense bodies; and notwith- 
standing their vast bulk and scarce conceivable rapidity, keep them for so many 
ages constant both to the lines and degrees of their motion, without interfering 
with one another. — Essay on Final Causes. 

Sir Isaac Newton. — This beautiful system of suns, planets, and comets, could 
have its origin in no other way than by the purpose and command of an 
intelligent and powerful Being. He governs all things, not as the soul of the 
world, but as the Lord of the universe. — Optics, scholium in fine. 

Colin Maclaurin. — Such an exquisite structure of things, as the Solar 
System, could only arise from the contrivance and powerful influences of an 
intelligent, free, and most potent Agent. — Account of Newton's Philosophy -, 
p. 407. 

William Whewell, M. A., F. R. S. — These magnitudes and proportions of 
the universe which leave our powers of conception far behind ; that ever 
expanding view which is brought before us, of the scale and mechanism, the 
riches and magnificence, the population and activity of creation ; may 
reasonably serve to enlarge and elevate our conceptions of the Maker and 
Master of all \ to feed an ever-growing admiration of His wonderful nature ; 
and to excite a desire to be able to contemplate more steadily, and conceive 
less inadequately, the scheme of his government and the operation of his power. 
— Bridgewater Treatise, p. 146. 

Sir John Herschel, D. C. L., F. R. S. — The greater Light to rule the day. 
What I am going to say about the sun will consist of a series of statements so 
enormous in , all their proportions, that I dare say, some maybe disposed to 
regard them as incredible as the mythical stories of the Hindoos. And yet 
there is nothing more certain in modern science than the truth of these state- 
ments. The sun is the centre of that system of planetary worlds, of which our 
world is one. By his powerful and all-pervading attraction he holds and guides 
all these in their appointed orbits, though moving with inconceivable velocities, 
and at the distance of hundreds and even thousands of millions of miles from 
him. His diameter is not less than 882,000 miles; his mass or weight is equal 
to 360,000 times that of the earth; while in bulk he exceeds it 1,331,000 
times. 

The sun is the dispenser of light and warmth to the whole system, as well as 
the centre of attraction. But how shall I attempt to convey any conception of 
the scale on which the great work of warming and lighting is carried on in the 
sun ? All word-painting must break down, and it is only by bringing before 
you the consideration of great facts in the simplest language, that there is any 
chance of doing it. The quantity of light and heat that falls upon one square 
mile of the hot deserts of the equator is great ; yet upon the whole sphere of 
our globe there falls without intermission 50,000,000 times that quantity. 



GENESIS I. 29 

What then must be the amount that descends on the vastly larger globes of 
Jupiter and Saturn? But take all the planets together, great and small; the 
light and heat they receive is only one-227 millionth part of the whole quantity 
thrown out by the sun. All the rest escapes into free space, and is lost among 
the stars ; or does there some other work that we know nothing about. 

The temperature or intensity of heat at the surface of the sun is found, by 
calculation, to be more than 90,000 times greater than the intensity of sunshine 
here on our globe at noon and under the equator, a heat far greater than suffi- 
cient to melt gold, and even platina, into liquid. The heat thrown out from 
every square yard of the sun's surface is equal to that which would be pro- 
duced by burning on that square yard six tons of coal per hour, and keeping up 
constantly to that rate of consumption. The most brilliant and beautiful light 
which can be artificially produced is that of a ball of quicklime kept violently 
hot by a flame of mixed ignited oxygen and hydrogen gases playing on its sur- 
face. This is of an intensity far too great for the eye unprotected. Yet the 
sun gives out a light 146 times more intense. 

Every ray of light which comes from the sun is not a simple but a compound 
thing; it may be separated, split, sub-divided, not into four, but into many hun- 
dreds, nay thousands, of perfectly distinct rays or things, or rather of three dis- 
tinct sorts or species of rays; of which one sort affects the eyes as light; one the 
sense of feeling and the thermometer as heat; and one the chemical composition 
of everything it falls upon, and which produces all the effects of photography. A 
ray of sunlight is a world in miniature, and if I were to set down all that experi- 
ment has revealed to us of its nature and constitution, it would take more vol- 
umes than there are pages in this lecture. 

The sun not only sways the whole planetary system by his gravitating force, 
and cheers and animates it by his light and heat, but pours forth also a subtle 
yet powerful magnetic influence upon its every member. The earth, during 
certain agitations in the sun, has been thrown into a perfect convulsion of elec- 
tro-magnetism; creating the most wonderful auroras in the heavens, and thrill- 
ing the whole frame of nature. 

The solid globe of the sun is wrapped in a luminous atmosphere. This, at 
times, appears perforated with apertures of various forms and sizes, that seem like 
so many dark spots on his surface. Such spots, embracing an area of between seven 
and eight hundred millions of square miles, are by no means uncommon. One 
spot which I measured in the year 1837 occupied no less than 3,780 millions; 
and the black space or "umbra" in the middle of one, which was very nearly 
round, would have allowed the earth to drop through it leaving a thousand 
miles clear of contact on every side: and many instances of much larger spots 
than there are on record. What are we to think, then, of the awful scale of 
hurricane and turmoil and fiery tempest which can in a few days totally change 
the form of such a region, break it up into distinct parts, open up great 
abysses in one part, such as that I have just described, and fill up others 
beside them? 



30 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Such, then, is the scale of things with which we become familiar when we 
contemplate the sun. In what has been said I have been more anxious to 
dwell upon facts than theories, and rather to supply the imaginations of my 
readers with materials for forming a just conception of the stupendous mag- 
nificence of this member of God's creation, than to puzzle them with physical 
and mathematical reasonings and arguments. — Lectures on Scientific Subjects, 
No. II. 

Sir John Herschel. — The lesser light to rule the night. — The moon, though 
apparently about the same size as the sun, is, in reality, far smaller, her diameter 
being only one four-hundredth part of that of the sun, and the light of her 
full-orbed face but one three-hundred-thousandth part of his light. — See Out- 
lines of Astronomy, Arts. 404, 417. 

Gen. i : 17. — And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. 

G. Chaplin Child, M. D. — Who can adequately appreciate the evidences 
of Power, Wisdom, and Beneficence crowded into this glorious creation, and 
how little do they comprehend its full value who see nothing in it beyond its 
convenience or its beauty ! Light is an essential condition of animated nature 
— the pivot on which life turns. All that lives upon the earth lives by light. 
Without it plants could not grow, or assimilate their food, or breathe, or 
purify the air ; and, without plants, animals must perish. — Benedicite, p. 97. 

The Compiler. — And God saw that it was good. — We are constantly par- 
takers of a thousand benefits that flow from the "great light" that rules 
the day. The rays of the sun are the ultimate cause of almost every motion 
which takes place on the face of the earth. By its heat are produced all winds, 
and all those electrical disturbances we call thunder-storms, which purify the 
atmosphere we breathe. By its heat also the waters of the ocean ascend in 
vapors, travel through the air, descend in showers, irrigate the land, supply the 
springs, and form the rivers. By its vivifying action vegetables are enabled to 
draw their support from the soil and the air, to put forth their blossoms, to 
ripen their fruits and seeds, and to become, in their time, the support of man 
and beast. Through its illuminating power we enjoy the inestimable advan- 
tages, and receive all the undefinable pleasures of vision. Every animal, every 
plant, owns that life and health are due to its light, and all living things rejoice 
in its presence. Foreseeing these and ten thousand other beneficent results 
that would flow from the celestial luminaries, rightly did the Great Creator 
pronounce them "good." — Science and the Bible, p. 254. 

FIFTH DAY. 

Gen. i : 20. — And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hatii 
life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 
J W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — It will be observed that, according to 
Genesis, all the arrangements of the inorganic world were perfected, and the 
dominion of what geologists term "existing causes" fully introduced before 
the creation of animals. Further, a whole creative aeon elapsed between the 



GENESIS I. 31 

completion of these arrangements, as far as the earth was concerned, and that 
event. The first animals are produced by the waters; but these waters are not now 
the shoreless ocean of the first day. They include depths and shallows of the 
sea, estuaries, and probably lakes and fresh water streams as well. Thus they 
afford all the conditions required for a varied and abundant aquatic fauna. — 
Nature and the Bible, p. 114. 

W. Fraser, LL. D. — Moses tells us that the lowest forms of life commenced 
to exist; Plants first, Animals next. This is as it ought to be. . Plants drawing 
their nourishment from inorganic substances were first created; and as anima's 
could live only on plants or animals, they were next introduced. Vegetable 
form", as they spread, act on the carefully prepared materials in the soil and 
water; they manufacture food for themselves, and, storing it up in their own 
fabric, they provide support for the succeeding animals. The Bible record 
thus harmonizes with that which science has shown to be necessary. Whence 
all this accuracy? Can it possibly be the outcome of chance? — Blending 
Lights, p. 47. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — It is remarkable that both the 
record of Nature and the record of the Bible concur in ascribing the origin and 
earliest existence of animal life to the sea, where we are told there are "creep- 
ing things innumerable." The sea is even yet the great storehouse of animal 
life, and it would seem for long geological ages to have been the only theatre 
of its development. This great cosmical truth, revealed to the ancient Hebrew 
prophet, is not without its scientific significance. In a physiological point of 
view, it indicates the important fact that the conditions of animal life are easier 
in the sea than on the land. There both the most minute and the grandest forms 
of life can find suitable conditions, and there the feebler tissues and the less 
energetic vitality can succeed in the battle of life. In its geological relations, it 
shows -that it was necessary that the land itself, to be suitable to the support of 
the higher forms of life, must be born from the sea, and that the action of marine 
organisms in heaping up beds of their skeletons was one of the necessary prepa- 
rations for the actual condition of our continents. Both records give us a grand 
procession of dynasties of life, beginning from the lower forms and culminating 
in man. — Nature and the Bible, p. 118. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Fishes are included in the first chap- 
ter of Genesis among the moving creatures created on the fifth day, along with 
great whales (reptiles) and birds. They are thus set forth as having been 
brought into existence prior to the inhabitants of the dry land. The researches 
of geology have illustrated this order of creation in a striking manner. Fishes, 
as they are the lowest class in organization of any of the vertebrate animals, so 
they are the earliest to appear in the strata of which the crust of the earth is 
composed. In the Old Red Sandstone rocks a few species of Ganoid and Pla- 
coid fishes are found; and they become more numerous in the more recent 
strata, until they reach their full development at the end of the Secondary 
Period or the Chalk epoch, just as warm-blooded mammals or quadrupeds 



32 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

were first beginning to predominate on the earth. Thus geological research 
corroborates the order of sequence in the Mosaic record, testifying that "the 
moving creature that hath life" appeared upon the earth in the waters long 
before it existed on the dry land. 

Let the waters bring forth the moving creature and fowl that may fly. — Fish, 
reptiles and birds are combined in the creation of this day, and all are said to 
be produced from the water. And it is very noticeable that certain peculiarities 
are common to them all. All these classes of animals are oviparous, or bring 
forth their young from eggs or spawn, whilst the creations of the sixth day bring 
forth their young alive. Besides this point of affinity between the different 
orders of the fifth day, microscopists assure us that the globules, of the blood of 
birds and fishes, when closely examined, are seen to be the same, and do not at 
all resemble the globules of the blood of mammalia, or animals which sprang 
from the earth on the sixth day. — Natural History of the Bible, p. 282, 283. 

Gen. i : 21. — And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the 
waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged^ fowl after his kind. 

J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S., etc. — Let us pause here a moment to con- 
template the greatness of the fact we have been studying — the introduction into 
our world of the earliest known vertebrate animals which could open their nostrils 
and literally "breathe the breath of life." All previous animals that we know 
had respired in the water by means of gills or similar apparatus. Now we have 
animals which must have been able to draw in the vital air into capaciou3 
chambered lungs, and with this power must have enjoyed a far higher and more 
active style of vitality ; and must have possessed the faculty of uttering truly 
vocal sounds. What wondrous possibilities unknown to these creatures, perhaps 
only dimly perceived by such rational intelligences as may have watched the 
growth of our young world, were implied in these gifts ! It is one of the 
remarkable points in the history of creation in Genesis, that this step of the 
creative work is emphatically marked. Of all the creatures we have noticed up 
to this point, it is stated that God said, "Let the waters bring forth;" but it is 
said that " God created (not whales but) great reptiles " — taninim. No doubt 
these great taninim culminated in the succeeding Mesozoic age, but their first 
introduction dates as far back as the Carboniferous ; and this introduction was 
emphatically a creation, as being the commencement of a new feature among 
living beings. — Story of the Earth and Man, p. 150. 

H. B. Tristram, M. A., LL. D., F. R. S., etc. — In the summary of the history 
of creation, in the first chapter of Genesis, birds are described as being brought 
into existence after fishes and sea-monsters. This position of birds in the 
Mosaic record is remarkably in accordance with the geological chronology of 
their appearance. The earliest traces of birds yet discovered are in the Triassic 
period ; and it is only in the Chalk period, just after the reign of the great sea- 
monsters and reptiles of the Wealden, that birds appear to any extent in the 
fossil remains. — Natural History of the Bible, p. 156. 

Hugh Miller. — God created every living creature after his kind. The 



GENESIS I. 33 

infidel seeks to develop fishes of a higher order out of those of a lower by 
insensible and fortuitous variation. He substitutes progression for Deity; 
Geology robs him of his god. — Old Red Sandstone, p. 41. 

Prof. Agassiz. — While it may be said in a general sense that lower forms 
have preceded higher ones, it is not true that all the earlier animals were simpler 
than the latter. On the contrary, many of the lower animals were introduced 
under more highly organized forms than they have ever shown since, and have 
dwindled afterward. Animals that should be ancestors, if simplicity of structure 
is to characterize the first-born, are known to be of later origin ; the more com- 
plicated forms have frequently appeared first, and the simpler ones later, and 
this in hundreds of instances. The Development assertion does not bear 
serious examination. It is just one of those fancied results following the 
disclosure or presentation of a great law which captivates the mind, and leads 
it to take that which it wishes to be true for Truth. — Lectures before Afuseum 
of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, No. XII. 

St. George Mivart, F. R. S. — Great whales after their kind. Those remark- 
able fossil reptiles, the Ichthyosauria and Plesiosauria, extended through the 
secondary period, probably over the greater part of the globe ; yet no single tran- 
sitional form has yet been met with in spite of the multitudinous individuals pre- 
served. The same is true with their modern representatives, the Cetacea, or 
whales. — Genesis of Species, p. 146. 

H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Every winged Jowl after his kind. — 
Birds are the most distinctive and best characterized class in the whole animal' 
kingdom. There is a constancy in the nature of their covering, which does not 
admit of the variations found in mammals, reptiles and fishes ; for every bird, 
whether capable of flight or not, is clad with feathers. No species of bird brings 
forth its young alive, or produces them in any other way than from eggs, con- 
sisting invariably of yolk, white and a calcareous shell, and incubated by artificial 
heat. No bird deviates in its skeleton from the typical form, as the whale does 
among mammals, and the serpent among reptiles. No bird deviates from the 
ordinary mode of generation of its class, as do the marsupials from other 
quadrupeds. — Natural History of the Bible, p. 157. 

Prof. Joseph Le Conte. — The evidence of Geology, to-day, is that species 
seem to come in suddenly and in full perfection, remain substantially unchanged 
during the term of their existence, and pass away in full perfection. Other 
species take their place apparently by substitution, not by transmutation. — 
Religion and Science, p, 22. 

Gen. i : 22. — And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the 

seas. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — The teeming multitudes of ma- 
rine creatures in the Cambrian and Silurian periods were so great, that thick 
beds of limestone are often made up of fragments of their skeletons, and it ap- 
pears that the seas then brought forth the lower forms of life in abundance since 
unsurpassed. — Nature and the Bible, p. 122. 
3 



34 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

SIXTH DAY. 

Gen. i : 24. — And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, 
and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind : and it was so. 

Prof. James D. Dana, M. A., LL. D. — The order of events in the Scripture 
cosmogony corresponds essentially with that which has been given in this 
Treatise. First, the lower animals, those that swarm in the waters ; then creep- 
ing and flying species on the land; then beasts and cattle; and, lastly, man. 
In this succession, we observe not merely an order of events, like that deduced 
from science ; there is a system in the arrangement, and a far-reaching prophecy, 
to which philosophy could not have attained, however instructed. The record 
in the Bible is, therefore, profoundly philosophical in the scheme of creation 
which it presents. It is both true and divine. — Manual of Geology, Revised 
Ed., p. 744-746. 

J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — The first animals belong to the lower 
grades of the aquatic fauna. As we ascend in the geological series, vertebrate 
life has its commencement, beginning like the lower forms, in the waters, and 
represented at first only by the fishes; and it is not until we are approaching the 
close of the Palaeozoic that reptile life is introduced. Reptiles and birds make 
their appearance abundantly in the earlier and middle Mesozoic, in which also 
reptilian life culminates in the gigantic and multiform Dinosaurs and their allies, 
of what is par excellence the Reptilian age. In like manner, the Scripture 
record of creation, after stating the creation of lower forms, goes on to specify 
the gigantic reptilian animals of the Mesozoic by the term taninim, and con- 
nects with them the birds, which, with allied winged reptiles, were their 
contemporaries in geological time. 

As we pass into the next creative aeon, the Mammalia, represented in the 
Mesozoic of geology by only a few small species, become dominant ; and here 
we have, in the prominence given to the larger Herbivora, a position corre- 
sponding to their grandeur and dominance in the Eocene ; while in the intro- 
duction of the beasts of the earth, or carnivorous mammalia, we have the inaugu- 
ration of an era, the later Tertiary, in which these assume the highest rank in 
nature, and take the place of the great reptilian life-destroyers of the Mesozoic. 
Lastly in this long procession, Man appears, not the product of a separate day, 
but, in accordance with the revelations of geology, at the close of the same great 
period, in which the mammalia became dominant. 

The progress in animal life thus shortly sketched is sufficient to show the re- 
markable manner in which Revelation had long ago foreshadowed what in these 
last days the rocks have opened their mouths to tell. — Nature and the Bible, 
p. 122. 

Gen. i : 25. — And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and 
every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. 

Duke of Argyll. — The various hypotheses of Development (J. <?., of the de- 
rivation of one animal from another by slow and fortuitous variations), of which 
Darwin's theory is only a new and special version, are indeed destitute of proof; 



GENESIS I. 35 

and in the form which they have as yet assumed, it may justly be said that they 
involve such violations of, or departures from, all that we know of the existing 
order of things, as to deprive them of all scientific basis. — Reign of Law, p. 29. 

Prof. J. D. Dana, M. A., LL. D. — Species have not been made out of spe- 
cies by any process of growth or development, for the transition forms do not 
occur j the evolution or plan of progress was by successive creations of species, 
in their full perfection. The types are wholly independent, and are not con- 
nected lineally, either historically or zoologically. The earliest species of a 
class were often far from the very lowest, although among the inferior. In many 
cases the original or earliest group was but little inferior to those of later date, 
and the progress was toward a purer expression of the type. . But geology de- 
clares, unequivocally, that the new forms were new expressions, under the type- 
idea, by created material forms, and not by forms educed or developed from one 
another. — Bibliotheca Sacra, January and July, 1856. 

Prof. L. Agassiz. — -I wish to enter my earnest protest against the transmuta- 
tion theory. It is my belief that naturalists are chasing a phantom, in their 
search after some material gradation among created beings, by which the whole 
animal kingdom may have been derived by successive development from a sin- 
gle germ, or from a few germs. I confess that there seems to me a repulsive 
poverty in this material explanation, that is contradicted by the intellectual 
grandeur of the universe. I insist that this theory is opposed to the process of 
nature as we have been enabled to apprehend it ; that it is contradicted by the 
facts of Embryology and Palaeontology, the former showing us worms of rW^ 1 
opment as distinct and persistent for each group as are the fossil types oP each 
period revealed to us by the latter ; and that the experiments on domesticated 
animals and cultivated plants, on which its adherents base their views, are 
entirely foreign to the matter in hand. — In Pater Mundi. 

Idem. — That presentation of palaeontological phenomena which would make 
it appear that the whole animal kingdom (says the same authority) has been mar- 
shalled in a consecutive procession beginning with the lowest and ending with 
the highest, is false to nature. There is no inevitable repetition, no mechanical 
evolution in the geological succession of organic life. It has the correspondence 
of connected plan. It has just that kind of resemblance in the parts, so much 
and no more, as always characterizes intellectual work proceeding from the 
same source. It has that freedom of manifestation, that independence, which 
characterizes the work of Mind as compared with the work of Law. I believe 
that all these correspondences between the different aspects of animal life are 
the manifestations of Mind acting consciously with intention toward one object 
from beginning to end. This view is in accordance with the working of our 
minds ; it is an instinctive recognition of a mental power with which our own 
is akin, manifesting itself in nature. For this reason more than any other, per- 
haps, do I hold that this world of ours is not the result of the action of uncon- 
scious organic forces, but the work of an Intelligent, Conscious Power. — 
Lects. before the Musenm of Comp. Zoology, No. XII, 



3£ TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

God made tlai; heast, the cattle, and every thing that creepeth, after his kind : and God saw 

that it was good. 

E. F. Burr, D. D. — Animated Nature is a system philosophic, exquisite and 
beautiful in a very high degree. The further our researches go into the mechanism 
and physiology of plants and animals, the louder grows the call for admiration. 
» — Pater Mundi. p. 167. 

The Compiler. — If the theory of Development had been true, and the 
earth had been peopled with all its varieties of living creatures by "fortuitous 
variations," we should discover in Nature nothing like a general Plan, nothing 
like a System of animal types, nothing like Symmetry of organization, nothing 
like Order as to age, strength, stature, instinct or habit ; for plan, system, 
symmetry and order cannot proceed from accident or fortuity. We should 
meet in living creatures with all manner of excesses and deficiencies, all kinds 
of misplaced and mispaired members ; all 'kinds of irregularities as to age, 
stature and disposition; all kinds of deformities and monstrosities; in short, 
universal disorder and confusion. But how widely different from all this is the 
existing creation around us ! Nature, through all her realms, clearly exhibits 
the Plans of far-reaching and all-comprehending Intelligence — design and 
adaptation, order and harmony and beauty, are everywhere apparent. The more 
extended and thorough our study of the characters, habits and wants of 
animals, whether beasts or birds, reptiles or fishes, insects or worms, the more 
profoundly are we impressed with the wisdom and goodness displayed in their 
several allotments; every one being fitted for its habitation, and every habi- 
tation suited to its given occupants. In all the myriad bundles of living 
machinery enfolded in animai forms,* there is not an organ, not a feature of con- 
struction, wherein human wisdom could suggest an improvement, or devise a 
change that would be for the benefit of the individual in its particular sphere 
and line of life. "And God saw that it was good." — Present Conflict of Science 
with the Christian Religion, p. 213, 216. 

Gen. i : 26. — And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 

Hugh Miller. — To the close of the Tertiary period, "the evening of the 
sixth day," Man belongs, at once the last created of terrestrial creatures, and 
infinitely beyond comparison the most elevated in the scale; and with man's 
appearance on the scene the days of creation end. — Testimony of the Rocks, p. 
203. 

William Fraser, LL. D. — In the distant past not a trace of man's presence 
has been found. He is of yesterday. While the stone volume has preserved 
for us the slight impressions of the Annelid and the foot trail of perished mol- 
luscs in the soft mud over which they crawled; while it has restored to us 
in perfect shape the delicately-constructed many-lensed eye of the Trilobite, 
•and has kept exact record of the death struggles of fishes on the sands of olden 
seas; while it has delineated, on carboniferous columns, fern-leaves exquisitely 
delicate in structure as the finest species of modern times; and while the rain- 
drops of long bygone ages have left imprints which revealed to us the course 



GENESIS I. 



37 



which even the wind followed ; not a trace of man is visible. Only at the close 
does he appear; science finds him where the Scriptures place him, and sees in him 
the crown which continuous type had long fore-shadowed. — Blending Lights, 
p. S 3 . 

Prof. James D. Dana, M. A., LL. D. — In the preceding chapters the progress 
of the vegetable and animal tribes has been followed through the three grand 
divisions of geological time, the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozcic. In the 
latter part of the last era, the animated kingdom reached the highest jrrade 
of development presented by the merely animal type. In the era now open- 
ing, the animal element is no longer dominant, but Mind in the possession of 
a being at the head of the kingdoms of life. At the same time the animal 
structure is brought to its highest perfection in the erect form of Man, complet- 
ing, as Agassiz has observed, the possible changes in the series to its last term. 
— Manual of Geology, Revised Ed., p. 573. 

Prof. Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D. — The whole depth of rock from 
which animal remains have been dug out is between 50,000 and 60,000 feet; but 
I know of no example in which it is pretended that human bones occur as 
deep below the surface as 100 feet. — Religious Truth Illustrated 'from Science, p. 

x 93- 

David King, LL. D. — The recent origin of man is one of the best established 
facts in geological science. The absence of human remains from all but the 
most modern and superficial deposits, although very remarkable, is only a frag- 
ment of the evidence we can adduce. — Principles of Geology Explained, p. 188. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — The continents had now attained 
to their greatest extension; animal and vegetable life had again overspread the 
new land to its utmost limits. The glacial period, with its snows and ice, had 
passed away, and the world rejoiced in a spring-time of renewed verdure and 
beauty. Many great and formidable beasts of the Tertiary time had disappeared 
in the revolutions which had occurred, and the existing fauna of the northern 
hemisphere had been established on the land. Then it was that Man was intro- 
duced by an act of creative power. — The Story of the Earth and Ma?i, p. 289, 
377- 

Gen. i : 27. — So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. 

William Fraser, LL. D. — The term " image" or "likeness" seems intended 
to express man's personality, and his resemblance to the Infinite and Uncreated 
in every way possible with a being finite and created. Man, accordingly, ' 
though at an immeasurable distance from the infinite I am, has knowledge, 
wisdom, power, and therefore dominion over all that has been placed within 
the sphere of his influence. As he was intellectual and could know, as he was 
moral and could love, he had a sway which no other creature on earth could 
wield. With these forces combined, he came forth controlling all the resources 
of nature which were placed within his reach ; and in possessing this spirit, he 
could be rightly regarded as the lord of this lower world and as the representa- 
tive of Deity. — Blending Lights, p. 92. 



38 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Idem. — Man, made capable of looking "to the Unseen and Eternal," 
cherishes the distinctive idea of immortality. His intellect, with its power of 
comparing; his reason, with its grasp to generalize; his imagination, with its 
faculty to invent and combin ; his conscience, with it& recognition of right and 
wrong; his memory, with its power of reproducing the past; and his conceptions 
of responsibility, obligation, virtue, and the sanctions of law, connect him with 
an economy which is utterly beyond the reach of the lower animals. In his in- 
tellectual, moral, and spiritual nature, he is supernatural to all beneath and 
around him. — lb., p. 345. 

Cicero. — This animal — prescient, sagacious, complex, acute, full of memory, 
reason, and counsel, which we call Man — has been generated by the supreme 
God in a most transcendent condition. For he is the only creature among all 
the races and descriptions of animated beings who is endued with superior 
reason and thought. And what is there, I do not say in man alone, but in all 
heaven and earth, more divine than reason? The Deity was pleased to create 
and adorn man to be the chief and president of all terrestrial creatures. The 
human mind, being derived from Divine Reason, can be compared with nothing 
but the Deity Himself. — De Leg., lib. I, c. 7 and 9; and Tusc, lib. V, c. 13. 

Gen. i: 28. — And God blessed Ihem and said unto them — Have dominion over the fish of the 
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

Prof. George Bush. — Man was invested with "dominion" over the animal 
tribes by being created with powers of a higher grade, such as gave him immense 
advantages over them, and made him capable, in great measure, of reducing 
them to subjection, and thus of making them subservient to his pleasure or use. 
— Notes on Genesis. 

M. Louis Figuier. — Intelligence and speech are really the attributes which 
constitute man ; these are the qualities which make him the most complete 
being in creation, and the most privileged of God's creatures. — L 1 Homme 
Primitif, p. 30. 

Prof. T. H. Huxley, F. R. S., F. L. S. — A great gulf intervenes between 
the lowest man and the highest ape in intellectual power. There is an im- 
measurable and practically infinite divergence of the human from the Simian 
stirps. There is an enormous gulf between them. No one is more strongly 
convinced than I am of the vastness of the gulf between civilized man and the 
brutes, or is more certain that, whether from them or not, he is assuredly not 
of them. He alone possesses the marvelous endowment of intelligible and 
rational speech, whereby, in the secular period of his existence, he has slowly 
accumulated and organized the experience which is almost wholly lost with the 
cessation of every individual life in other animals ; so that now he stands raised 
upon it as on a mountain top, far above the level of his humble fellows, and 
transfigured from his grosser nature by reflecting here and there a ray from the 
Infinite Source of truth. — Man' s Place in Nature, p. 120-132. 

Prof. Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL.D. — But man's chief glory lies in his 
moral nature — that is, in his power of distinguishing right and wrong, virtue 



GENESIS I. 39 

and vice ; feeling a satisfaction when he conforms to the one, and dissatisfac- 
tion when he yields to the other. This power assimilates him more than 
anything else to the Deity, whose approval of holiness and hatred of sin are 
infinitely strong. — Religious Truth Illustrated from Science, p. 207. 

Gen. i : 29. — And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the 
face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you 
it shall be for meat. 

William Fraser, LL.D. — Not until we enter upon the Tertiary period do we 
find flowers, amid which man might have profitably labored as a dresser of 
gardens, a tiller of fields, or a keeper of flocks and herds. Not, indeed, until 
late in this period is there any appearance of several orders and families of 
plants which are useful to man, and which contribute largely to his pleasure. 
Among these orders we may mention that of the Rosaceae, to which gardeners 
invariably look with unfailing interest. It includes the apple, the pear, the 
cherry, the plum, the peach, the apricot, the nectarine, the raspberry, the straw- 
berry; nor ought we to omit reference to those delight-giving and useful 
flowers, roses and potentillas, the history of which commenced with that of man. 
It is no less remarkable that the true grasses, a still more important order, 
including the grain-giving plants, oats, barley, wheat and others which sustain 
at least two-thirds of the human species, and which also, in their humble 
varieties, form the staple food of the grazing animals, do not appear until close 
on the human period. There are other plants, also, which add to man's comfort 
or gratify his senses, which are not found in the fossil state — lavender, mint, 
thyme, hyssop, basil, rosemary, marjoram. They have apparently been 
introduced to prepare for man their varied fragrance and virtues. 

There is distinct evidence of preparation for man in the distribution and 
adjustments of color, which alone must interest every student of the Bible and 
the natural sciences. The very appearance of all things has been adapted to 
the human constitution. — Blending Lights, p. 84-86. 

Gen. i : 30. — And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that 
creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat : and 
, it was so. 

Dr. William Fraser. — While plants draw their nourishment from the inor- 
ganic, animals cannot ; they live on the organic ; they utilize the materials which 
plants elaborate. — Blending Lights, p. 343. 

Gen. i : 31. — And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. 

G. Chaplin Child, M. D. — In whatever direction we survey the universe, we 
see that nothing is isolated, and no one thing exists without being adjusted to 
other things. All is in the most perfect harmony, and everything perfectly 
answers the end for which it was made. Creation is a Book written by the 
finger of God himself, and of which every page is filled to overflowing with 
illustrations of his wisdom ; it is a picture in which his goodness is painted in 
colors of perfect truth ; it is a sculpturing in which his power is expressed in 



40 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

marvels of form and harmony. Nothing that could be added, or that could be 
withdrawn, would make creation more perfect than it is. — Benedicite,p. 363, 367. 

THE CHALDEAN RECORD OF CREATION. 

Mr. George Smith, of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British 
Museum. — When excavating at Nineveh, in 1873, I discovered a fragment of a 
tablet, which I afterward recognized as a part of the Chaldean Story of the 
Creation. Continuing the work of excavation, I afterward found another por- 
tion belonging to this story, far more precious — in fact, I think, to the general 
public, the most interesting and remarkable cuneiform tablet yet discovered. 
This turned out to contain the story of man's original innocence, of the tempta- 
tion and the fall. These tablets we're composed of fine clay, and were inscribed 
with cuneiform characters while in a soft state; they were then, baked in a 
furnace until hard, and afterwards transferred to the royal library. Judging 
from the fragments discovered, there were probably in this library, at Nineveh, 
over 10,000 inscribed tablets of this kind, including almost every subject in 
ancient literature. Owing, however, to the vicissitudes through which they 
have passed — fire, and rains, and overturn ings — most of them are in a broken 
or mutilated condition, while others are in whole or in part altogether missing. 
The Story of Creation, as indicated by the fragments found, when complete, 
must have consisted of some dozen tablets at least. Those discovered were 
found in the debris which covers the palaces called the South West Palace, and 
the North Palace, at Kouyunjik, the former building being of the age of Senna- 
cherib, and the latter belonging to the time of Assurbanipal, who reigned over 
Assyria b. c. 670, and every copy of the Genesis legends yet found was inscribed 
during his reign. These tablets of Assurbanipal, it must be observed, are not 
the originals, but copies from far older texts. During the earlier ages of the 
world, the history of the creation of the universe and of the infancy of the human 
race was preserved in the form of traditions. Now, it appears from indications 
in the tablet inscriptions, that there happened in the interval from b. c. 2000 
to b. c. 1850, a general collecting and development of the various traditions 
of the Creation, Flood, Tower of Babel, and other similar legends. The tablets 
©f Assurbanipal relating the Story of Creation, which have just been discovered, 
were copies of these more ancient Babylonian texts, which must date at the 
lowest from the 18th century b. c. Hence his transcribers state that in some 
cases the old copies had become partly illegible even in their day. 

The fragment I found of the First Tablet of Creation gives a description of 
the void of chaos, and of the generation of the gods, and is as follows: 

" When the upper region was not yet called heaven, and the lower region 
was not yet called earth, and the abyss of Hades had not yet opened its arms, 
then the chaos of waters gave birth to all of them, and the waters were gathered 
into one place. No men yet dwelt together ; no animals yet wandered about ; 
none of the gods had yet been born ; their names were not spoken ; their 
attributes were not known," 



GENESIS I. £1 

This corresponds to the first two verses of the first chapter of Genes i : the 
beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form 
and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God 
moved upon the face of the waters. The correspondence between the inscrip- 
tion and the Scripture is here complete, both stating that a watery chaos pre- 
ceded the creation, and formed, in fact, the origin and groundwork of the uni- 
verse. We have here not only an agreement in sense, but, what is rarer, the 
same word used in both narratives as the name of this chaos, and given also in 
the account of Damascius. 

Next we have in the Inscription the creation of the gods Lahma and 
Lahama, personifications of motion and production, and correspond to the 
moving of the Spirit in Genesis. The next stage in the Inscription gives the 
production of Sar and Kisar, representing the upper expanse and the lower 'ex- 
panse. Here the text becomes so mutilated that little can be made out from it. 
The three next Tablets are absent altogether, there being only two doubtful 
fragments of this part of the story. One of these fragments refers to the estab- 
lishing of the dry land, and reads thus: 

''When the foundations of the ground of rock thou didst make, the foundation 
of the ground thou didst call . . . thou didst beautify the heaven ... to the 
face of the heaven . . . thou didst give. . ." 

The next recognizable portion of the Creation Story is the upper part of the 
Fifth Tablet, which gives the creation of the heavenly bodies, and runs parallel 
to the account of the Fourth day of creation in Genesis. Here is a translation 
of it: 

" He constructed dwellings for the great gods. He fixed up constellations, 
whose figures were like animals. He made the year. Into four quarters he 
divided it. Twelve months he established, with their constellations, three by 
three. And for the days of the year he appointed festivals. He made 
dwellings for the planets: for their rising and setting. And that nothing should 
go amiss, and that the course of none should be retarded, he placed with them 
the dwellings of Bel and Hea. He opened great gates, on every side : he 
made strong the portals, on the left hand and on the right. In the centre he 
placed luminaries. The moon he appointed to rule the night, and to wander 
through the night, until the dawn of day. Every month without fail he made 
holy assembly-days. In the beginning of the month, at the rising of the night, it 
shot forth its horns to illuminate the heavens. On the seventh dav he appointed 
a holy day, and to cease from all business he commanded. Then arose the 
sun in the horizon of heaven in glory." 

The colophon at the close of Tablet V. gives us apart of the first line of the 
Vlth Tablet, but not enough to determine its subject. It is probable that this 
dealt with the creation of the creatures of the water and fowls of the air. 

Of the next Tablet, the following is the only fragment that has yet been 
found : 

" When the gods in their assembly had created . . . were delightful the strong 



42 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

monsters .... they caused to be living creatures .... cattle of the field, 
beasts of the field, and creeping things of the field .... they fixed for the 
living creatures .... cattle and creeping things of the city they fixed .... 
the assembly of the creeping things the whole which were created .... which 
in the assembly of my family .... and the god Nin-si-ku caused to be two 
.... the assembly of the creeping things he caused to go ... . flesh 
beautiful .... pure presence .... pure presence." 

This tablet corresponds to the Sixth Day of Creation. It commences with a 
statement of the satisfaction a former creation, apparently that of the monsters 
or whales, had given (^Gen. i : 23). It then goes on to relate the creating of 
land animals, three kinds being distinguished, exactly agreeing with Genesis ;. 
and then we have a curious but broken account of Nin-si-ku creating two beings 
to be with the animals, the wording of the next fragmentary lines — " flesh 
beautiful. . . pure presence" — leading to the suspicion that this was the 
opening of the account of the creation of Man. 

On the next fragment we possess we have what appears to be an address of 
the Deity to the newly-created human pair. That on the obverse side of the 
tablet is spoken to the man, and is as follows: 

". . . . evil .... which is eaten by tV stomach .... in growing . . . . 
consumed .... extended, heavy . . . ly thou shalt speak .... and the 

support of mankind .... thee. Every day thy God thou shalt invoke, sacrifice, 
prayer of the mouth and instruments .... to thy God in reverence thou shalt 
carry. Whatever shall be suitable for divinity, supplication, humility, and bow 
ing of the face, fire thou shalt give to him, and thou shalt bring tribute, and in 
the fear also of God thou shalt be holy. In thy knowledge, and afterward in 
the writing, worship and goodness .... shall be raised. Sacrifice saving 
.... and worship .... the fear of God thou shalt not leave .... the fear 
of the angels thou shalt live in. . . . With friend and enemy speech shalt thou 
make .... under speech thou shalt make good. . . . When thou shalt speak 
also he will give. . . . When thou shalt trust also thou .... to enemy also 
.... thou shalt trust a friend .... thy knowledge also. ..." 

The reverse of this tablet, so far as the sense can be ascertained, appears to be 
addressed to the woman, informing her of her duties towards her partner : 

" . . . . Beautiful place also .... divide .... in beauty and .... thy hand 
.... and thou to the presence .... thee to the end, in the presence of beauty 
and .... thou shalt speak of thy beauty and .... beautiful and .... to give 
drink, circle I fill ... . his enemies his rising he seeks .... the man .... with 
the lord of thy beauty thou shalt be faithful ; to do evil thou shalt not approach 
him, at thy illness .... to him at thy distress. ..." 

The next fragment is a small one, but of importance, because it mentions a 
speech of Hea to man, and alludes to the dragon in connection with a revolt 
against the Deity. Connected with this fragment is the account of the curse 
after the fall. From this it appears that the dragon is included in the curse, 
and that the gods invoke on the head of the human family all the evils which 



GENESIS II. 43 

afflict the race. Wisdom and knowledge shall injure him — he shall have family 
quarrels — shall submit to tyranny — will anger the gods — he shall not eat of the 
fruit of his labor — he shall be disappointed in his desires — he shall pour out 
useless prayer — he shall have trouble of mind and body — he shall commit 
future sin. 

Such is the Babylonian Story of Creation, and which substantially agrees, as 
far as it is preserved, with the Biblical account. According to it, there was a 
chaos of watery matter before the creation, and from this all things were 
generated. We have then a considerable blank, the contents of which we can 
only conjecture, and after this we come to the creation of the heavenly orbs — 
the constellations of the stars, the signs of the zodiac, the planets, the moon 
and the sun. After another blank we have a fragment, which relates the crea- 
tion of wild and domestic animals, the latter being designated as the "animals 
of the city." Our next fragments refer to the creation of mankind, called 
Adam, as in the Bible ; he is made perfect, and instructed in his various 
religious duties ; but afterwards he joins with the dragon of the deep, the spirit 
of Chaos, and offends against his God, who curses him, and calls down on his 
head all the evils and troubles of humanity. — Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 
1 1-9 1, and 303. 

THE SABBATH. 

Gen. ii : 2, 3. — And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made : and he 
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh 
day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created 
and made. 

Sacred History. — The first Scriptural notice of the Sabbath is that at the 
close of the record of creation. It is next referred to, as is generally supposed, 
in the phrase respecting the sacrifices of Cain and Abel (Gen. iv : 3) : " In pro- 
cess of time ;" literally, "at the end of days." It is also to be traced in the 
narrative of the subsidence of the Flood (Gen. viii : 10) : "And he stayed yet 
other seven days." And we find it recognized by Laban the Syrian (Gen. 
xxix: 27) : " Fulfill her week." This division of time is a marked feature of 
the Mosaic law, and an institution clearly recognized down through all the 
history of the Jews, even to the present day. 

Babylonian Astronomical Tablets, compiled for Sargon, king of Agane, in 
the 16th century before Christ. — The moon a rest — on the 7th day, the 14th day, 
the 21st day, the 28th day — causes. — Trans, of Soc. of Bib. Arches. t Vol. III., 

P- 145- 

Babylonian Creation Tablet. — Every month without fail he made holy 
assembly days. In the beginning of the month, at the rising of the night, the 
moon shot forth its beams to illuminate the heavens. On the seventh day he 
appointed a holy day, and to cease from all business he commanded. — Trans, of 
Soc. of Bib. Arches., Vol. IV., p. 67. 

Francis Garden, M. A. — The antiquity of the division of time into weeks 
is so great, its observance so widespread, and it occupies so important a place 



44 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

in sacred things, that it has beenwery generally dated from the creation of man, 
who was told from the very first to divide his time on the model of the Creator's 
order of working and resting. The week and the Sabbath are, if this be so, as 
old as man himself; and we need not seek for reasons either in the human mind 
or the facts with which that mind comes in contact, for the adoption of such a 
division of time, since it is to be referred neither to man's thoughts nor to man's 
will. A purely theological ground is thus established for the Week, and for the 
sacredness of the seventh day. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, art. Week. 

Prof. B. B. Edwards. — The measuring of time by a day and night is pointed 
out to the common sense of mankind by the diurnal course of the sun. Lunar 
months and solar years are equally obvious to all rational creatures ; so that the 
reason why time has been computed by days, months, and years, is readily 
given ; but how the division of time into weeks of seven days, and this from the 
beginning, came to obtain universally among mankind, no man can account for, 
without having respect to some impressions on the minds of men from the con- 
stitution and law of nature, with the tradition of a sabbatical rest from the 
foundation of the world. Yet plain intimations of this weekly revolution of 
time are to be found in the earliest Greek poets — Hesiod, Homer, Linus — as 
well as among the nations of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. — 
Cyclop, of Religious Knowledge, p. 1039. 

Francis Garden, M. A. — The prevalence of the weekly division was very 
great. It was adopted by all the Shemitic races, and, in the latter period of 
their history at least, by the Egyptians. Across the Atlantic we find it, or a 
division all but identical with it, among the Peruvians. It also obtains now 
with the Hindoos, but its antiquity among them is a matter of question. It is 
possible that it was introduced into India by the Arabs and Mohammedans. So 
in China we find it, but whether universally or only among the Buddhists admits 
of doubt. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3490. 

Idem. — Six days' work and the seventh day's rest conform the life of man to 
the method of his Creator. In distributing his life thus, man may look up to 
God as his Archetype. God's rest consists in his seeing that all that he has 
made is very good; and man's works are in their measure and degree very good 
when a six days' faithful labor has its issue in a seventh of rest after God's pat- 
tern. — lb., p. 2761. 

Hesiod calls the seventh day, ''The splendid light of the sun;" and Homer 
characterizes it, "The sacred day." 

GARDEN OF EDEN. 

Gen. ii : 8-14. — And the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and there he put the man 
whom he had formed. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence 
it was parted and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison — of the second Gihon 
— of the third Hiddekel — and of the fourth Euphrates. 

Prof. J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — The last point that I think necessary 
to bring forward here, is the information which Geology gives as to the locality of 
the introduction of Man. There can be no hesitation in affirming that to the 



GENESIS II. 45 

temperate regions of the Old Continent belongs the honor of being the cradle 
of humanity. In these regions are the oldest historical monuments of our 
race; here geology finds the most ancient remains of human beings; here 
also seems to be the birth-place of the fauna and flora most useful and con- 
genial to man; and here he attains to his highest pitch of mental and physical 
development. In the preceding geological changes a region of western Asia 
had been prepared for his residence. It was a table-land at the head waters of 
the rivers that flow into the Euxine, the Caspian, and the Persian Gulf. Its 
climate was healthy and bracing, with enough of variety to secure vigor, and not 
so inclement as to exact any artificial provision for clothing or shelter. Its 
flora afforded abundance of edible fruits, and was rich in ail the beautiful forms 
of plant life; while its clear streams, alluvial soil, and undulating surface, 
afforded every variety of station and all that is beautiful in scenery. It was not 
infested with the more powerful and predacious quadrupeds, and its geographical 
relations were such as to render this exemption permanent. In this paradise 
Man found ample supplies of wholesome and nutritious food. His requirements 
as to shelter were met by the leafy bowers he could weave. The streams of Eden 
afforded gold which he could fashion for use and ornament, pearly shells for 
vessels, and agate for his few and simple cutting instruments. He required no 
clothing, and knew of no use for it. His body was the perfection and arch- 
etype of the vertebrate form, full of grace, vigor, and agility. His hands 
enabled him to avail himself of all the products of nature for use and pleasure, 
and to modify and adapt them according to his inclination. His intelligence, 
along with his manual powers, allowed him to ascertain the properties of things, 
to plan, invent and apply in a manner impossible to any other creature. His gift 
of speech enabled him to imitate and reduce to systematic language the sounds 
of nature, and to connect them with the thoughts arising in his own mind, and 
thus to express their relations and significance. Above all, his Maker had 
breathed into him a spiritual nature akin to his own, whereby he became differ- 
ent from all other animals, and the very shadow and likeness of God; capable of 
rising to abstractions and general conceptions of truth and goodness, and of 
holding communion with his Creator. This was Man Edenic, the man of the 
golden age, as sketched in the two short narratives of the earlier part of Genesis, 
which not only conform to the general traditions of our race on the subject, 
but bear to any naturalist who will read them in their original dress, internal 
evidence of being contemporary, or very nearly so, with the state of things to 
which they relate. — The Story of the Earth and Man, p. 373, 378, 379. 

Goguet. — When we examine with attention the manner in which Moses 
speaks of the abode of the first man, we cannot fail to recognize all the traits 
which characterize an exact geographical description. He says that the garden 
was situated in the land of Eden, towards the East ; that out of Eden there 
went forth a river, which divided itself into four branches. He describes the 
course of each of these streams, and names the countries which they watered: 
and not only this, but he enumerates the more conspicuous and characterizing 



46 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

productions which each of these countries offered to notice. He even specifies 
them in a particular manner ; he not only tells us that the land of Havilah pro- 
duces gold, but adds that the gold of that land was good. " There also," con- 
tinues he, "are found the bdellium and onyx-stone." Such details render it 
sufficiently evident that, long before the time of Moses, the science of Geography 
must have made some considerable progress. — Origine des Lois, Vol. I., p. 202. 

Gen. ii : 15. — And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress 

it and to keep it. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The first fact in the history of mankind, 
as placed before us in Genesis, is the primitive innocence of our race, and its 
existence in a delightful region— the abode of purity and happiness — for a cer- 
tain space after its creation. A remembrance of this blissful condition seems to 
have been, retained among a large number of peoples. (The following are 
examples.) — Historical J I lust, of the Old Test., p. 8. 

The Greeks. — In the Golden Age, men lived the life of the gods— a life free 
from care and without labor or sorrow. Old age was unknown ; the body never 
lost its vigor ; existence was a perpetual feast, without a taint of evil. The earth 
brought forth spontaneously all things that were good in profuse abundance, 
peace reigned, and men pursued their several employments without quarrel. 
Their happy life was ended by a death which had no pain, but fell upon them 
like a gentle sleeps — Hesiod Op. et D. II. 109-119. 

Plato. — It is said that there was once an earth-born race whom the Deity 
himself tended and watched over. They had fruit in abundance from many 
different trees, not grown by tilling, but given spontaneously by the earth. 
They lived, too, for the most part, naked — the temperament of the seasons not 
being painful to them. Theirs were soft beds of grass, springing up without 
grudging from the soil. The men of that time were ten -thousand -fold happier 
than those of the present. — Politic., c. 15, 16. 

The Ancient Magi. — In the Zendavesta, Yima, the first Iranic king, lives in 
a secluded spot, where he and his people enjoy uninterrupted happiness. Nei- 
ther sin, nor folly, nor violence, nor poverty, nor deformity have entrance into 
the region ; nor does the Evil Spirit for a while set 'foot there. Amid odorifer- 
ous trees and golden pillars dwells the beautiful race, pasturing their abundant 
cattle on the fertile earth, and feeding on an ambrosial food which never fails 
them. — Vendidael, Farg. ii. § 4-41. 

The Chinese. — In the ancient Books of this people we read that, during the 
period of the first heaven, the whole creation enjoyed a state of happiness: 
everything was beautiful ; everything was good ; all beings were perfect in their 
kind. In this happy age, heaven and earth employed their virtues jointly to 
embellish nature. There was no jarring in the elements, no inclemency in the 
air — all things grew without labor, and universal fertility prevailed. The active 
and passive virtues conspired together, without any effort or opposition, to 
produce and perfect the universe.— Faber's Hone Mosaicce, p. 146. 

The Hindoos. — The literature of this people tells of a " first age of the 



GENESIS III. 47 

world when justice, in the form of a bull, kept herself firm on her four feet ; 
virtue reigned ; no good which mortals possessed was mixed with baseness, and 
man, free from disease, saw all his wishes accomplished, and attained an age of 
four hundred years." — Kalisch, Com. on Gen., p. 64. 

Traces of a similar belief are found among the Thibetans, the Mongolians, 
the Cingales, and others. 

Gen. ii : 19. — And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every 
fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them : and whatsoever 
Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — We must not understand the 
Bible as picturing an Eden in which all the animals of the world were contained. 
This kind of representation belongs only to nursery toy-books. It is expressly 
said that man was placed in Eden with a selected group of animals as well as of 
plants, and these animals and plants were with him to spread the habitable earth, 
replacing everywhere those surviving from the Tertiary age. This is the Bible 
theory of the mode of the introduction of man, and it correspo7ids with geologi- 
cal fact, and with what we would a priori expect in the case of the introduction 
of any new and important type. In both records man is geologically modern, 
coming at the close of the great procession of animal life; and it is remarkable 
that geology concurs with revelation in not finding any new species introduced 
since the creation of man. — Nature and the Bible, p. 176. 

Sir Charles Lyell, F. R. S. — The study of the actual geographical distribu- 
tion of organic beings has led naturalists to adopt very generally the doctrine of 
specific centres, or, in other words, to believe that each species, whether of plant 
or animal, originated in a single birth-place. Species, and often genera, and 
still larger groups, have such a range in space as implies that they have spread in 
all directions from a limited area called a '-'centre of creation," until their pro- 
gress was stopped by some natural barriers, or conditions in the organic and inor- 
ganic world, hostile to their further extension. — Principles of Geology, Vol. II., 
P- 333> 33 6 - 

Gen. ii : 21, 22. — And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and 
' he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib which the Lord God 

had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 

Plato. — Our nature of old was not the same as it is now. It was then one 
man-woman; whose form and name partook of and was common to both the 
male and the female. Then Jupiter said, I will divide them into two parts.— 
Sympos., c. 14, 15. 

THE FALL OF MAN. 

Gen. iii : 1.— Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God 

had- made. 

W. Houghton, M. A., F. L. S.— It was an ancient belief, both amongst Ori- 
entals and the people of the Western world, that the serpent was endued with a 
large share of sagacity. The ancients give various reasons for regarding ser- 



48 > TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

pents as being endued with wisdom, as that one species, the Cerastes, hides itself 
in the sand, and bites the heels of animals as they pass; or that, as the head was 
considered the only vulnerable part, the serpent takes care to conceal it under 
the folds of the body. Serpents have in ail ages been considered as emblems of 
cunning craftiness. The particular wisdom alluded to by our Lord refers, it is 
probable, to the sagacity displayed by serpents in avoiding danger. The disci- 
ples were warned to be as prudent in not incurring unnecessary persecution. The 
Chinese consider the serpent as a symbol of superior wisdom and power, and as- 
cribe to the kings of heaven bodies of serpents. And in the Egyptian symboli- 
cal alphabet the serpent represents subtlety and cunning, lust and sensual pleas- 
ure. In the Zendavesta of Zoroaster, Ahriman or the lord of evil, who first 
taught men to sin, is represented under the guise of this reptile. — Smith's Diet, 
of Bible, p. 2928. 

Gen. iii : 4, 5. — And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth 
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, 
knowing good and evil. 

Plutarch. — It was a very ancient opinion, that there are certain wicked and 
malignant demons, who envy good men, and endeavor to hinder them in the 
pursuit of virtue, lest they should be partakers at last of greater happiness than 
they enjoy. — Pint. Dion., § 2. 

Gen. iii : 6, 7. — And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was 
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, 
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her ; and he did eat. And the eyes of them 
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. 

W. Fraser, LL. D. — Traditions of the fall of primitive man are almost as 
widespread as the human family. Their prevalence is utterly inexplicable, 
except through the Bible narrative. — Blending Lights, p. 134-136. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — Seeing that ail mankind are descended from 
one pair who were tempted to disobedience under the enticements of the ser- 
pent, and whose disobedience "brought death into the world, and all our woe," 
we should expect to find throughout the world variously corrupted traditions of 
that event. The fact that such traditions do exist, and that in them all the 
main ci unstances, as related by Moses, may be recognized, is of very material 
importance. The variations are not greater than might be expected to arise in 
the course of ages, among different nations, in different regions, under different 
degrees of cultivation, and within different systems of religious corruption. In- 
deed, taking these differences into account, the substantial agreement among 
them in the essential facts is wonderful, and can in no other way be accounted 
for than by the literal truth of the account of this event which the Scripture has 
given to us, and by the belief that, as Moses affirms, all the races of men have a 
common origin. — Bible llhist., Vol. I., p. 58. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — The races that have retained a remembrance 
of the primitive state of man have all of them a tradition of the Fall. With 
some the fall is more gradual than with others. The Greeks pass by gentle de- 



GENESIS III. 49 

grees from the golden age of primeval man to the iron one, which is the actual 
condition of human kind when the first writers lived. The Hindoos, similarly, 
bring man, through* a second and a third age, into that fourth one, which they 
recognize as existing in their day. But with some races the Fall is sudden. 
In the Edda, corruption is suddenly produced by the blandishments of strange 
women, who deprive men of their pristine integrity and purity. In the Thibe- 
tan, Mongolian, and Cingalese traditions, a similar result is brought about by the 
spontaneous development of a covetous temper. In the earliest of the Persian 
books, the Fall would seem to be gradual ; but in the later writings, which are of an 
uncertain date, a narrative appears which is most strikingly in accordance with 
that of Genesis. The first man and the first woman live originally in purity 
and innocence. Perpetual happiness is promised to them by Ormazd, if they 
persevere in their virtue. They dwell in a garden, wherein there is a tree, on 
whose fruit they feed, which gives them life and immortality. But Ahriman, the 
Evil Principle, envying their felicity, causes another tree to spring up in the 
garden, and sends a wicked spirit, who, assuming the form of a serpent, per- 
suades them to eat its fruit, and this fruit corrupts them. Evil .feelings stir in 
their hearts ; Ahriman becomes the object of their worship instead of Ormazd ; 
they fall under the power of demons, and become a prey to sin and misery. — 
Historical Illustrations of the Old Test., p. n. 

Lamaism. — Then were men holy, invisibly nourished and possessing the power 
of ascending at pleasure to the skies. In an evil hour the earth produced a kind 
of manna, a honey-sweet substance; a glutton ate of it, and seduced the rest of 
mankind to v follow his example. From that time, man lost his happiness and 
innocence. His body became gross. His commerce with the skies was passed. 
His days were shortened ; and his stature no longer attained its original gigan- 
tic proportions. In time, the manna failed, and man resorted by degrees to 
food more and more gross; and, at last, all virtue fled the world, and wicked- 
ness prevailed. Eventually the spontaneous increase of the earth no longer 
sufficed, and man began with labor and sorrow to till the ground. — Palas* 
Travels, Vol. I., p. 334. 

.Chinese Mythology. — Man, in the beginning, was obedient to the gods. 
His state was one of innocence and happiness. There was no sickness, no 
death. He was good and wise by nature. He was all spirit. But his strong 
desire for knowledge, with the temptation of the woman, was his ruin. Man 
held no more power over himself; lust and passion gained the ascendency over 
him, and he lost his intellectual pre-eminence. All beasts and birds and rep- 
tiles now waged war against him; and as he acquired science, all creatures 
became his enemies. — Memoires Chinoises, Vol. L, p. 107. 

Vishnu Pijrana. — The beings who were created by Brama were, at first, en- 
dowed with righteousness and perfect faith. They abode wherever they pleased, 
unchecked by any impediment. Their hearts were free from guile; they were 
pure, made free from soil by the observance of the sacred institutes. In their 
sanctified minds Hari dwelt; and they were filled with perfect wisdom, where- 



50 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

with they contemplated the glory of Vishnu. After a time, that portion of Hari 
which has been described as one with Kala, infused into created beings sin, as 
yet feeble, though formidable, and passion, and the like. The impediment of 
the soul's liberation — the seed of iniquity — arose from darkness and desire. The 
innate perfectness of human nature was then no more evolved. All the perfec- 
tions were impaired, and these becoming feeble, sin gained strength, and mortals 
became subject to pain. — Professor Horace Wilsoris Tra?islatio?i. 

Gen. iii : 15. — And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her- 
seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 

Egyptian Monuments. — On the monuments of Egypt there not unfrequently 
occurs the figure of a man in regal costume (probably an incarnate deity), pierc- 
ing with a spear the head of a large serpent — remarkably suggestive of a tradition 
of the prophecy that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." 
— Tristram's Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 280. 

Temples of India. — In one of the most ancient pagodas of India is a figure 
of Chreeshna, one of the Avatars of Vishnu, trampling on the crushed head of a 
serpent, the kali-naga, or black snake — it is his triumph. In another figure, the 
serpent is seen compassing Chreeshna with its folds, and biting his heel. In all 
this, and much more, we cannot fail to perceive adumbrated the remarkable 
prediction which accompanied the fall of man. — Murray's Truth of Revel. 
De77ionstrated, p. 197. 

Ancient Coins. — In a Tyrian coin, a serpent appears twisted around a tree, 
with z.petra ambrosiana on either side. Ancient coins of Athens, from their 
figures, appear associated with the same mythological belief — on them is repre- 
sented a human figure in connection with the serpent-god. And on an early 
Roman coin is represented a female with a mural crown, a palm branch in her 
hand, and a dove by her side; she is trampling on a serpent. — lb., p. 199, 200. 

Gen. iii : 17-19. — Unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, 
and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed 
is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns also and 
thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of 
thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for 
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt .thou return. 

The Nineveh Creation Tablets. — Hea called his assembly. He said to the 
gods his sons, .... I made them .... shall not stretch until before he turns. 
Their wickedness I am angry at, their punishment shall not be small, I will look 
to judge the people, in their stomach let food be exhausted, above let Vul drink 
up his rain, let the lower regions be shut up, and the floods not be carried in the 
streams, let the ground be hardened which was overflown, let the growth of corn 
cease, may blackness overspread the fields, let the plowed fields bring forth 
thorns, may the cultivation be broken up, food not arise, and it not produce; 
may distress be spread over the people, may favor be broken off, and good not 
be given. — Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 154. 



GENESIS IV. 53 

Gen. iii : 24. — So he drove out the man : and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cheru- 
bim and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. 

Mr. George Smith, British Museum. — The tree of life, in Genesis, .certainly 
appears to correspond to the sacred grove of Anu, which the following fragment 
states was guarded by a sword turning to all the four points of the compass. 

Chaldean Tablet, describing the battle between Bel, Creator and Lord of the 
world j and the Dragon : 

11 ... . and with it his right hand he armed. His flaming sword heraised 
in his hand. He brandished his lightnings before him. A curved scymitar he 
carried on his body. And he made a sword to destroy the dragon, which turned 
four ways; so that none could avoid its rapid blows. It turned to the south, to 
the north, to the east, and to the west." — Chaldean Account of Genesis ; p. 
88 and 96. 

DEVELOPMENT OF TRADES AND ARTS. 

Gen. iv : 2, 20, 21, 22. — Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. — Jabal 
was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. — Jubal was the father of 
all such as handle the harp and organ. — Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass 
and iron. 

Archbishop Richard Whateley, D. D. — The process by which men emerged 
from their primitive state, and gradually invented the various arts of life, has 
been supposed to be this : One man, wishing to save himself the trouble of 
roaming through the woods in search of wild plants and roots, would bethink 
himself of collecting the seeds of these, and cultivating them in a plot of ground 
cleared and broken up for the purpose. And finding that he could thus raise 
more than enough for himself, he might agree with some of his neighbors to 
exchange a part of his produce for some of the game or fish taken by them. 
Another man, again, it has been supposed, would contrive to save himself the 
labor and uncertainty of hunting by catching some kind of wild animals alive, 
and keeping them in an inclosure to breed, that he might have a supply always 
at hand. And again, others, it is supposed, might devote themselves to the 
occupation of dressing skins for clothing, or of building huts* or canoes, or of 
making bows and arrows, or various kinds of tools, each exchanging his produc- 
tions with his neighbors for food. And each, by devoting his attention to some 
one kind of manufacture, would acquire increased skill in that, and would strike 
out new inventions. And then, these having in this way become divided into 
husbandmen, shepherds, and artisans of several kinds, would begin to enjoy the 
various advantages of division of labor, and would advance, step by step, in all 
the arts of civilized life. — Exeter Hall Lects., 9-1 1. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The early invention of the arts, recorded 
in Genesis iv., is in harmony with the Greek tradition, according to which 
Prometheus, in the infancy of our race, not only ''stole fire from heaven," but 
taught men "all the arts, helps and ornaments of life," especially the working 
in metals. It is in equal agreement with the Babylonian legend of Oannes, who, 
long before the Flood, instructed the Chaldeans both in art and in science, "so 



54 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

that no grand discovery was ever made afterwards." And it receives confirma- 
tion from the fact that, both in Egypt and in Babylonia, the earliest extant 
remains, which go back to a time that cannot be placed long after the Flood, 
show signs of a tolerably advanced civilization, and particularly of the posses- 
sion of metallic tools and implements. — Historical Illust. of the Old Test., p. 14. 

LONGEVITY OF THE ANTEDILUVIANS. 

Gen. v: 5-32. — And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he 
died. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years : and he died. And all 
the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years : and he died. — Etc. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — Patriarchal longevity presents itself as one of 
the most striking of the facts concerning mankind which the early history of 
the Book of Genesis places before us. Objections have been brought against it 
on grounds which are called scientific. But these have little weight, as they have 
failed to convince such men as Haller and BurTon. Now it is beyond a doubt 
that there is a large amount of consentient tradition to the effect that the life of 
man was originally far more prolonged than it is at present, extending to at least 
several hundred years. The Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese exaggerated 
these hundreds into thousands. The Greeks and Romans, with more modera- 
tion, limited human life within a thousand or eight hundred years. The 
Hindoos still further shortened the term. Their books taught that in the first 
age of the world, man was free from diseases, and lived ordinarily four hundred 
years ; in the second age the term of life was reduced from four hundred to 
three hundred ; and in the third it became two hundred ; and in the fourth and 
last it was brought down to one hundred. So certain did the fact appear to the 
Chinese, that an Emperor who wrote a medical work proposed an inquiry into 
the reasons why the ancients attained to so much more advanced an age than 
the moderns. — Hist. Illust. of the Old Test., p. 13. 

The Maha-wansi, of Budhism. — At that time all beings lived an assankaya 
of years (incredible number of years) ; no sin was in the world ; the immense 
duration of their life caused men to forget their birth, and to be unmindful of 
their death ; they knew not the infirmities of life nor the miseries of the world. 
They derided the very deities, as these were not the fortunate partakers of such 
a length of days ; so that at that time the life of mankind in this world outlasted 
the existence of the gods. — Upham's Literal Translation. 

Josephus. — Let no one upon comparing the lives of the ancients with our 
lives, and with the few years which we now live, think that what we have said 
of them is false; or make the shortness of our lives at present an argument, 
that neither did they attain to so long a duration of life. I have for wit- 
nesses to what I have said, all those that have written antiquities, both among 
the Greeks and Barbarians ; for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian his- 
tory, and Berosus, who collected the Chaldean monuments, and Mochus and 
Hestiseus, and besides these Hieronymus the Egyptian, and those that composed 
the Phenician history, agree to what I here say. Hesiod also, and Hecataeus, 



GENESIS VI. 55 

and Hellanicus, and Acusilaus ; and besides these, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate 
that the ancients lived a thousand years. — Antiquities, B. L, chap. 3, § 9. 

GIANTS. 

Gen. vi: 4. — There were giants (nephilim) in the earth in those days; and also after that, when 
the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same 
became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 

Prof. George Bush. — Nephilim — by the Greeks, this class of men are termed 
Gigantes, from two words, signifying to be born of the earth; a term from which 
we learn both the origin and the import of the English word "giant." The 
giants of the ancient mythology are fabled to have sprung from the earth, from 
some broken traditions respecting these antediluvian apostates, who, in the 
sense of being earthly, sensual, vile, despising heavenly things, might be justly 
denominated "earth-born." — Notes on Genesis. 

Plutarch. — Those times produced men of strong and indefatigable powers of 
body, and of extraordinary swiftness and agility; but they applied those powers 
to nothing just or useful; on the contrary, their genius, their disposition, and 
their pleasures, tended only to insolence, to violence and rapine. — Thes., c. 6. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S., F. G. S. — The oldest men whose 
remains have been found are not of a different species from modern men, but, on 
the contrary, are nearly allied to the most widely distributed modern race; 
while their great stature and physical power remind us of the Nephilim, or 
Giants, of Genesis. They testify, in short, to a specific identity and common 
descent of all men; and their great bodily development, accompanied probably 
with great longevity, is such as geological facts would lead us to anticipate in 
the case of a new type recently introduced, rather than in one which had de- 
scended through a long course of struggle for existence from an inferior an- 
cestry. — Nature and the Bible, p. 177. 

J. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — All nations have had a dim fancy that the 
aborigines who preceded them, and the earliest men generally, were of immense 
stature. Berosus says that the ten antediluvian kings of Chaldea were giants. 
That we are dwarfs compared to our ancestors was a common belief among the 
Latin and Greek poets. — In Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 911. 

THE DELUGE. 

Gen. vi: 5, 13, 14, 15. — And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and 
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And God said 
unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence 
through them ; and behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an Ark of gophei 
wood. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. 

Hesiod. — (Speaking of those of the silver or second age of the world) — 
Their frantic follies wrought them pain and woe; 
Nor mutual outrage would their hand forego ; 



56 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Nor would they serve the gods, nor altars raise, 

That in just cities shed their holy blaze. 

Them angry Jove ingulfed, who dared refuse 

The gods their glory and their sacred dues. 

Oper. et Dier. v. 126. 
Aratus. — What an unworthy and degenerate race 

Our golden sires bequeathed ! 

Phenom., v. 123. 
Prof. H. B. Hackett, Trevor Hall. — The history of the great wickedness 
of men, and of a genera, inundation, as related in the Mahabharata and other 
Indian Asiatic writings, affords an unmistakable agreement with the Mosaic 
writings. In the translation of a part of that work out of the Sanskrit, the em- 
inent orientalist, Prof. Bopp, states the substance of the story as follows : — 
"The Lord of creatures, Brahma, the highest existence, appeared to a pious 
king named Manus, and announced to him the impending deluge, which was to 
destroy everything. He commanded him to build a ship, and in the time of 
danger to enter it, and to take with him seeds of all kinds, as they would be 
named to him, separated from one another. Manus obeyed the command of 
the Deity, and brought all seeds into the ship, into which he himself then entered. 
But the ship, guided by the Deity, swam many years upon the sea, until it 
finally settled upon the highest summit of the mountain Himawan, when it was 
bound fast at the command of the Deity. And from Manus descends the 
present race of mankind." — Bibl. Sacra, XXII. , 422. 

Polynesian Traditions. — Traditions of the Deluge have been found to exist 
among the natives of the South Sea Islands, from the earliest periods of their 
history. The principal facts are the same in the traditions prevailing among 
the inhabitants of the different groups, although they differ in several minor 
particulars. In one group, the accounts stated that Taarsa — the principal god, 
according to their mythology — being angry with men on account of their disobe- 
dience to his will, overturned the world into the sea, when the earth sunk in the 
waters, excepting a few projecting points, which, remaining above its surface, 
constituted the present cluster of Islands. — Ellis' Polynesian Researches, Vol. 
II., p. 57, etc. 

Chaldean Tradition. — During the reign of Xisuthrus, in the tenth genera- 
tion of mankind, the god Chronos appeared to this king in a vision, and warned 
him that, on the fifteenth day of the month Dasius, there would be a flood, by 
which mankind would be destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to build a 
vessel, and take with him into it his friends and relations, and to convey on 
board everything necessary to sustain life, together with all the different animals, 
both birds and quadrupeds, and to trust himself fearlessly to the deep. In obe- 
dience to these directions, Xisuthrus built a vessel five stadia (nearly three 
quarters of a mile) in length, and two in breadth, into which he put everything 
he had prepared, and last of all went into it himself, with his wife, children and 
friends. — Cory's Ancient Pragments. 



GENESIS VI. 57 

Greek Mythology. — There was another race of men before the present, 
which owes its origin to Deucalion. The first race of men were a fierce and 
haughty people, who committed most heinous iniquities. For this a horrible 
calamity came over them. All at once the waters burst forth from all parts of 
the earth, and floods of rain came down from above, till the earth was covered 
with water, and all mankind perished. Deucalion alone was preserved, on 
account of his piety and uprightness, for the propagation of a new race. He 
had a very large chest, into which he packed his wives and children, and last of 
all went in himself. Just as he was entering, there came running to him all 
kinds of wild beasts and creeping things, pair-wise. He took them all in, and 
Jupiter instilled into them such peaceful dispositions that they did him no harm, 
but lived in the most peaceful accord together, and were thus preserved in the 
chest, as in a ship, so long as the flood lasted. — Lucian, De Dea Syria. 

Asiatic Indian Traditions. — In ancient times, the god Vishnu appeared to 
the sun-born monarch, Satyavrata, in the form of a fish, and said : "In seven 
days all creatures that have offended me shall be destroyed by a deluge, but 
thou shalt be preserved in a capacious vessel miraculously formed. Take there- 
fore all kinds of medicinal herbs and esculent grains for food, and, together 
with seven holy men, your respective wives, and pairs of all animals, enter the 
ark without fear." Satyavrata conformed himself to these directions, when, 
after seven days, the floods descended and drowned the world. — Sir William 
Jones' Asiatic Researches, Vol. II., p. 116, 117. 

Chinese Tradition. — Fa-he, the reputed founder of Chinese civilization, is 
represented as escaping from the waters of a deluge ; and he reappears as the 
first man at the production of a renovated world, attended by his wife, three 
sons, and three daughters. — Hard wick's Christ and Other Masters, Part III., 
p. 16. 

American Traditions. — Traditions of the Flood are, if possible, more com- 
mon in the New World than in the Old. The form in which the natives relate 
them agrees so strikingly with the traits of the Bible History, that we cannot 
blame the astonished Spaniards, the first European discoverers, if they were 
ready to believe, on account of these and similar traditions, that the Apostle 
Thomas must have preached Christianity there. — Prof. Hackett's Translation 
from Auberlen. 

Mexican Tradition. — This people had a tradition that a deluge had 
destroyed all animals, with the exception of one man and his wife, who escaped 
in the hollow trunk of an Ahahuete, or cypress tree ; and that, after this, they 
had a numerous race of children born to them. — Humboldt's Vues des Cordil- 
leras, p. 26, 206, 207. 

Mechoachan Tradition. — This nation, neighbors to the Mexicans, believed 
that mankind, becoming forgetful of their duties and origin, were punished by 
a universal deluge, from which the priest Tezpi, and his wife and children, were 
alone preserved. He shut himself up in a large chest of wood, into which he 
put all kinds of animals and useful seeds. When the Great Spirit ordered the 



58 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

waters to subside, Tezpi sent out a bird called Aura, which, finding .food in 
dead carcasses, returned; then several other birds, till at length the humming- 
bird returned with a branch in his beak. — Humboldt's Researches, Vol. II., 
P- 6 5- . 

The Great Lake Tribes' Tradition.— These believe that the father of all 
their Tribes originally dwelt towards the setting sun, where, being warned in a 
dream that a Flood was coming, he built a Raft, on which he preserved his own 
family, and the whole of the animal world. The Raft drifted for many months 
upon the waters, till at length a new earth was made, and man and the animals 
placed upon it. — Thatcher's Indian Traits, II., 148, 149. 

Gen. vi : 9. — Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations; and Noah walked with God. 

Hesiod. — The sea gave Nereus life, unerring seer 

And true ; most ancient of his race, whom all 
Hail as the sage, for mild and blameless he : 
Remembering still the right, still merciful 
As just in counsels. 

Theog., v. 233. 

Ovid. — (Speaking of the survivors of the Flood, says) — 
The most upright of mortal men was he, 
The most sincere and holy woman she. 

Metam., Lib. I., v. 322. 

Gen. vii : 7. — And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into 

the ark. 

Chinese Tradition. — Fa-he, the father and founder of the nation, after 
escaping the perils of the Flood, reappeared as the first man at the production 
of the renovated world, attended by his wife, three sons, and three daughters 
(daughters-in-law). — Hardwick's Christ and Other Masters, Part III., p. 16. 

Figi Tradition. — The Figi Islanders have a very clear and distinct tradition 
of a deluge, from which one family only, eight in number, was saved in a 
canoe. — Hardwick, III., p. 185. 

Gen. vii: II, 12, 19. — In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seven- 
teenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, 
and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and 
forty nights. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills, 
that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 

The Compiler. — Geology offers proofs that a Deluge was possible. — The devel- 
opments of geology abundantly demonstrate that the occurrence of a deluge is 
quite possible, and entirely credible. Infidels were wont to argue that all the 
waters of the earth were altogether insufficient to overflow the land — and, in 
fact, that ocean must be heaped upon ocean to do so. But this bold and seem- 
ingly decisive objection against the Mosaic Deluge, like many others, has 
vanished before the progress of science. It is now proved, and conceded by 
every intelligent man, that any region, however elevated above the level of the 



GENESIS VII. 59 

sea, may, by subsidence of that region, be laid beneath its waters; and that, as 
a matter of fact, every portion of the earth's surface has once and again been 
the bed of the ocean. In the Cretaceous or Chalk Period, Europe was but an 
archipelago, by far the larger portion of its present area being submerged, as 
was also that of Asia, while the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Himalayas did but 
just lift their tops above the general level of the waters. And since that period, 
the British Isles and the proximate parts of the continent have been upheaved 
and submerged, again and again. — Present Confl. of Sci. with Religion, 509. 

Geology furnishes examples and illustrations of a Deluge. — At one of the 
most charming spots on the coast of Norfolk, England, you will see the boulder 
clay forming a vast mass, which lies upon the chalk, and must consequently 
have come into existence after it. Interposed between the chalk and the drift 
is a comparatively insignificant layer, containing vegetable matter. But that 
layer tells a wonderful history. It is full of stumps of trees, standing as they 
grew. Fir-trees are therewith their cones, and hazel bushes with their nuts ; 
there stand the stools of oak and yew-trees, beeches and alders. Hence, this 
stratum is appropriately called the "forest bed." It is obvious that the chalk 
must have been upheaved and converted into dry land, before the timber trees 
could grow upon it. As the bolls of some of these trees are from two to three 
feet in diameter, it is no less clear that the dry land thus formed remained in 
the same condition for long ages. And not only do the remains of stately oaks 
and well-grown firs testify to the duration of this condition of things, but addi- 
tional evidence to the same effect is afforded by the abundant remains of 
elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, and other great wild beasts. When you 
look at a collection of such remains, and bethink you that these elephantine 
bones did veritably carry their owners about, and these great grinders crunch, 
in the dark woods of which the " forest bed " is now the only trace, it is impos- 
sible not to feel that they are as good evidence of the lapse of time as the 
annual rings of the tree-stumps. 

Thus there is a writing upon the wall of the cliffs of Norfolk, and whoso runs 
may read it. It tells us, with an authority that cannot be impeached, that the 
ancient sea-bed of the chalk sea was raised up, and remained dry land, until it 
was covered with forest, stocked with the great game whose spoils have rejoiced 
your geologists. How long it remained in that condition cannot be said; but 
"the whirligig of time brought its revenges" in those days as in these. The 
dry land, with the bones and teeth of generations of long-lived elephants, hidden 
away among the gnarled roots and dry leaves of its ancient trees, sank gradually 
to the bottom of the icy sea, which covered it with I^uge masses of drift and 
boulder clay. Sea-beasts, such as the walrus, now restricted to the extreme 
north, paddled about where birds had twittered among the topmost twigs of the 
fir-trees. How long this state of things endured we know not, but at length it 
came to an end. The upheaved glacial mud hardened into the soil of modern 
Norfolk. Forests grew once more, the wolf and the beaver replaced the rein- 
deer and the elephant; and at length what we call the history of England 
dawned. — Huxley's Lay Sermons, No. IX. 



60 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Geology points to specific Facts corroborative of the Mosaic Deluge. — As we 
have already stated, says M. Figuier, there is very distinct evidence of two suc- 
cessive deluges in our hemisphere, during the Quaternary Epoch. The two may 
be distinguished as the Eu?-opean Deluge, and the Asiatic Deluge. The European 
Deluge occurred prior to the appearance of man; the Asiatic Deluge happened 
after that event ; and the Human Race, then in the early days of its existence, 
certainly suffered from this cataclysm. — World Before the Deluge, 367. 

In the Post-glacial Era, relates Principal Dawson, the land had reached its 
maximum elevation, but its foundations, " standing in the water and out of the 
water," were not yet securely settled; and it had to take one more plunge-bath 
before attaining its modern fixity. This seems to have been a comparatively 
rapid subsidence and re-elevation, leaving but slender traces of its occurrence, 
but changing to some extent the levels of the continents, and failing to restore 
them fully to their former elevation, so that large areas of the lower grounds still 
remained under the sea. If, as the greater number of geologists now believe, 
man was then on the earth, it is not impossible that this constituted the Deluge 
recorded in the remarkable " log-book " of Noah preserved to us in Genesis, and 
of which the memory remains in the traditions of most ancient nations. This is 
at least the geological deluge which separates the Post-glacial period from the 
modern, and the earlier from the later pre-historic period of the archaeologists. 
I have long thought that the narrative in Gen. vii. and viii. can be understood 
only on the supposition that it is a contemporary journal or " log" of an eye- 
witness incorporated by the author of Genesis in his work. The dates of the 
rising and fall of the water, the note of soundings over the hill-tops when the 
maximum was attained, and many other details, as well as the whole tone of the 
narrative, seem to require this supposition, which also removes all the difficulties 
of interpretation which have been so much felt. — Story of Earth and Man, 290. 

Geology shows the means and manner in which the Deluge might have been 
produced. — If we take a slender brass or iron hoop, and with the finger press it 
inward at any point, it will necessarily bulge out on either side in proportion to 
the depression made by the finger; and conversely, if we push it outward, the 
parts on this side and on that side of the point of pressure will sink or be drawn 
inward. Now similar results are produced in the earth's crust by the pressure 
of subterranean forces; the elevation by these of a continent, or of any consid- 
erable part of a continent, will be attended by a corresponding depression of the 
bed of the adjoining ocean ; or, the elevation of that ocean's bed will necessarily 
be followed by a depression of the continent. This is not mere theory, but an 
established fact. At this present time, while Scandinavia on one side of the 
North Atlantic is steadily rising from its waters, Greenland on the other side is 
as steadily sinking into them. This fact may help us to a conception of the 
manner in which the Noahian deluge was brought about. 

Noah, and the living creatures to be preserved with him, having been safely 
lodged in the ark, and the fatal hour decreed having arrived, let us suppose that, 
at the behest of Omnipotence, the ocean beds encompassing that region of the 



GENESIS VII. 61 

globe inhabited by the antediluvians had been elevated step by step by the re- 
peated impulses of subterranean forces, occurring, as they often do, at intervals 
of one. two, or three days ; and that at the same time the whole of that region, 
and to a distance beyond, had subsided at the same rate : what would have been 
the consequences of all this ? what would have taken place in the ocean, and what 
would have befallen the land and its inhabitants? The answer is obvious — the 
waters of the ocean, on every side, in far-reaching and tumultuous waves, would 
have rushed in upon the land, as if "the fountains of the great deep had been 
broken up." 

It was in some such manner as this, we may suppose, the Noahian deluge was 
brought about ; at any rate, many of our eminent geologists hold that some of 
the formidable cataclysms of the Pre-Adamite periods were occasioned in this 
way, by the sudden upheaval of vast tracts of the sea-bed, which, by displacing 
great bodies of water, and rolling them outwards in the form of enormous waves, 
inundated wide regions, elevated hundreds of feet over the ocean level, and 
strewed them over with the clays, gravels and organic remains of deep sea-bottoms. 

It is further worthy of notice, as evidence of the accuracy of Scripture history, 
that just such rains as are indicated by the forcible expression, " the windows 
of heaven were opened," are the usual concomitants of convulsions and cata- 
clysms, such as was the Deluge. "Subterranean movements and volcanic 
eruptions," says Sir Charles Lyell (Principles, I, 595), "are often attended not 
only by incursions of the sea, but also by viole?it rains ." — Present Conflict of 
Science with Religion, p. 529, 534, 535. 

David King, LL. D. — It is now proved and conceded that vast regions of the 
earth have been laid under water, and that such events as the deluge have 
incontrovertibly happened. It is of great consequence to observe that 
deluges are thus shown to be a part of the course of nature. When this is 
admitted, and no one now denies it, all that we are required to believe in regard 
to the Noahian deluge is that God, in a particular instance, employed, in a very 
signal manner, his natural and usual administration to fulfil his moral purposes. 
Principles of Geology Explained, p. 65. 

Gen. vii : 21, 22, 23. — And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, 
and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man : 
all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And 
Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 

Lycophron. — Jove spread the sluices of the skies 

In wild uproar : Earth heard the billows break 

About her, and above ; high palaces 

Came crashing down ; and the pale sons of men 

Swam, and saw death in every swelling wave. 

On fruits, and acorns, and the growth of grapes, 

Sea-monsters batten' d : e'en upon that couch 

Where luxury had languished, cumbrous forms, 

Dolphins, and ores, wallowed unwieldily. — Cassand., v. 79. 



62 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

The Compiler. — Such is the Scripture account of the most terrible catastrophe 
that has befallen our world since it has been inhabited by man — an event so 
appalling that it so strongly impressed itself on the mind of the race that it has 
never been forgotten, but has lived and floated down through the ages, in one 
form or another, in the traditions of all the branches of the human family. 
The mythologies and histories of all the ancient nations are full of the remem- 
brances of it. It is described in the stories of the Greeks, and sung in the 
verses of the Latins. Its memory is enshrined in the sacred books of the Parsee, 
the Brahmin and the Mahommedan, and has been assigned a place in the 
Legend of the Scandinavian, and in the mythic records of the Chinaman. s 
symbols are found stamped on the coins of ancient Greece, may be traced 
amid the hoary hieroglyphics of Egypt, recognized in the sculptured caves of 
Hindoostan, and detected even in the pictured writings of Mexico. In Cuba 
and Tahiti, on the banks of the Orinoco, on the Pampas of Brazil, in the 
mountains of Peru, and in the Islands of the Pacific, the traveller has met with 
traces or traditions of the Flood, the Ark, and the rescue of the Favored Few. 
"The tradition of the Flood," says Hugh Miller, "may be properly regarded 
as universal, seeing there is scarcely any considerable race of man among which, 
in some of its forms, it is not to be found." And Humboldt speaking of this 
fact says : " These ancient traditions of the human race, which we find dispersed 
over the whole surface of the globe, like the relics of a vast shipwreck, are 
highly interesting in the philosophical study of our own species. How many 
different tongues, belonging to branches that appear totally distinct, transmit 
to us the same facts. The traditions concerning races that have been destroyed, 
and the renewal of nature, scarcely vary in reality, though every nation gives 
them a local coloring. In the great continents, as in the smallest islands of 
the Pacific Ocean, it is always on the nearest and loftiest mountain that the 
remains of the human race have been saved ; and this event appears the more 
recent in proportion as the nations are uncultivated, and as the knowledge they 
have of their own existence has no very remote date." So long as the descend- 
ants of Noah remained together in one region, the story of the Deluge would be 
one and the same among all. But as they multiplied and became dispersed, the 
account which the different tribes carried with them would unavoidably grow 
more or less blurred, and in time more or less distorted, as affected by the events 
of their own history, and by the features of their respective localities, till, though 
retaining the main facts, it assumed the varied forms and colorings in which 
we now find it among the different nations of the globe. In these widespread 
but wonderfully concurrent traditions, therefore, we have a remarkable corrobor- 
ation of the sacred history ; for on no other ground can we rationally or credibly 
account for them, than that they have had their origin in one and the same 
event — the Deluge of the Bible. — Present Conflict of Science with Religion, 503. 
Gen. viii : 1.— And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. 
Pindar. — In tales of ancient lore 'tis said 

O'er earth, the whelming waters spread, 



GENESIS VIII. 63 

Urged all their congregated force. 

But Jove's high will his headlong course 

Bade the usurping foe restrain, 

And sink absorbed the refluent main. — Olymp., IX., 75. 

Gen. viii : 4. — And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, 

upon the mountains of Ararat. 

Mahabharata. — The ship, guided by the deity, swam many years upon the 
sea, until it finally settled upon the highest summit of the mountain Himawdn 
(Himalaya), when it was bound fast at the command of the deity. This summit 
is therefore still named at this day Nau Bandhanann (/. e., ship-binding) ; and 
from Manus descends the present race of mankind. — Prof. Bopp's Translation 
from the Sanskrit. 

Nicolaus. — There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called 
Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge 
were saved ; and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore on the top 
of it, and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved. — Quoted 
in Josephus, Antiquities, B. L, Chap. 3, §6. 

Berosus. — But there was one among those ancient giants that reverenced the 
gods, and was more wise and prudent than all the rest. This man, fearing the 
destruction, which he foresaw from the stars, would come to pass, began, in the 
seventy-eighth year before the inundation, to build a ship covered like an ark. 
Seventy-eight years from the time he began to build this ship, the ocean of a 
sudden broke out, and all the inland seas and the rivers and fountains bursting 
from beneath, attended by the most violent rains from heaven for many days, 
overflowed all the mountains, so that the whole human race was buried in the 
waters, except this man and his family, who were saved by means of the ship, 
which, being lifted up by the waters, rested at last upon the top of the Gendyoz or 
mountain, on which, it is reported, there now remaineth some part, 'and that 
men take away the bitumen from it, and make use of it by way of charm or 
expiation to avoid evil. — -Josephus, lb. 

Ovid. — Here a mountain, named Parnassus, advances with two tops toward 
the stars, and with his lofty front rises above the clouds. When here Deucalion 
(for the sea had covered all the rest), carried in a 'little bark with the partner of 
his bed, first rested, they adore the Corycyan nymphs, the deities of the moun- 
tains. — Metamorphoses, lines 315-320. 

Gen. viii : 6, 7, 8. — And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window 
of the ark which he had made; and he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until 
the waters were dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if 
the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. 

Chaldean Tradition. — After the flood had been upon the earth, and was in 
time abated, Xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel, which, finding no food or 
place for rest, returned to him. . After some days he sent them forth again, and 
they returned with their feet tinged with mud. Subsequently he made a third 



64 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



trial with them, and they returned no more, by which he judged that the 
surface of the earth had appeared above the waters. He therefore made an 
opening in the vessel, and on looking out found that it was stranded upon a 
mountain, which he afterwards found to be in the land of Armenia. — Cory's 
Ancient Fragments. 

Mechoachan Tradition. — When the Great Spirit ordered the waters to sub- 
side, Tezpi sent out a bird called aura, which, finding food in dead carcasses, 
returned; then several other birds, till at length the humming bird returned 
with a branch in its beak. — Humboldt's Researches, Vol. II., p. 65. 

Mexican Tradition. — The Mexicans had paintings, representing the event, 
which showed a man and woman in a boat, or on a raft, a mountain rising above 
the waters, and a dove delivering the gift of language to the children of the 
saved pair. — Prescott, History of Mexico, Vol. III., p. 309, 310. 

Gen. viii: 18. — And Noah went forth [of the ark], and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives 

with him. 

Apam^ean Medal. — We have a striking memorial of Noah and his family 
quitting the ark in the famous Apamaean Medal. It was struck during the 
reign of Philip the Elder (in the fourth century b. a), 
at the town of Apamsea in Phrygia. The city is 
known to have been formerly called Kibotos, or "The 
Ark;" and it is also known that the coins of cities 
in that age exhibited some leading point in their my- 
thological history. The medal in question represents 
a kind of square vessel floating in the water. Through 
an opening in it are seen two persons, a man and a 
woman, the latter wearing a veil. Upon the upper 
verge of this chest or ark is perched a bird, and over 
against it another, which seems to flutter with its wings, and bears a branch, with 
which it approaches the ark. Before the vessel is a man following a woman, 
who, by their attitude, seem to have just quitted it, and to have gotten on the 
dry land. These are doubtless the same pair, shown at successive points of 
time in the scene. Whatever doubt might be entertained as to the purport of 
this representation, seems to be removed by the letters engraved upon the ark 
itself, beneath the persons "enclosed therein. These letters are NftE, Noe; 
being the very name of Noah in its Greek form, and as used in the New Testa- 
ment. This is a most surprising circumstance; not the representation, for we 
have others nearly as distinct, but that the very name of Noah should have 
been so long preserved among the heathen, in nearly its original form. — See 
Seguin's Selecta Nwnismata Antiqua. 

Egyptian Hieroglyphics. — Eminent Egyptologers assure us that the name 
of Noah is found on the monuments, represented as the "god of water." Osbum 
cites Champollion and Birch in favor of this interpretation of Nh, Nuh, Nou, 
etc., and has no doubt that the name is that of the Patriarch through whom the 
race was perpetuated after the Flood. The names of the first of the eight great 




APAM^EAN MEDAL. 



GENESIS IX. 65 

gods of the Egyptians, as given by Wilkinson from the monuments, are believed 
to be different forms of the name of Noah. In the legend of Osiris, the chief 
primitive divinity of the Egyptians, incidents are stated which seem clearly 
to identify that deity with Noah of the Hebrew Scriptures. And we have 
perhaps a reminiscence of the three sons of Noah in the occurrence of nu- 
merous localities in Egypt in which a triad of deities was worshipped. Wil- 
kinson gives a list of a number of such places, among them Thebes, with the 
names of the deities. — Prof. Hackett's Note in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible ; 
p. 2187. 

Gen. viii : 20. — And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and 
of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. 

Assyrian Inscriptions. — In the story of the Flood occurs this notable pas- 
sage : — I sent the animals forth from the vessel to the four winds. I poured out 
a libation. I built an altar on the peak of the mountain, by seven herbs I cut, 
at the bottom of them I placed reeds and pines and simgar. The gods collected 
at its burning, the gods collected at its good burning, the gods like sumbe over 
the sacrifice gathered. From of old also, the Great God in his course, the 
great brightness of Anu had created ; when the glory of these gods, as of Ukni 
stone, on my countenance I could not endure ; in those days I prayed that for 
ever I might not endure. — Mr. George Smith's Translation. 

Polynesian Memorial. — The tradition preserved by the inhabitants of Eimeo 
of the deluge states, that, after the inundation of the land, when the water sub- 
sided, a man landed from a canoe, near Tiatarpura, in their island, and erected 
an altar in honor of his god, and offered sacrifice. — Ellis, Polynesian Researches, 
Vol. II., p. 57- 

Gen. ix : 1. — And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, 

and replenish the earth. 

Prof. Geo. Rawlinson, A. M. — To deny the occurrence of a Deluge,, or to 
conclude that, in respect to mankind, it was partial, because some of the great 
divisions of the human family had no tradition on the subject, is to draw a con- 
clusion directly in the teeth of the evidence. The evidence shows a consentient 
belief — a belief which has all the appearance of being original and not derived 
— among members of all the great races into which ethnologists have divided 
mankind. Among the Semites, the Babylonians, and the Hebrews — among 
the Hamites, the Egyptians — among the Aryans, the Indians, the Armenians, 
the Phrygians, the Lithuanians, the Goths, the Celts, and the Greeks — among 
the Turanians, the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Red Indians, and the Polyne- 
sian Islanders, held the belief, which has thus the character of universal tradition 
— a tradition of which but one rational account can be given, namely, that it 
embodies the recollection of a fact in which all mankind was concerned. 

It is remarkably confirmatory of the Biblical narrative to find that it unites 

details, scattered up and down the various traditional accounts, but nowhere 

else found in combination. It begins with the warning, which we find also in 

the Babylonian, the Hindoo, and the Cherokee Indian versions. It comprises 

5 



66 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

the care for animals, which is a feature of the Babylonian, the Indian and of 
one of the Polynesian stories. It reckons the saved as eight, as do the Figi and 
Chinese traditions ; as in the Cninese story these eight are a man, his wife, his 
three sons, and three daughters-in-law. In assigning a prominent part to birds 
in the experiments made before quitting the ark, it accords (once more) espe- 
cially with the tradition of the Babylonians. In its mention of the dove, it 
possesses a feature preserved also by the Greeks and by the Mexicans. The 
olive-branch it has in commonwith the Phrygian legend, as appears from the 
famous medal struck at Apamaea Chibotus. Finally, in its record of the building 
of an altar, immediately' after the saved quitted the ark, it has a touch that 
forms equally a portion of the Babylonian and of one Polynesian story. 

Altogether, the conclusion seems irresistibly forced upon us that the Hebrew 
is the authentic narrative, of which the remainder are more or less corrupted 
versions. It is impossible to derive the Hebrew account from any of the other 
stories, while it is quite possible to derive all of them from it. Suppose the 
Deluge a fact, and suppose its details to have been such as the author of Genesis 
declares them to have been, then the wide-spread, generally accordant, but in 
part divergent, tradition is exactly what might have been anticipated under the 
circumstances. No other theory gives even a plausible explanation of the 
phenomena. — Historical llhcst. of the Old Test., 21-23. 

Prof. PI. B. Hackett, D. D., LL D. — Some fifteen years ago, in excavating 
the site of the old palace of Nineveh, the debris of the royal library was found 
there. History in that age was written on clay tablets, and some of those found 
here were twenty-live hundred years old. They were brought to England, and 
deposited in the British Museum. Among those who have studied these inscrip- 
tions is Mr. George Smith, connected with the Museum, whom Sir Henry Raw- 
linson pronounces the greatest Assyrian scholar now living. Among these 
tablets Mr. Smith found some relating to the Flood, of which three different 
copies exist containing duplicate texts, and belonging to the time of Assurbani- 
pal, about 670 b. c. The original text, as appears from the tablets, must have 
belonged to the city of Erech, and have been translated into the Semitic Baby- 
lonian at a very early period. The original composition is decided to be as old 
at least as the Nineteenth Ce?itury before the Christian era. The principal per- 
sonage in these legends is Izdubar, a king who lived near the time of the great 
Deluge, and belonged to Erech, the capital of Nimrod. Izdubar, having con- 
quered Belesus, a great king, and put on his rival's crown, and having married 
Ishtar, a princess of great beauty, became ill and began to fear death, man's 
great enemy. To escape such a fate he wandered forth in search of a patriarch 
named Sisit, whom the Babylonians supposed to have become immortal without 
having died. Izdubar hoped to learn from him the secret of his escape from the 
'Common lot of mortals. Arrived at the place where Sisit dwelt, he made 
'known his request to him— but must- converse across a stream which divided the 
immortal and the mortal from each other. Izdubar inquires of Sisit how he 
•became immortal. Sisit, ;in, answer <to this question, relates 



GENESIS IX. 



67 



THE CHALDEAN STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

Izdubar after this manner said to Sisit afar off: Sisit, the account do thou tell 
to me, the account do thou tell to me to the midst to make war. I come up 
after thee ; say how thou hast done it and in the circle of the gods life thou hast 
gained. 

Sisit after this manner said to Izdubar : I will reveal to thee, Izdubar, the 
concealed story, and the wisdom of the gods I will relate to thee. The city 
Surippak, the city which thou hast established .... placed,* was ancient, and 
the gods within it dwelt. . . . The great gods Anu, Bel, Ninip, lords of Hades, 
their will revealed in the midst of hearing, and he spoke to me thus : Surrippa- 
kite, son of Ubaratulu, make a great ship for thee. I will destroy the sinners 
and life ; cause to go in the seed of life, all of it to preserve them. The ship 
which thou shalt make, cubits shall be the measure of its length, and cubits the 



'- -nip 




FRACTURED CHALDEAN TABLET. 

amount of its breadth and its height. Into the deep launch it. I perceived, 
and said to Hea my lord, " Hea, my lord, this that thou commandest me I will 
perform, it shall be done." Hea opened his mouth and spake, and said to me 
his servant, " Thou shalt say unto them, he has turned from me and fixed . . . . " 
{.Here there are about fifteen lines entirely lost ; the absent passage probably de- 
scribed part of the building of the ark.) .... I brought on the fifth day .... it. 
In its circuit fourteen measures. ... Its sides, fourteen measures it measured. . . . 
Over it I placed its roof on it. ... I enclosed it. I rode in it for the sixth time. 
I .... for the seventh time into the restless deep. ... Its planks the water within 
it admitted. I saw breaks and holes. . . . My hand placed three measures of 
bitumen I poured over the outside ; three measures of bitumen I poured over the 



* .vlany words, and several lines, were found obliterated from the Tablets. 



68 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

inside ; three measures the men carrying its baskets took. . . . They fixed an 
altar. ... the altar for an offering. Two measures the altar .... Paziru the pilot 
for ... . slaughtered oxen of .... in that day also. Altar and grapes like the 
waters of a river, and like the day I covered, and when .... covering my hand 
placed. And Shamas .... the material of the ship completed. Strong and 
reeds I spread above and below. Went in two-thirds of it. All I possessed I 
collected it ; all I possessed I collected of silver. All I possessed I collected of 
gold. All I possessed I collected of the seed of life ; the whole I caused to go up 
into the ship ; all my male and female servants. The beasts of the field, the 
animals of the field, and the sons of the army all of them, I caused to go up. 

A flood Shamas made, and he spake saying in the night, "I will cause it to 
rain from heaven heavily; enter to the midst of the ship, and shut thy door." 
A flood he raised, and he spake saying in the night, "I. will cause it to rain 
from heaven heavily." In the day that I celebrated his festival, the day which 
he had appointed, fear I had. I entered to the midst of the ship, and shut my 
door. To guide the ship, to Buzursadirabl the pilot, the palace I gave to his 
hand. The raging of a storm in the morning arose from the horizon of heaven 
extending and wide. Vul in the midst of it thundered, and Nebo and Saru went 
in front ; the throne bearers went over mountains and plains ; the destroyer Ner- 
gal overturned ; Ninip went in front, and cast down ; the spirits carried destruc- 
tion ; in their glory they swept the earth. Of Vul the flood, reached to heaven ; 
the bright earth to waste was turned ; the surface of the earth, like .... it swept ; 
it destroyed all life from the face of the earth. The strong tempest over the 
people reached to heaven. Brother saw not his brother, it did not spare the 
people. In heaven, the gods feared the tempest, and sought* refuge ; they as- 
cended to the heaven of Ami. The gods, like dogs with tails hidden, couched 
down. Spake Ishtar a discourse, uttered the great goddess her speech, — " The 
world to sin has turned, and then I in the presence of the gods prophesied evil ; 
to evil were devoted all my people ; and I prophesied thus, — ' I have begotten 
man, and let him not like the sons of the fishes fill the sea.' ' The gods con- 
cerning the spirits, were weeping with her; the gods in seats, seated in lamen- 
tation ; covered were their lips for the coming evil. 

Six days and nights passed, the wind tempest and storm overwhelmed ; on the 
seventh day in its course, was calmed the storm, and all the tempest, which had 
destroyed like an earthquake, quieted. The sea he caused to dry, and the wind 
and tempest ended. I was carried through the sea. The doer of evil, and the 
whole of mankind who turned to sin, like reeds their corpses floated. I opened 
the window, and the light broke in; over my refuge it passed ; I sat still, and 
over my refuge came peace. I was carried over the shore, at the boundary of 
the sea, for twelve measures it ascended over the land. To the country of Nizir 
went the ship; the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship, and to pass over it, it 
was not able. The first day and the second day, the mountain of Nizir the 
same. The third day and the fourth day, the mountain of Nizir the same. The 
fifth and sixth, the mountain of Nizir the same. 



GENESIS IX. 69 

On the seventh day, in the course of it, I sent forth a dove, and it left. The 
dove went and searched, and a resting-place it did not find, and it returned. I 
sent forth a swallow, and it left. The swallow went and searched, and a resting- 
place it did not find, and it returned. I sent forth a raven, and it left. The 
raven went, and the corpses on the waters it saw, and it did eat, it swam, and 
wandered away, and did not return. I sent the animals forth to the four winds. 
I poured out a libation. I built an altar on the peak of the mountain ; by seven 
herbs I cut, at the bottom of them, I placed reeds, pines, and simgar. The gods 
collected at its burning, the gods collected at its good burning, the gods like 
sumbe over the sacrifice gathered. From of old also, the great God in his 
course, the great brightness of Anu had created ; when the glory of these gods, 
as of Ukni stone, on my countenance, I could not endure; in those days I 
prayed that for ever I might not endure. 

May the gods come to my altar ; may Bel not come to my altar, for he did 
not consider, and had made a tempest, and my people he had consigned to the 
deep from of old*; also Bel saw, in his course, the ship ; and went Bel with 
anger filled to the gods and spirits : " Let not any one come out alive, let not 
a man be saved from the deep." Ninip his mouth opened and spake, and said 
to the warrior Bel: " Who then will be saved? " Hea the words understood, 
and Hea knew all things. Hea his mouth opened and spake, and said to the 
warrior Bel: "Thou prince of the gods, warrior, when thou wast angry a 
tempest thou madest; the doer of sin did his sin, the doer of evil did his evil, 
may the exalted not bt broken, may the captive not be delivered ; instead of 
thee making a tempest, taay lions increase and men be reduced ; instead of thee 
making a tempest, may leopards increase and men be reduced ; instead of thee 
making a tempest, may pestilence increase and men be destroyed." I did not 
peer into the wisdom of the gods, reverent and attentive a dream they sent, and 
the wisdom of the gods he heard. 

When his judgment was accomplished, Bel went up to the midst of the ship ; 
he took my hand and brought me out, me he brought out; he caused to bring 
my wife to my side ; he purified the country ; he established in a covenant, and 
took the people in the presence of Sisit and the people. When Sisit and his 
wife and the people, to be like the gods, were carried away, then dwelt Sisit in 
a remote place at the mouth of the river ; they took me, and in a remote place, 
at the mouth of the rivers, they seated me ; when to thee whom the gods have 
chosen, thee and the life which thou hast sought, after thou shalt gain, this do- 
for six days and seven nights, like I say also, in bonds bind him, the way like 
a storm shall be laid upon him. Sisit after this manner said to his wife: "I 
announce that the chief who grasps at life the way like a storm shall be laid upon 
him; " his wife, after this manner, said to Sisit afar off: "Purify him, and let 
the man be sent away the road he came ; may he return in peace, the great gate 
open, and may he return to his country * Sisit, after this manner, said to his 
wife : " The cry of a man alarms thee ; this do, his scarlet cloth place on his 
head; " and the day when he ascended the side of the ship, she did ; his scarlet 



70 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

cloth she placed on his head, and the day when he ascended on the side of the 
ship. 

Izdubar and Urhamsi rode in the boat, where they placed them they rode. 
His wife, after this manner, said to Sisit afar off: " Izdubar goes away, is satis- 
fied, performs that which thou hast given him, and returns to his country; " and 
he heard, and after Izdubar he went to the shore. Sisit, after this manner, said 
to Izdubar: " Izdubar, thou goest away, thou art satisfied, thou performest that 
which I have given thee, and thou returnest to thy country. I have revealed 
to thee, Izdubar, the concealed story." — Mr. Geo?-ge Smith' s Tra?islation. 

The Compiler. — The above Legend, while it embraces some things that are 
fabulous and not a little that is obscure, yet clearly embodies all the main facts 
connected with the deluge and the saving of Noah and his family, as related in 
the Bible. In it we have plainly set forth the excessive wickedness of mankind 
—God's warning of a coming Flood to destroy them — His command to his 
righteous servant to build an ark or ship — The measurements and directions 
given for its construction — The pitching of it within and without — The collect- 
ing of animals and food into it — The closing of the door — The heavy rain — The 
attendant earthquake convulsions — The rising of the waters higher and higher — 
The Flood oversweeping the whole face of the earth — All human and animal 
life destroyed — The gradual subsiding of the water — The ship or ark resting at 
length on the top of a mountain — The sending forth of birds one after another — ■ 
The living creatures disembarked — The good man and his wife finally going 
forth — Their building of an altar and offering a sacrifice — And the gracious 
covenant of the Deity with them as they are sent forth to replenish the earth 
The number, the definiteness, and the high antiquity of these various corrobora- 
tions of the sacred narrative, place this Assyrian Legend among the most won* 
derful and important archaeological discoveries of the present age. 

UNITY OF THE RACE. 

Gen. ix: 18, 19. — And the sons of Noah that went forth of the ark were Shem and Ham and 
Japheth : and of them was the whole earth overspread. 

Prof. Huxley, LL.D., F. R. S. — I am one of those that believe that, at 
present, there is no evidence whatever for saying, that mankind sprang origin- 
ally from any more than a single pair ; I must say, that I cannot see any good 
ground whatever, or even any tenable sort of evidence, for believing that there 
is more than one species of Man. — Origin of Species, p. 113. 

Professor Owen, F. R. S. — I have come to the conclusion that man forms 
one species, and that differences are but indicative of varieties. The unity of 
the human species is demonstrated, by the constancy of those osteological and 
dental characters to which the attention is more particularly directed in the 
investigation of the corresponding characters in the higher quadrumana.— 
Lecture before Cambridge University, p. 103. 

Prof. Charles Darwin, LL.D.— I have no doubt that all the races of man 
are descended from a single primitive stock. — Desc. of Man, I., p. 220. 



GENESIS IX. 71 

Dr. John Harris.— Physiology demonstrates the identity of the various races 
of mankind in all the great laws of animal economy. The most dissimilar races 
are found also to be Psychologically identical. All are amenable to the same 
laws of motive and action. Sympathies and emotions in common proclaim "the 
whole world kin." Comparative Philology, likewise, tends, as far as its re- 
searches have hitherto gone, to affirm positively the unity of the human race. 
The descent of mankind from a single stock is further supported by analogy. 
In short, all the branches of evidence appropriate to the inquiry support each 
other, and unite in authenticating the conclusion that the human species is one, 
and that all the differences which it exhibits are to be regarded merely as 
varieties. — Man Primeval, 26-30. 

Baron Humboldt. — The different races of men are forms of one sole species; 
they are not different species of a genus. Deeply rooted in the innermost na- 
ture of man, and enjoined upon him by the highest tendencies, the recognition 
of this bond of humanity becomes one of the noblest leading principles in the 
history of mai kind. — Cosmos. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — That all the tribes and nations of mankind 
have a common origin, is the doctrine of Scripture, and that doctrine has been 
abundantly confirmed by the most learned and able researches into the- physical 
history of man. — Daily Bible Illustrations, p. 163. 

NOAH DRINKING WINE. 

Gen. ix : 20-23. — And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: and he 
drank of the wine, and was drunken ; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the 
father of Canaan, fiiw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And 
^hem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, 
and covered the nakedness of their father; and they saw not the nakedness of their father. 

Henry Hunter, D. D. — Behold the juice of the grape in a new state, pos- 
sessing a quality unheard of before. Eaten from the tree, or dried in the sun, 
it is simple' and nutritious, like the grain from the stalk of corn ; pressed out and 
fermented, it acquires a fiery force, it warms the blood, it mounts to the brain, 
it leads reason captive, it overpowers every faculty, it triumphs over its lord. 
How often have arts been invented which have proved fatal to the inventors ? — 
Sacred Biography. 

The Padma-puran, of the Hindoos. — Satayvarman (the Rescued One), 
being continually delighted with devout meditation, and seeing his sons fit for 
dominion, laid upon them the burden of government, whilst he remained hon- 
oring and satisfying the gods, and priests, and kine. One day, by the act of 
destiny, the king, having drunk mead, became senseless, and lay asleep naked ; 
then was he seen by C'harma, and by him were his two brothers called, to whom 
he said, " What now has befallen ? In what state is this our sire? " By those 
two was he hidden with clothes, and called to his senses again. Having recov- 
ered his intellect, and perfectly knowing what had passed, he cursed C'harma, 
saying, " Thou shalt be the servant of servants; and since thou wast a laughter 



72 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

in their presence, from laughter thou shalt acquire a name." Then he gave to 
Sherma the wide domain, on the south of the snowy mountains ; and to Jyapeti 
he gave all in the north of the snowy mountains ; but he, by the power of 
religious contemplation, attained supreme bliss. — Sir William Jones 1 Trans* 
la lion. 

GENEALOGY OF THE SONS OF NOAH. 

Gen. x : 1-32. — Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah ; Shem, Ham and Japheth .> 
and unto them were sons born after the flood, etc. 

W. Fraser, LL. D. — The very first historical sections of the Bible, so long 
held in contempt, have of late not only attracted the attention of the greatest 
scholars, but have won their homage. No unbiased scholar will now dare to 
scoff at the tenth chapter of Genesis. To this chapter, as an ethnological table, 
scholars of opposite religious tendencies have united in paying homage. In the 
study of the earliest monarchies — the Egyptian, the Chaldaean, and the Assyrian 
— historians thankfully turn to the Book which was long scoffed at by those who 
plumed themselves on their varied scholarship. It sheds so much light on the 
first movements of different peoples, and on the foundation of empires, that it 
cannot be repudiated without injury to historical science. — Blending Lights, 

253- 2 55- 

Prof. Taylor Lewis. — The tenth chapter of Genesis is as essential to an un- 
derstanding of the Bible, and of history in general, as is Homer's catalogue in 
the second Book of the Iliad to a true knowledge of the Homeric poems and the 
Homeric times. — Lange's Commentary on Genesis, in loco. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — In the genealogy of the tenth chapter of Gene- 
sis, the first feature which strikes us is the enumeration of the various races un- 
der three heads — " the sons of Japheth," " the sons of Ham," and " the sons 
of Shem." Now here it is at once noteworthy, that modern ethnological sci- 
ence, having set itself by a careful analysis of facts to establish a classification of 
races, has similarly formed a triple division of mankind, and speaks of all races 
as either Semitic, Aryan, or Turanian. Moreover, when we examine the groups 
which the author of the tenth chapter of Genesis has thrown together, we find, 
to say the least, a most remarkable agreement between the actual arrangement 
which he has made, and the conclusions to which ethnological inquirers have 
come from a consideration of- the facts of human language and physical type. 
Setting aside the cases where the ethnic names employed are of doubtful appli- 
cation, it cannot reasonably be questioned that the author has in his account of 
the sons of Japheth, classified together the Cymry or Celts (Gomer), the Medes 
(Madai), and the Ionians or Greeks (Javan), thereby anticipating what has be- 
come known in modern times as " the Indo-European theory," or the essential 
unity of the Aryan (Asiatic) race with the principal races of Europe, indicated 
by the Celts and the Ionians. Nor can it be doubted that he has thrown to- 
gether, under the one head of " children of Shem," the Assyrians (Asshur), the 
Syrians (Aram), the Hebrews (Eber), and the Joktanian Arabs (Joktan), 
four of the principal races which modern ethnology recognizes under the head- 



GENESIS X. 72 

ing of "Semitic." Again, under the heading of "sons of Ham," the author 
has arranged " Cush," /. e., the Ethiopians; " Mizraim," the people of Egypt; 
" Sheba and Dedan," or certain of the southern Arabs; and "-Nimrod," or the 
ancient people of Babylon ; four races between which the latest linguistic re- 
searches have established a close affinity. Beyond a question, the tendency of 
modern ethnological inquiry has been to establish the accuracy of the document 
called in Genesis the Toldoth Bent Noah, or the Genealogy of the sons of Noah, 
and to create a feeling among scientific ethnologists that it is a record of the 
very highest value ; one which, if it can be rightly interpreted, may be thor- 
oughly trusted. — Hist, lllust. of the Old Test., p. 24-26. 

Sir H. Rawlinson. — The tenth chapter of Genesis is the most authentic 
record that we possess for the affiliation of nations. — Journal of the Asiatic 
Society, Vol. XV., p. 230. 

Dr. Karl Ritter. — Of all the writings of antiquity, none are receiving such 
confirmation from the modern researches in geography and ethnography as this 
chapter of Genesis. — Quoted by Prof. H. B. Hackett. 

Dr. Kalisch. — This unparalleled list, the combined result of reflection and 
deep research, is no less valuable as a historical document than as a lasting 
proof of the brilliant capacity of the Hebrew mind. — Comment, on Genesis, p. 194. 

PRIMITIVE BABYLONIAN KINGDOM. 

Gen. x : 3, 10. — And Cush begat Nimrod : he began to be a mighty one in the earth. And the 
beginning of his kingdom was Babel, etc. 

Babylonian Documents. — The primitive Babylonian kingdom is declared in 
the tenth chapter of Genesis to have been Cushitc. Baron Bunsen held that 
there were no Cushites out of Africa, and that "an Asiatic Cush existed only in 
the imagination of Biblical interpreters, and was the child of their despair." 
But an analysis of the earliest documents recovered from Babylonia has shown 
that the primitive Babylonian people, that which raised the first structures 
whereof any trace remains in the country, and whose buildings had gone to 
ruin in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, was (at any rate to a large extent) Cushite, 
its vocabulary being "undoubtedly Cushite or Ethiopian," and presenting 
numerous analogies with those of the non-Semitic races of Abyssinia. Hence 
modern historical science, in the person of one of its best representatives, M. 
Lenormant, commences now the history of the East with a " First Cushite 
Empire," which it regards as dominant in Babylonia for several centuries before 
the earliest Semitic Empire arose. — Prof. Geo. Rawlinson, Modern Scepticism, 
p. 271. 

Gen. x : 9. — He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. 

Dr. Daniel March. — The founder of Nineveh is described in the Bible as 
" a mighty hunter before the Lord." His successors in the monarchy retained 
the spirit and prowess of their great, ancestor. Tiglath-pileser, who repeatedly 
overran Palestine with his devastating armies, caused his exploits in the chase 
to be recorded upon a terra-cotta cylinder, which was found amid the ruins of 



74 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



his palace. In that inscription he claims to have killed 920 lions with his own 
hand. The bas-reliefs of other kings make them as mighty in conflict with the 
king of beasts. The walls of temples and palaces are covered with sculptures 
and inscriptions, representing these mighty hunters engaged in hand-to-hand 
conflict with lions, bulls, buffaloes and wild boars. They claim the homage of 
their people and the admiration of mankind as much for victories over beasts as 
for the defeat of great armies, and the capture of strong cities. — Research and 

Travels in Bible Lands. 

Inscription of Tiglath-pileser I. (b. c. 
1 150.) — I have omitted many hunting expedi- 
tions which were not connected with my war- 
like achievements. In pursuing after the game, 
I traversed the easy tracts in my chariots, and 
the difficult tracts on foot. I demolished the 
wild animals throughout my territories. Under 
the auspices of Hercules, my guardian deity, 
four wild bulls, strong and fierce, in the desert, 
with my long arrows tipped with iron, and with 
heavy blows I took their lives. Their skins and 
their horns I brought to my city of Ashur. Ten 
large wild buffaloes in the country of Kharran, 
and the plains of the river Khabur, I slew. 
Four buffaloes I took alive. Under the 
auspices of my guardian deity Hercules two 
soss of lions fell before me. In the course of 
my progress on foot I slew them, and 800 lions 
in my chariots, in my exploratory journeys, I 
laid low. All the beasts of the field and the 
flying birds of heaven I made the victims of 
my shafts. — Records of the Past, Vol. V., p. 20. 




NIMROD STRANGLING A LION. 

From Khorsabad Sculpture. 



Gen. x : 10. — And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and 

Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 

Mr. George Smith, Brit. Mus. — I identify Nimrod with Izdubar. In the 
Chaldean Tablets, Izdubar is a prominent and leading character. He appears 
as a mighty leader — a man strong in war and hunting — a giant who gained 
dominion in Babylonia. The whole Euphrates valley was at this time divided 
into petty kingdoms, and Izdubar, by his prowess, subdued many of these, 
making thus the first empire in Asia. The centre of his empire appears to have 
lain in the region of Shinar, at Babylon, Accad, Erech," and Nissur, and agrees 
with the site of the kingdom of Nimrod, according to Genesis. All these 
cities were ultimately within the dominion of Izdubar, whose character as a 
hunter, leader and king corresponds with that of Nimrod. For these and 
other reasons I identify h*.m with Nimrod. — Chaldean Genesis, p. 174. 



GENESIS XI. 75 

RELATION OF ASSYRIA TO BABYLONIA. 

Gen. x : n, 12. — Out of that land (Shinar) went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the 
city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah ; the same is a great city. 

Mesopotamian Monuments. — Of this account by Moses the most remarkable 
points are, (1) The contrast of ethnic character noted as existing between the 
two neighboring peoples; (2) The priority ascribed to Babylon over Nineveh, 
and to the primitive Babylonian over the Assyrian Kingdom; and (3) The 
derivation of the Assyrians from Babylonia. Till within a few years these state- 
ments seemed to involve great difficulties. Almost all ancient writers spoke of 
the Babylonians and Assyrians as kindred races, if not even as one people. 
Those who profess to be acquainted with their early history declared that Assyria 
was the original seat of empire ; that Nineveh was built before Babylon ; and 
that the latter city owed its origin to an Assyrian princess, who conquered the 
country and built there a provincial capital. It is one of the main results of the 
recent Mesopotamian researches to have entirely demolished this view, which 
rests really on the sole authority of Ctesias. The recovered monuments show 
that the Mosaical account is, in all respects, true. The early Babylonians 
are proved to have been of an entirely distinct race from the Assyrians, whose 
language is Semitic, while that of their southern neighbors is Cushite. A Babylo- 
nian kingdom is found to have flourished for centuries before there was any inde- 
pendent Assyria, or any such city as Nineveh. — Prof. George Rawlinson, His- 
torical Illustrations of the Old Testament, p. 32, 33. 

THE CITY OF CALAH. 

Gen. x: 11. — Asshur builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah. 

Assyrian Inscriptions. — J. L. Porter identifies Calah with Kalah-Shergat, 
forty miles south of Nimrud, on the right bank of the Tigris. This, he observes, 
was one of the most ancient places in Assyria. On a cylinder discovered there 
is an inscription recording the fact that the King Tiglath-pileser restored a mon- 
ument which had been taken down sixty years previously, after having stood 
for 641 years. It must, therefore, have been founded about b. c. 1870. On 
the bricks and pottery found at Kalah are the names and titles of the earliest 
known Assyrian Kings. The name Asshur is found among them. — Smith's 
Diet, of the Bible, p. 343. 

CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 

Gen. xi : 1. — And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 
William Latham Bevan, M. A.— No one can doubt that the tendency of 
all linguistic research is in the direction of unity of language. Already it has 
brought within the bonds of a well-established relationship languages so remote 
from each other in external guise, in age, and in geographical position as Sans- 
krit and English, Celtic and Greek. It has done the same for other groups of 
languages equally widely extended, but presenting less opportunities of investi- 
gation. It has recognized affinities between languages which the ancient 



76 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



Greek ethnologist would have classed under the head of "barbarian 



" in refer- 
ence to each other, and even in many instances where the modern philologist 
has anticipated no relationship. The lines of discovery therefore point in one 
direction, and favor the expectation that the various families of tongues may be 
combined by the discovery of connecting links into a single family, compre- 
hending in its capacious bosom all the languages of the world. — In Smith's Dic- 
tionary of the Bible, p. 3287. 

James Cowles Prichard, M. D., F. R. S., M. R. I. A. — There is internal evi- 




TOWER OF BABEL. 



dence in the whole group of Japhetic languages themselves sufficient to prove 
that they grew by gradual dialectic development out of one common matrix. Any 
person who considers, with competent knowledge of these languages, the nature of 
their relations to each other, the fact that their original roots are for the most part 
common, and that in the great system of grammatical inflection pervading these 
languages there is nothing else than the varied development of common prin- 
ciples, must be convinced that the differences between them are but the result 
of the gradual deviation of one common language into a multitude of diverg- 
ing dialects; and the ultimate conclusion that is forced upon us is, that the 



GENESIS XL 77 

Indo-European nations are the descendants of one original people, and conse- 
quently, that the varieties of complexion, form, stature and other physical qual- 
ities which exist among them, are the results of deviation from an original type. 
— Report on Ethnology, p. 244. 

W. Fraser, LL.D. — The inference is fully warranted by what has been 
ascertained, that nothing valuable has been added to the substance of languages, 
that its changes have been those of form only, and that no new root or radical 
has been invented by later generations. The Teutonic languages of Europe are 
illustrated by the language of Persia; the Latin of Italy connects itself with 
Russian idioms; and Greek with the Sanskrit of India. From Ceylon, with its 
fragrant breezes, to Iceland with its wintry storms, there is, irrespective of form, 
of color, of social life, and religious institutions, but one belt of language. The 
American tribes of the far West, Humboldt has assured us, are indissolubly 
united to the inhabitants of Asia ; the languages of Shem, Ham and Japheth 
have a common affinity; hills, plains, and climates change, but language in its 
substantial elements is really more enduring than the pyramids of Egypt, the 
ruins of Palmyra, or the statues of Greece. — Blending Lights, p. 132. 

Klaproth. — All languages in the world are connected with one origin : a 
universal affinity is completely demonstrated. Herder. — The human race and 
human language go back to one source. — Quoted in Present Conflict of Science 
with Religion, p. 380. 

The various facts that have proved to the satisfaction of such men as Huxley, 
Darwin, Humboldt, Lyell, Prichard, Smith, Balbi, Adelung, Rougemont, 
and Bachman, that the whole human race has descended from a single primitive 
stock — prove with equal conclusiveness that there was a time when, according 
to the Scripture, " the whole earth was of one lip and of one speech." 

Gen', xi : 3. — And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 

Herodotus. — The earth of the trench (for the walls of Babylon) was first of 
all laid in heaps, and when a sufficient quantity was obtained, made into square 
bricks, and baked in a furnace. They used as cement a composition of heated 
bitumen, which, mixed with the tops of reeds, was placed between every thir- 
tieth course of bricks. — Clio, c. 179. 

Xenophon. — The wall of Media was built of burned bricks laid in bitumen. 
— Anab., Lib. II., c. 4. 

Strabo. — The liquid asphaltus, which is called naphtha, is found in Susiana; 
the dry kind, which can be made solid, in Babylonia. There is a spring of it 
near the Euphrates. Others say that the liquid kind also is found in Babylonia. 
—Strab., Lib. XVI., c. 1. 
Gen. xi : 4. — And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto 

heaven : and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole 

earth. 

Alexander Polyhistor. — (This writer, who flourished about one hundred 
years before Christ, has the following passage) : Eupolemus, in his book con- 
cerning the Jews of Assyria, says, that the city of Babylon was first built by 



78 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

those who had been preserved from the Deluge ; that they were giants ; that 
they also erected the tower of which history gives account ; but that it was over- 
thrown by the mighty power from God, and consequently the giants were 
scattered abroad over the whole earth. — As quoted in Noah and his Times, 

P- 33 6 - 

Abydenus. — (This writer lived in the fourth century before Christ, and 
states) : There are some who say that the first men sprung out of the earth ; that 
they boasted of their strength and size; that they contemptuously main- 
tained themselves to be superior to the gods ; that they erected a lofty tower 
where now is Babylon; then, when it had been carried up almost to heaven, the 
very winds came to assist the gods, and overthrew the vast structure upon its 
builders. Its ruins were called Babylon. The men, who before had possessed 
one tongue, were brought by the gods to a many-sounding voice ; and afterwards 
war arose between Saturn and Titan. Moreover, the place in which they built 
the tower is now called Babylon, on account of the confusing of the prior clear- 
ness with respect to speech ; for the Hebrews call " confusion " Babel. — Abyden. 
ap. Euseb. Prcep., Ev. IX., 14. 

Prof. Geo. Rawlinson, M. A. — It may have been a recollection of this 
event, though one much dimmed and faded ; which gave rise to the Greek myth 
of the war between the gods and the giants, and the attempt of the latter to 
scale heaven by piling one mountain upon another. — Historical Illustrations of 
the Old Testament, p. 28. 

Gen. xi : 5, 7. — And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of 
men builded ; and there confounded their language that they might not understand one another's 
speech. 

Rev. W. Fraser, LL. D. — It would have been inconsistent with the method 
of the divine government, so far as we can judge, to introduce a multitude of 
dialects, and make each man unintelligible to his companion ; and it appears 
from the record itself that the confusion was orderly or regulated, for we are 
told anticipatively in the tenth chapter that the descendants of Japheth, of Ham, 
and of Shem, were divided ''after their families, after their tongues, in their 
lands, after their nations." Of each of the three, successively, is the same 
account given. Is it not very significant to find the descendants of Japheth, 
Ham, and Shem separately described as peopling the earth "after their families 
and after their tongues ?" From these families, it would seem, have all the lan- 
guages in the world been gradually evolved ; and is it not perfectly consistent 
with this Bible statement to find eminent philologists of all ranks concurring in 
the conclusion, that the languages and dialects of the world are reducible to 
three distinct families or groups — the Aryan, the Semitic, and Turanian? — 
Blending Lights, p. 255. 

Chev. Bunsen. — Comparative philology would have been compelled to set 
forth as a postulate the supposition of some such division of languages in Asia, 
especially on the ground of the relation of the Egyptian language to the Shemitic, 
even if the Bible had not assured us of the truth of this great historical event. 



GENESIS XI. 73 

It is truly wonderful — it is matter of astonishment — it is more than a mere 
astounding fact, that something so purely historical, yet divinely fixed — some- 
thing so conformable to reason, and yet not to be conceived of as a mere natural 
development — is here related to us out of the oldest primeval period, and which 
now, for the first time, through the new science of philology, has become capa- 
ble of being historically and philosophically explained. — Blending Lights, 256. 

Gen. xi : 8. — So the Lord scattered ihem abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth : and 

they left off to build the city. 

Baron Von Humboldt. — The comparative study of languages shows us that 
races now separated by vast tracts of land are allied together, and have migrated 
from one common primitive seat ; it indicates the course and direction of all migra- 
tions, and, in tracing the leading epochs of development, recognizes, by means 
of the more or less changed structure of the language in the permanence of 
certain forms, or in the more or less advanced destruction of the formative 
system, which race has retained most nearly the language common to all who 
had emigrated from the general seat of origin. — Cosmos, II., 471. 

Chev. Bunsen. — 'From the mutual affinities exhibited by their languages, 
all the nations which, from the dawn of history to our days, have been the 
leaders of civilization in Asia, Europe and Africa, must have had one beginning. 
This is the chief lesson which the knowledge of the Egyptian language teaches 
us. — Report on Ethnology, p. 294. 

Gen. xi : 9. — Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the Lord did there confound the 

language of all the earth. 

The Nineveh Creation Tablets. — The father .... of him, his heart was evil 
. . . . against the father of all the gods was wicked .... of him his heart was 
evil .... Babylon brought to subjection, small and great he confounded their 
speech. Their strong place (tower) all day long they founded ; to their strong 
place in the night entirely he made an end. In his anger also word thus he 
poured out : to scatter abroad he set his face. He gave this command, their 
counsel was confounded .... the course he broke .... fired the sanctuary. 
— Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 160. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — A further tangible evidence of the con- 
fusion of man's speech in Babylonia, or, at any rate, a fact which harmonizes 
completely with the scriptural statement that Babylonia was the scene of the con- 
fusion, is to be found in the character of the language which appears on the earliest 
monuments of the country — monuments which reach back to a time probably 
as remote as b. c. 2300, and almost certainly anterior to the date of Abraham. 
This monumental language is especially remarkable for its mixed character. It 
is Turanian in its structure, Cushite or Ethiopian in the bulk of its vocabulary, 
while at the same time it appears to contain both Semitic and Aryan elements. 
The people who spoke it must, it would seem, have been living in close contact 
with Aryan and Semitic races, while they were themselves Turanian, or Turano- 
Cushite, and must have adopted from those races a certain number of terms. 



80 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

This would be natural if the varieties of human speech were first found in Baby- 
lonia, and if the dispersion of mankind took place from thence, for some portions 
of the race that migrates almost always remain in the original country. It must 
be added that, except in Babylonia, a mixed character is not observable in 
such early languages as are known to us, which are commonly either distinctly 
Turanian, distinctly Aryan, or distinctly Semite. — Hist. Illus. of O. T.,p. 28. 

Dr. Oppert. — (This writer, who is admitted to be the highest authority on 
Babylonian antiquities, makes the following statements) : The history of the 
confusion of languages was preserved at Babylon, as we learn by the testimonies 
of classical and Babylonian authorities. The Talmudists say that the true site 
of the Tower of Babel was at Borsif, the Greek Borsippa, the Birs Nimrud, 
seven miles and a half from Hillah, S. W., and nearly eleven miles from the 
northern ruins of Babylon. The Babylonian name of this locality, Barsip, or 
Barzipa, we explain by "Tower of Tongues." The French Expedition to 
Mesopotamia found at the Birs Nimrud a clay cake, dated from Ben-sip, the 
30th day of the 6th month of the 16th year of Nabonid, and the discovery con- 
firmed the hypothesis of several travellers, who had supposed the Birs JSIimrud 
to contain the remains of Borsippa. Borsippa, or the Tongue Tower, was for- 
merly a suburb of Babylon, when the old Babel was merely restricted to the 
northern ruins, before the great extension of the city, which, according to 
ancient writers, was the greatest that the sun ever warmed with its beams. The 
historical writers respecting Alexander state that Borsippa had a great sanctuary 
dedicated to Apollo and Artemis, and the former is the building elevated on 
the very basemetit of the Old Tower of Babel. This building, erected by Nebu- 
chadnezzar, is the same that Herodotus describes as the Tower of Jupiter Belus. 
The temple of Borsippa is written with an ideogram, composed of the signs for 
house and spirit, the real pronunciation of which was probably Sarakh, Tower. 
Nebuchadnezzar gives notice of this building in the Borsippa inscription (given 
below). He named it the temple of the Seven Lights of the Earth, i. e., the 
planets. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3303. 

Borsippa Inscription. — Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, shepherd of peo- 
ples, who attests the immutable affection of Merodach, the mighty ruler-exalting 
Nebo ; the saviour, the wise man who lends his ears to the orders of the highest 
god ; the lieutenant without reproach, the repairer of the pyramid and the Tower, 
eldest son of Nabopallassar, king of Babylon. 

We say : Merodach, the great master, has created me : he has imposed on me 
to reconstruct his building. Nebo, the guardian over the legions of heaven and 
the earth, has charged my hands with the sceptre of justice. 

The pyramid is the temple of the heaven and the earth, the seat of Merodach, 
the chief of the gods j the place of the oracles, the spot of his rest, I have 
adorned in the form of a cupola, with shining gold. 

The Tower, the eternal house, which I founded and built, I have completed 
its magnificence with silver, gold, other metals, stone, enameled bricks, fir, and 
pine. 



GENESIS XII. 81 

The first, which is the house of the earth's base, the most ancient monument 
of Babylon, I built and finished it ; I have highly exalted its head with bricks 
covered with copper. 

We say for the other, that is, this edifice, the House of the Seven-lights of the 
Earth, the most ancient monument of Borsippa: a former king built it (they 
reckon 42 ages), but he did not co7?iplete its head. Since a remote time people 
had abandoned it, without order expressing their words. Since that time, the 
earthquake and the thunder had dispersed its sun-dried clay ; the bricks of the 
casing had been split, and the earth of the interior had been scattered in heaps. 
Merodach, the great lord, excited my mind to repair this building. I did not 
change the site, nor did I take away the foundation-stone. In a fortunate 
month, an auspicious day, I undertook to build porticos around the crude brick 
masses, and the casing of burnt bricks. I adapted the circuits. I put the 
inscription of my name in the Kitir of the porticos. 

I set my hand to finish it, and to exalt its head. As it had been in former 
times, so I founded, I made it ; as it had been in ancient days, so I exalted its 
summit. 

Nebo, son of himself, ruler who exaltest Merodach, be propitious to my works 
•to maintain my authority. Grant me a life until the remotest time, a seven-fold 
progeny, the stability of my throne, the victory of my sword, the pacification 
of foes, the triumph over the lands ! In the columns of thy eternal table, that 
fixes the destinies of the heaven and of the earth, bless the course of my days, 
inscribe the fecundity of my race. 

Imitate, O Merodach, king of heaven and earth, the father who begot thee:, 
bless my buildings, strengthen my authority. May Nebuchadnezzar, the king- 
repairer, remain before thy face ! 

This allusion to the Tower of the Tongues is the only one that has as yet been 
discovered in the cuneiform inscriptions. The story is a Shemitic and not only 
a Hebrew one, and we have no reason whatever to doubt of the existence of the 
same story at Babylon. The ruins of the building elevated on the spot where. 
the story placed the Tower of the Dispersion of Tongues, have therefore a more 
modern origin, but interest nevertheless by their stupendous appearance. — 
Oppert, in Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3304. 

EGYPT IN THE TIME OF ABRAHAM. 

Gen. xii : 10-20. — And there was a famine in the land : and Abram went down into Egypt to 
sojourn there : for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass, when he was 
come near, etc. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — This history is very concise. Abram is 
living as a nomad chief in Palestine, when there occurs a severe famine, which 
induces him to take refuge in Egypt. There the king of the country, who is 
called Pharaoh, hearing of the beauty of Abraham's wife, whom he has repre- 
sented as his sister, sends for her, intending to marry her ; but before the mar- 
riage is consummated, discovering her real relationship to the patriarch, he re- 
bukes him and sends the pair away. The narrative is very brief; but we learn 
6 



82 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

from it : i. That Egypt was already under a settled government, having a king, 
and " princes " who acted as the king's subordinates. 2. That the name or title 
of the monarch was one which to the ears of the Hebrews sounded " Pha-ra-oh." 
3. That the country was one to which recourse was naturally had by the inhabi- 
tants of neighboring lands in a time of scarcity. Now on all these points the 
sacred narrative is in harmony with profane sources. History Proper, the his- 
tory of states, begins with Egypt, where there is reason to believe that a settled 
government was established, and monarchical institutions set up, at an earlier 
date than in any other country. 

That a name, or title, near to Pharaoh, might be borne by an Egyptian king, 
appears from Herodotus; and modern hieroglyphic research has pointed out 
more than one suitable title (ex. gr. Pli Ra, Peraa, Perao), which Hebrews 
might represent by the characters found in Genesis. The character of Egypt as 
a granary of surrounding nations is notorious ; and this character has attached to 
her throughout the entire course of her history. The narrative of Gen. xii. 
10-20, therefore, brief as it is, contains at least three points capable of confirma- 
tion or refutation from profane sources, and on all these points those sources 
confirm it. — Hist. Illus. of the O. T.,p. 35-37. 

ABRAHAM AT BETHEL. ■ 

Gen. xiii : 3, 4. — And Abram went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place 
where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai ; unto the place of the altar, 
which he had made there at the first : and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 

Mr. George Grove, Crystal Palace, London. — When on the spot little doubt 
can be felt as to the localities of this interesting place. The round mount south- 
east of Bethel must be the mountain on which Abram built the altar, and on 
which he and Lot stood when they made their division of the land (Gen. xiii. 
10). It is still thickly strewn on its top with stones formed by nature for the 
building of " altar " or sanctuary. As the eye turns involuntarily eastward, it 
takes in a large part of the plain of Jordan opposite Jericho ; distant it is true, 
but not too distant to discern in that clear atmosphere the lines of verdure that 
mark the brooks which descend from the mountains beyond the river, and fer- 
tilize the plain even in its present neglected state. Further south lies, as in a 
map, fully half of that sea which now covers the once fertile oasis of " the cities 
of the plain," and which in those days was " as the garden of the Lord, even as 
the land of Egypt." Eastward again of this mount, at about the same distance 
on the left that Bethel is on the right, overlooking the Wady Suweinit, is a third 
hilt crowned by a remarkably desolate-looking mass of gray debris, the most 
perfect heap of ruin to be seen in that country of ruins. This is Tell er-Rijmeh, 
"the mound of the heap," agreeing in every particular of name, aspect, and situ- 
ation with Ai. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 289. 
Gen. xiii : 5, 6. — And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And 

the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together; for their substance was 

great, so that they could not dwell together. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D.— The sojourn of Abram and Lot with 



GENESIS XIII. 33 

their flocks and herds in this region implies that it was very fertile, and well 
suited to their pastoral occupations. The writer can testify that it maintains 
still its ancient character in this respect. The cattle which he saw there sur- 
passed in number and size any that he saw at any one time in any other place. 
Springs abound : and a little to the west, toward Jama, the Roman Gophna, was 
a flooded meadow, which as late as the 28th of April was almost large enough to 
be called a lake. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 290. 

Gen. xiii : 10. — And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well 
watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of 
the Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar. 

J. L. Porter, A. M.— In the early morning, crossing a rocky glen, I ascended 
the mountain to the spot where Abraham pitched his tent and built his altar, 
" having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east." Here I found a little 
plateau, stony but fertile, on the very crest of the hi ; and on reaching it the 
valley of the Jordan, and the glittering waters of the Dead Sea suddenly burst 
upon my view, lying deep, deep down at the foot of a dreary wilderness. On 
this spot Abraham and Lot had that memorable interview after their herdsmen 
had disputed, and "they found that the land was not able to bear them, that they 
might dwell together, for their substance was great." There and then they re- 
solved to separate; and "Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of 
Jordan that it was well watered:" and he chose that region as his abode. 
How wonderfully graphic did the whole narrative appear to me as I read it on 
that mountain-top! — Giant Cities of ' Baskan, p. 178. 

Gen. xiii : 14, 15. — And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift 
up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and 
eastward, and westward : for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy 
seed for ever. 

Prof. Arthur Penrhy Stanley, D. D. — Bethel was the first place where 
Abraham is said to have "pitched his tent," when he journeyed through the 
land, "going on still toward the south," on his way to Egypt; and to the same 
spot, "even to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, unto the 
place of the altar which he had made there at the first " (so emphatically is the lo- 
cality marked), he came again as to the familiar scene of his first encampment, on 
his return to Egypt. The tent and the altar were not, however, strictly speak- 
ing, at Bethel, but on "the mountain east of Bethel, having Bethel on the west, 
and Ai on the east." This is a precision the more to be noticed, because it make s 
the whole difference in the truth and vividness of the remarkable scene which 
follows. Immediately east of the low gray hills on which the Canaanitish Luz 
and the Jewish Bethel afterwards stood, rises — as the highest of a succession of 
eminences, each now marked by some vestige of ancient edifices — a conspicuous 
hill, its topmost summit resting, as it were, on the rocky slopes below, and dis- 
tinguished from them by the olive grove which clusters over its broad surface 
above. From this height, thus offering a natural base for the patriarchal altar, 
and a fitting shade for the patriarchal tent, Abraham and Lot must be conceived 



§4 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

as taking the wide survey of the country "on the right hand and on the left," 
such as can be enjoyed from no other point in the neighborhood. To the east 
there rises in the foreground the jagged range of the hills above Jericho; in the 
distance the dark wall of Moab ; between them lies the wide valley of the Jordan — 
its course marked by the tract of forest in which its rushing stream is envel-' 
oped; and down to this valley, a long and deep ravine, now, as always, the main 
line of communication by which it is approached from the central hills of Pales- 
tine; a ravine rich with vine, olive, and fig, winding its way through ancient res- 
ervoirs and sepulchres, remains of a civilization now extinct, but in the times of 
the patriarchs not yet begun. To the south and the west the view commanded 
the bleak hills of Judaea, varied by the heights crowned with what were after- 
wards the cities of Benjamin, and overhanging what in a later day was to be Je- 
rusalem; and in the far distance the southern range on whose slope is Hebron. 
Northward are the hills which divide Judaea from the rich plains of Samaria. 

This is the view which was to Abraham what Pisgah was afterwards to his 
great descendant. "And the Lord said to Abram after that Lot had separated 
from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, north- 
ward, and southward, and eastward, and westward ; for all the land which thou 
seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever .... and I will make thy 
seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, 
then shall thy seed be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length 
of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee." Those bleak hills 
were indeed to be the sites of cities whose names would be held in honor after 
the very ruins of the seats of a corrupt civilization in the garden of the Jordan 
would have been swept away ; that dreary view, unfolded then in its primeval 
desolation before the eyes of the now solitary patriarch, would be indeed peo- 
pled with a mighty nation through many generations, with mighty recollections 
"like the dust of the earth in number, for ever." — Sinai and Palestine, p. 
214-216. 

INVASION OF CHEDORLAOMER. 

Gen. xiv: 1-12. — And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of 
Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; that these made war with 
Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Sheme- 
ber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, etc. 

Prof. Geo, Rawlinson, M. A. — It appears by the narrative of this chapter 
Gen. xiv.) that in the interval between the time of Nimrod and that of Abra- 
ham, power had passed from the hands of the Babylonians into those of a neigh- 
boring nation, the Elamites, who exercised a suzerainty over the lower Mesopo- 
tamian country, and felt themselves strong enough to make warlike expeditions 
into the distant land of Palestine. The king of Elam in the time of Abraham 
was Chedor-laomer ; who, assisted by his vassal- monarchs, invaded Palestine, 
defeated the princes of the country, and forced them to become his subjects. 
After twelve years, however, they revolted, and a second expedition was led by 
Chedor-laomer into the country, which resulted in another defeat of the Pales- 
tinian monarchs. — Hist. Iliust. of the Old Testament, p. 37. 






GENESIS XIV. 85 

Idem. — Now till very recently there was no profane evidence that Elam had 
ever been an independent state (as indicated in Scripture), much less a powerful 
kingdom, and still less one that at so remote a date could have exercised 
suzerainty over so many and such important nations. But the Assyrian cunei- 
form inscriptions have shown that throughout almost the whole of the Assyrian 
period Elam maintained herself as an independent state, and one of considerable 
military strength, on the south-eastern borders of the empire ; and very recently 
(1868) it has further been discovered that, according to the Assyrian belief, an 
Elamite king was strong enough to invade and plunder Babylonia, at a date 
which expressed in our ordinary manner would be b. c. 2286, or somewhat ear- 
lier than the time commonly assigned to Abraham. — Modern Scepticism, 273. 

Idem. — Of the expeditions into Palestine profane history contains no account. 
But the change in the position of Babylon, the rise of the Elamites to power 
and pre-eminence, and the occurrence about this time of Elamitic expeditions 
into Palestine or the adjacent districts, are witnessed to by documents recently 
disinterred from the mounds of Mesopotamia. The name, too, of the Elamitic 
king, though not yet actually found on any monument, is composed of elements 
both of which occur in Elamite documents separately, and is of a type exactly 
similar to other Elamitic names of the period. To give the evidence more fully, 
it is stated in an inscription of Asshurbanipal, the son of Esar-haddon, that 1635 
years before his own capture of Susa, or about b. c. 2286, Kudur-Nakhunta, then 
king of Elam, led an expedition into Babylonia, took the towns, plundered the 
temples, and carried off the images of the gods to his own capital, where they 
remained to the time of the Assyrian conquest. From Babylonian documents 
of a date not much later (b. c. 2200-2100), it appears that an Elamitic dynasty 
had by that time been established in Babylonia itself, and that a king called 
Kudur-Mabuk, an Elamite prince, who held his court at Ur, in Lower Chaldea, 
carried his arms so far to the westward, that he took the title of " Ravager of 
the West," or "Ravager of Syria," — a title which is found inscribed on his 
bricks. The element Kudur, which commences the name of this prince, and 
also that of Kudur-Nakhunta, is identical with the Hebrew Chedor, while Laga- 
mer is elsewhere found as an Elamitic god, which is the case also with Mabuk 
and Nakhicnta. Thus Chedor-laomer (Kudur-Lagamer) is a name of exactly the 
same type with Kudur-Nakhunta and Kudur-Mabuk ; its character is thoroughly 
Elamitic ; and it is appropriate to the time at which the writer of Genesis places 
the monarch bearing it. — Hist. Must, of Old Test., p. 39. 

Gen. xiv : 3. — All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea. 

Chemical Analysis. — "The Salt Sea" — this is the most ancient and at the 
same time most natural name of the lake now known as the Dead Sea. This is 
pre-eminently the Salt Sea. From careful analysis, it appears that each gallon 
of the water, weighing 12^ lbs., contains nearly 3^5 lbs. of matter in solution — 
an immense quantity when we recollect that sea-water, weighing 10^ lbs. per 
gallon, contains less than half a pound. Of this 3^3 lbs., nearly 1 lb. is com- 
mon salt (chloride of sodium); about 2 lbs. chloride of magnesium, and less 



86 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

. than half a pound chloride of calcium. The quantity of salt in solution in this 
lake is very large, and is supplied from the salt rocks of Jebel Usdum, and the 
copious briny springs on both shores. — U. S. Expedition, 4to, pp. 204, 377. 

Gen. xiv : 10. — And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits; and the Icings of Sodom and 

Gomorrah fled and fell there. 

H. B. Tristram, M. A., LL. D., F. R. S. — Bitumen is sometimes found in 
large masses floating on the surface of the Dead Sea, especially after earthquakes. 
We gathered some very large fragments. It also appears in the adjoining 
Wadys in the form of Bituminous shales, and sometimes oozes through the 
limestone as pure bitumen, at other times strongly impregnated with sulphur. 
There are also bitumen wells in other parts of the Jordan valley, the "slime- 
pits" of Siddim of old. There are also bitumen wells as far north as the 
neighborhood of Hasbeiya, under Hermon. — Natural History 0/ the Bible, p. 24. 

ISHMAEL AND HIS DESCENDANTS. 

Gen. xvi : 2. — And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now the Lord hath restrained me from 
bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. 
And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 

Rev. J. Roberts. — In the East, it is not uncommon for a man of property to 
keep a concubine in the same house with his wife ; and, strange as it may appear, 
it is sometimes at the wife's request. I know a couple with whom this occurred; 
and the wife delights in nursing and bringing up the offspring of her husband's 
con cub i n e . — Orient. II lust. , p . 25. 

Gen. xvi: 11, 12. — And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold thou art with child, and 
shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael ; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. 
And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand 
against him ; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. 

Alexander Keith, D. D. — The fate of Ishmael is here identified with that 
of his descendants ; and the same character is common to them both. The his- 
torical evidence of the fact, the universal tradition, and constant boast of the 
Arabs themselves, their language, and the preservation for many ages of an 
original rite (circumcision) derived from him as their progenitor, — confirm the 
truth of their descent from Ishmael. The fulfilment of the prediction is obvi- 
ous. The Arabs have maintained a perpetual independence. " The arms of 
Sesostris and Cyrus, of Pompey and Trajan, says Gibbon, could never achieve 
the conquest of Arabia." The independence of the Arabs was proverbial in 
ancient as well as in modern times. They not only subsist unconquered to this 
day, but the prophesied and primitive wildness of their race, and their hostility 
to all, remain unsubdued and unaltered. They are a wild people ; their hand is 
against every man, and every man 1 s hand is against them. 

In the words of Gibbon, which strikingly assimilate with those of the pro- 
phecy, " they are armed against mankind." Plundering is their profession. 
Their alliance is never courted, and can never be obtained ; and all that the 
Turks or Persians or any of their neighbors can stipulate for from them is a 



GENESIS XVI. §7 

partial and purchased forbearance. They have continued wild or uncivilized, 
and have retained their habits of hostility towards all the rest of the human race, 
'though they possessed for three hundred years countries the most opposite in 
their nature from the mountains of Arabia. The greatest part of the temperate 
zone was included within the limits of the Arabian conquests; and their empire 
extended from India to the Atlantic, and embraced a wider range of territory 
than ever was possessed by the Romans, those boastful masters of the world. 
The period of their conquest and dominion was sufficient, under such circum- 
stances, to have changed the manners of any people ; but whether in the land 
of Shinar or in the valleys of Spain, on the banks of the Tigris or the Tagus, in 
Araby the Blessed or Araby the Barren, the posterity of Ishmael have ever 
maintained their prophetic character : they have remained, under every change 
of condition, a wild people; their hand has still been against every man, and 
every man's hand against them. — Evid. of Proph., 247. 

. Dr. William Fraser. — In all ages historians have described the Bedouin 
Arab as a " wild man," or a wild ass man; as roving, predatory, engaged in 
ceaseless feuds with his neighbors, reckless of the milder restraints of civilization, 
and setting at defiance those international laws which regulate the intercourse 
of surrounding nations. The Ishmaelites or Arabians have ever held fast by the 
same country. Anchored in one land, they have swung over surrounding com- 
munities, only to settle, at last, in their own appointed territory, and to retain 
precisely the same characteristics. The " wildness " which in other tribes and 
nations has been first softened, then effaced, has, in their features, never been 
lessened by the lapse of ages. Not dispersed by conquest, nor wasted by migra- 
tion, they dwell still "in the presence of all their brethren," a strange national 
spectacle, utterly inexplicable by those laws which regulate other races. Com- 
paratively fugitive and unstable as are the general characteristics of nations 
while the influence of centuries sweep over them as tidal waves on the shore, 
the Ishmaelites remain the same as when the strangely-expressed prophecy was 
first uttered by the angel of the Lord-. The more powerful national influences, 
the attractions of fairer lands, and the luxury of indolent races, utterly failed to 
change, in the least, their characteristic features, during that splendid period 
when their empire extended from the borders of India to the Atlantic. 
Through all, they stood forth a perpetual representation of the facts predicted 
in their history, and their present condition harmonizes with that of many ages 
ago. — Blending Lights y p. 305. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — "And he will be a wild man." In the 
original it is a wild ass-man, and the learned Bochart translates it, "tarn ferus 
quam onager," as wild as a wild ass. But what is the nature of the creature to 
which Ishmael is so particularly compared? It cannot be described better than 
it is in the book of Job : " Who hath sent out the wild ass as free? or who hath 
loosed the bands of the wild ass? Whose house I have made the wilderness, 
and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, 
neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is 



88 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing." Ishmael, therefore, and 
his posterity were to be wild, fierce, savage, ranging in the deserts, and not 
easily softened and tamed to society : and whoever hath read or known any ! 
thing of this people, knoweth this to be their true and genuine character. 

" His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." 
The one is the natural and almost the necessary consequence of the other. 
Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wilderness; and his posterity have all 
along infested Arabia and the neighboring countries with their robberies and 
incursions. They live in a state of continual war with the rest of the world, 
and are both robbers by land and pirates by sea. As they have been such ene- 
mies to mankind it is no wonder that mankind have been enemies to them 
again, that several attempts have been made to extirpate them ; and even now 
as well as formerly travellers are forced to go with arms, and in caravans or 
large companies, and to march and keep watch and guard like an army, to 
defend themselves from the assaults of these freebooters, who run about in 
troops, and rob and plunder all whom they can by any means subdue. These 
robberies they also justify by alleging the hard usage of their father Ishmael, 
who, being turned out-of-doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts 
given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could 
find there. And on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, 
indemnify themselves as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, 
but also on everybody else ; always supposing a kind of kindred between them- 
selves and those they plunder. And in relating their adventures of this kind, 
they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of "I robbed a 
man of such or such a thing," to say, " I gained it." 

''And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." This is very 
extraordinary, that "his hand should be against every man, and every man's 
hand against him," and yet that he should be able to "dwell in the presence 
of all his brethren; " but, extraordinary as it was, this also hath been fulfilled, 
both in the person of Ishmael and in his 'posterity. One would think it should 
be for the interest of the neighboring princes and states at any hazard to root 
out such a pestilent race of robbers, and actually it hath several times been 
attempted, but never accomplished. They have from first to last maintained 
their independency, and, notwithstanding the most powerful efforts for their 
destruction, still dwell in the presence of all their brethren, and in the presence 
of all their enemies. 

We do not find that they were ever subject to either of their powerful neigh- 
bors. So true is the assertion of Diodorus, that "neither the Assyrians 
formerly, nor the kings of the Medes and Persians, nor yet of the Macedonians, 
were able to subdue them ; nay, though they led many and great forces against 
them, yet they could not accomplish their attempts." When, in all human 
probability, they were upon the brink of ruin, then they were signally and prov- 
identially delivered. Alexander was preparing an expedition against them, 
when an inflammatory fever cut him off in the flower of his age. Pomfiey was in 



GENESIS XVI. 89 

the career of his conquests, when urgent affairs called him elsewhere. yElius 
Gallus had penetrated far into the country, when a fatal disease destroyed 
great numbers of his men, and obliged him to return. Trajan besieged their 
capital city, but was defeated by thunder and lightning and whirlwind. Severus 
besieged the same city twice, and was twice repelled from before it ; and the 
historian Dion, a man of rank and character, though an heathen, plainly ascribes 
the defeat of these two emperors to the interposition of a divine power. We, 
who know the prophecies, may be more assured of the reality of a divine inter- 
position ; and indeed otherwise how could a single nation stand out against the 
enmity of the whole world for any length of time, and much more for near four 
thousand years together ? The great empires round them have all in their turns 
fallen to ruin, while they have continued the same from the beginning, and are 
likely to continue the same, to the end ; and this in the natural course of human 
affairs was so highly improbable, if not altogether impossible, that as nothing 
but a divine prescience could have foreseen it, so nothing but a divine power 
could have accomplished it. This is having as it were ocular demonstration for 
our faith. This is proving by plain matter of fact that " the Most High ruleth 
in the kingdoms of men," and that his truth, as well as his mercy, endureth 
forever. — Dissertations on the Prophecies, p. 25-37. 

Dr. Thomas Shaw. — With regard to the manners and customs of the Bido- 
weens, it is to be observed that they retain a great many of those we read of in 
sacred as well as profane history ; being, if we accept their religion, the same 
people they were two or three thousand years ago, without ever embracing any 
of those novelties in dress or behavior, which have had so many periods and 
revolutions in the Moorish and Turkish cities. While they often exhibit great 
hospitality, yet the outward behavior of the Arab frequently gives the lie to 
his inward temper and inclination. For he is naturally thievish and treach- 
erous, and it sometimes happens that those very persons are overtaken and 
pillaged in the morning, who were entertained the night before with all the 
instances of friendship and hospitality. Neither are they to be accused for 
plundering strangers only, and attacking almost every person whom they find 
unarmed and defenceless, but for those many implacable and hereditary animos- 
ities, which continually subsist among them, literally fulfilling to this day the 
prophecy, that "Ishmael should be a wild man; his hand should be against 
every man, and every man's hand against him." — Shaw's Travels, p. 300, etc. 

Sir Robert K. Porter. — On the smallest computation, such must have been 
the manners of those people for more than three thousand years ; thus in all 
things verifying the prediction given of Ishmael at his birth, that he, in his 
posterity, should be a wild man, and always continue to be so, though they 
shall dwell forever in the presence of their brethren. And that an acute and 
active people, surrounded for ages by polished and luxuriant nations, should, 
from their earliest to their latest times, be still found a wild people, dwelling in 
the presence of all their brethren (as we may call these nations), unsubdued and 
unchangeable, is, indeed, a standing miracle — one of those mysterious facts 
which establish the truth of prophecy. — Travels, p. 304. 



90 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Gen. xvii : 20.— And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee : Behold I have blessed him, and will 
make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I 
will make him a great nation. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — " Twelve princes shall he beget." This 
circumstance is very particular, but it was punctually fulfilled ; and Moses has 
given us the names of these princes, by which we are to understand, not that 
they were so many distinct sovereign princes, but only heads of tribes or clans. 
Strabo frequently mentions the Arabian phylarchs, as be denominates them, or 
rulers of tribes; and Melo, quoted by Eusebius from Alexander Polyhistor, a 
heathen historian, relates that "Abraham of his Egyptian wife begat twelve 
sons (he should have said one son who begat twelve sons), who, departing into 
Arabia, divided the region between them, and were the first kings of the inhab- 
itants, whence even to our days the Arabians have twelve kings of the same 
names as the first." And ever since the people have been governed by 
phylarchs, and have lived in tribes, and still continue to do so, as Thevenot and 
other modern travellers testify. 

"And I will make him a great nation." This is repeated twice or thrice; 
and it was accomplished as soon as in the regular course of nature it could be 
accomplished. His seed in process of time grew into a great nation, and such 
they continued for several ages, and such they remain to this day. They might, 
indeed, emphatically be styled a great natio?i when the Saracens had made those 
rapid and extensive conquests, and erected one of the largest empires that ever 
were in the world. — Dissert, on Prophecies, p. 26. 

CIRCUMCISION. 

Gen. xvii: 10. — This is my covenant which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed 
after thee, Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 

Alexander Keith, D. D. — Every man and male child of the Hebrew race 
bears in his body the " token of that covenant" which the Lord made with 
Abraham ; and after the extinction of a hundred generations, it is at this day a 
memorial of the fact, in confirmation of which it was ordained as an ordinance 
forever. — Demonstration of the Truth of Christianity, p. 117. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — It is certainly a fine corroboration of the book of 
Genesis to stand in the plain of Mamre (as I have done), and witness the cere- 
monies of that solemn religious rite which Abraham here received as a seal of 
the righteousness of faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised. — The Land 
and the Book, II., 403. 

Gen. xvii : 25. — And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the 

flesh of his foreskin. 

Josephus. — And they circumcised Isaac upon the eighth day ; and from that 
time the Jews continue the custom of circumcising their sons within that num- 
ber of days. But as for the Arabians, they circumcise after the thirteenth year, 
because Ishmael, the founder of their nation, who was born to Abraham of the 
concubine, was circumcised at that age. — Ant. } I., 12, § 2. 



GENESIS XVIII. 91 

Prof. T. T. Perowne, B. D. — Though Mohammed did not enjoin circumci- 
sion in the Koran, he was circumcised himself, according to the custom of his 
country; and circumcision is now as common amongst the Mohammedans as 
amongst the Jews. — In Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 464. 

• W. M. Thomson, D. D.— What does this curious and irregular procession 
signify? I inquired. "It is a circumcision," replied our friend; "and it is 
generally attended with just such music and buffoonery." Well, that is inter- 
esting, certainly, to find this rite still practised in the very place where it was 
first instituted by command of God, nearly four thousand years ago, and among 
the descendants of Ishmael, the great ancestor of these Arabs, who was among 
the very first to receive the rite. — La?id and Book, II., 401. 

PATRIARCHAL HOSPITALITY. 

Gen. xviii: 1-8. — And Abraham sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lifted up his 
eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him : and when he saw them he ran to meet 
them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, My Lord, if now 1 
have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant : let a lutle water, 
I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will 
fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on : for therefore 
are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do as thou hast said. And Abraham hast- 
ened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine 'meal, 
knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a 
calf tender and good, and gave it to a young man ; and he hasted to dress it. And he took 
butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them ; and he stood by 
them under the tree, and they did eat. 

F. L. Porter, A. M. — Both the land and people of Moab remain thor- 
oughly Oriental. Nowhere else is patriarchal life so fully or so strikingly 
exemplified. The social state of the country and the habits of the people are 
just what they were in the days of Abraham or Job. As we ne'ared Hebran, 
our little cavalcade was seen approaching, and ere we reached the brow of the 
hill the whole population had come out to meet and welcome us. The sheikh, 
a noble-looking young Druse, had already sent a man to bring a kid from the 
nearest flock to make a feast for us, and we saw him bounding away through an 
opening in the forest. lie returned in half an hour with the kid on his shoulder. 
We assured the hospitable sheikh that it was impossible for us to remain. Our 
servants were already far away over the plain, and we had a long journey before 
us. He would listen to no excuse. The feast must be prepared — " My lord 
could not pass by his servant's house without honoring him by eating a morsel 
of bread, and partaking of the kid which is being made ready. The sun is high ; 
the day is long; rest for a time under mv roof; eat and drink, and then pass on 
in peace." There was so much of the true spirit of patriarchal hospitality here, 
so much that recalled to mind scenes in the life of Abraham, and Manoah, and 
other Scripture celebrities, that we found it hard to refuse. — Giant Cities of 
Bashan, p. 17, 87. 



92 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Gen. xviii : 4, 8. — Rest yourselves under the Tree. And Abraham stood by them under the Tree, 

and they did eat. 

H. B. Tristram, M.A., LL. D., F. R. S. — The most famous existing Oak of 
the species Q. pseudo-coccifera in the Holy Land, is the so-called Abraham's Oak 
near Hebron, which has for several centuries taken the place of the once- 
renowned Terebinth which marked the site of Mamre, on the other side of the 
city. The Terebinth existed at Mamre in the time of Vespasian, and under it 
the captive Jews were sold for slaves. It disappeared about a. d. 330, and no 
tree now marks the grove of Mamre. The present Oak is the noblest tree in 
Southern Palestine, being twenty-three feet in girth, and the diameter of the 
foliage, which is unsymmetrical, being about ninety feet. — Nat. Hist, of the 
Bible, p. 369. 

DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 

Gen. xix: 24, 25. — Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire 
from the Lord out of heaven ; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the in- 
habitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 

Esdras. — Remember what the Lord did unto Sodom and Gomorrah, whose 
land lieth in clods of pitch and heaps of ashes. — Book II., ch. 2, v. 9. 

Josephus. — Adjoining this sea is Sodomitis, once a blessed region abounding 
in produce and in cities, but now entirely burnt up. They say that it was 
destroyed by lightning for the impiety of its inhabitants. And even to this day 
the relics of the Divine fire and the traces of five cities are to be seen there. — 
B.J.,IV., 8, §4. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The materials for the conflagration 
were at hand in the sulphur abounding near, and in the bitumen with which, 
dug from the slime-pits of the plain, the houses were probably constructed, or 
at least cemented. (Nat. Hist., 25.) There are exposed on the sides of Wady 
Mahawat, a broad, deep ravine at the north end of Jebel Usdum, large masses of 
bitumen, mingled with gravel. These overlie a thin stratum of sulphur, which 
again overlies a thick stratum of sand, so strongly impregnated with sulphur that 
it yields powerful fumes on being sprinkled over a hot coal. Many great 
blocks of the bitumen have been washed down the gorge, and lie scattered on 
the plain below, along with huge boulders and other traces of tremendous floods. 
The phenomenon commences about half a mile from where the Wady opens up 
on the plain, and may be traced at irregular intervals for nearly a mile further. 
The bitumen has many small waterworn stones and pebbles embedded in it. 
Again, the bitumen, unlike that which we pick up on the shore, is strongly 
impregnated with sulphur, and yields an overpowering sulphurous odor; above 
all, it is calcined, and bears the marks of having been subjected to extreme 
heat. — I have a great dread of seeking forced corroborations of Scriptural state- 
ments from questionable physical evidence, for the skeptic is apt to imagine that 
when he has refuted the wrong argument adduced in support of a Scriptural 
statement, he has refuted the Scriptural statement itself; but so far as I can 



GENESIS XXI. 93 

understand this deposit, if there be any physical evidence left of the catastrophe 
which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, or of similar occurrences, we have it 
here. The whole appearance points to a shower of hot sulphur, and of an irrup- 
tion of bitumen upon it, which would naturally be calcined and impregnated by 
its fumes ; and this at a geological period quite subsequent to all the diluvial 
and alluvial action of which we have such abundant evidence. The vestiges 
remain exactly as the last relics of a snow-drift remain in spring — an atmos- 
pheric deposit. The catastrophe must have been since the formation of the 
Wady, since the deposition of the marl, and while the water was at its present 
level; therefore probably during the historic period. — Land of Israel, 356-361. 
Dr. Samuel Wolcott. — No historic proof can be more clear and complete, 
than that the site of Sodom, from the time of its destruction to the Christian 
era, and subsequently, was a blasted region, an utter desolation (such as Moses 
describes it in his own day, Deut. xxix. 23). The entire southwest coast and ad- 
jacent territory from above Sebbeh round to the fertile border of the Ghor es- 
Safieh on the extreme southeast, relieved at a single point by the verdure of the 
small oasis of Zuweirah, is, and has been, from the time of Sodom's destruction, 
the image of enthroned desolation. The sombre wildness and desolateness of 
the whole scene; the tokens of volcanic action, or of some similar natural con- 
vulsion ; the Sodom mountain, a mass of crystallized salt, furrowed into fantas- 
tic ridges and pillars; the craggy sunburnt precipices and ravines on the west; 
the valley below Usdum, with the mingled sand, sulphur, and bitumen, which 
have been washed down the gorges; the marshy plain of the adjacent Sabkah, 
with its briny drainings, destitute of every species of vegetation; the stagnant 
sea, with its border of 'dead drift- wood ; the sulphurous odor ; " the sterility and 
death-like solitude " (Robinson); "desolation elsewhere partial, here supreme ; 
nothing in the Saharah more desolate" (Tristram); "the unmitigated desola- 
tion" (Lynch); "scorched and desolate tract" (W.) ; "desolation which, per- 
haps, cannot be exceeded anywhere upon the face of the earth" (Grove); "utter 
and stern desolation, such as the mind can scarcely conceive" (Porter); 
these and the like features impress all visitors as a fit memorial of such a catas- 
trophe as the sacred writers have recorded, — In Smith's Diet, of Bible, 3072. 

WELL OF BEER-SHEBA. 

Gen. xxi : 30-32. — These seven ewe lambs shalt thou lake of my hand, that they may be a wit- 
ness unto me, that I have digged this Well. Wherefore' he called that place Beer-sheba, be- 
cause there they sware both of them. Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba. 

Mr. George Grove, Crystal Palace, London. — The wells of Beer-sheba are 
among the first objects encountered on the entrance into Palestine from the south, 
and being highly characteristic of the life of the Bible, at the same time that 
the identity of the site is beyond all question, the Wells of Beer-sheba never fail 
to call forth the enthusiasm of the traveller. The two principal wells are close 
to the northern bank of the Wady es-Seba'. They lie just a hundred yards 
apart, and are so placed as to' be visible from a considerable distance. The 



94 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

larger of the two, which lies to the east, is, according to the careful measure- 
ments of Dr. Robinson, 12^ feet in diameter, and at the time of his visit (April 
12) was 44^ feet to the surface of the water: the masonry which incloses the 
well reaches downward for 28^ feet. The other well is 5 feet in diameter, and 
was 42 feet to the water. The curbstones round the mouth of both wells are 
worn into deep grooves by the action of the ropes of so many centuries, and look 
"as if frilled or fluted all round." Round the larger well there are nine, and 
round the smaller five large stone troughs; some much worn and broken, others 
nearly entire, lying at a distance of 10 or 12 feet from the edge of the well. 
There were formerly ten of these troughs at the larger well. The circle around 
is carpeted with a sward of fine short grass with crocuses and lilies. The water 
is excellent. — In Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 266. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — The Wells of Beer-sheba, in the wide frontier valley.of 
Palestine, are indisputable witnesses of the life of Abraham. — Sinai and Palestine^ 
p. 146. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — About two clock we reached 
Beersheba, where the tents were already pitched round one of Abraham's wells. 
These wells vary from five to thirteen feet in diameter. The one at which we 
were camped was twelve and a half feet in diameter, thirty-four feet till we reached 
the living rock, and, as we were told by the Arabs, twice that depth. At 
present the water stood at thirty-eight feet from the surface. The native 
visitors to our camp pointed out, with all the pride of race, that the wells were 
the work of Ibrahim el Khulil — "Abraham the Friend." The well above the 
rock was built with finely-squared large stones, hard as marble, and the ropes 
of water-drawers for 4,000 years have worn the edges of the hard limestones 
with no less than 143 flutings, the shallowest of them four inches deep. The 
ancient marble troughs were arranged at convenient distances round the mouth 
in an irregular circle, some oblong, most of them round, for the convenience 
of the cattle. From their style and material, they are probably coeval with the 
original well. All day long, our men, or the Bedouin herdsmen and their 
wives, were drawing water in skins, and filling these troughs for the horses, 
camels, cattle and sheep, recalling many a scene in the lives of the Patriarchs 
of Rebecca and of Zipporah. There are traces of an ancient open roof over 
the well. — Land of Israel, p. 376, 377. 

BURIAL OF SARAH. 

Gen. xxiii : 1-20. — And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old : these were the 
years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land 
of Canaan : and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to -weep for her. And Abraham 
stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth saying, I am a stranger and 
a sojourner with you : give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my 
dead out of my sight, etc. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — No city in Palestine so carries one back to Patri- 
archal times as Hebron. Manners and customs, and modes of action, and even 



GENESIS XXIII. 95 

idioms of speech, have changed but little since the Bible was written, or from 
what they were when Abraham dwelt here among "the sons of Heth." Take 
the account of the death and burial of Sarah, as it is found in the 23d chapter 
of Genesis as an example. " Sarah died in Kirjath-arba — the same is Hebron — 
and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her." There is some- 
thing formal in this remark, but it is in perfect accordance with present 
customs. Should such a person die here to-morrow, there would be a solemn 
public mourning and weeping, not as indicating the grief of the family so much 
as in honor of the dead. Such was this funeral mourning of the great emeer 
Abraham; but, besides this public tribute to the memory of Sarah, he, no 
doubt, sincerely lamented her death in the privacy of his own tent. 

Abraham's negotiation for a sepulchre is also very oriental and striking. 
Such a purchase was quite necessary. There has always been in this country the 
Utmost exclusiveness in regard to tombs, and although these polite Hittites 
said : " Hear us, my lord ; thou art a mighty prince among us ; in tlie choice 
of our sepulchres bury thy dead ; none of us shall withhold from thee his sep- 
ulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead." Abraham was too experienced 
an Oriental not to knOw that this was merely compliment. The thing was 
quite out of the question ; nor would Abraham himself have consented thus to 
mingle his dead with the dust and bones of strangers, even if they had been 
willing. He knew well how to understand the offer, and therefore pressed his 
request to be allowed to purchase. Nor is such a negotiation easily arranged. 
If you or I had occasion to make a similar contract to-day from these modern 
Hittites, we should find it even more delicate and tedious than did Abraham. 
I do not believe that we could succeed, even with the aid of all the mediators 
we could employ. 

In concluding the purchase with Ephron, we see the process of a modern 
bargain admirably carried out. The polite son of Zohar says: "Nay, my lord, 
hear me ; the field give I thee, and the cave that there is within I give it thee. 
In the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee; bury thy dead." Of 
course ! And just so I have had a hundred houses, and fields, and horses given 
to me, and the bystanders called upon to witness the deed, and a score of pro- 
testations and oaths taken to seal the truth of the donation ; all which, of 
course, meant nothing whatever, just as Abraham understood the -true intent and 
value of Ephron's bukshecsh. — He therefore urged forward the purchase, and 
finally brought the owner to state definitely his price, which he did at four 
hundred shekels of silver. Now, without knowing the relation between silver and 
a bit of barren rock at that time and in this place, my experience of such trans- 
actions leads me to suppose that this price was treble the actual value of the field. 
" But," says the courteous Hittite, " four hundred shekels ! what is that betwixt 
me and thee?' Oh! how often you hear those identical words on similar 
occasions, and yet, acting upon their apparent import, you would soon find out 
what and how much they meant. Abraham knew that, too; and as he was 
then in no humor to chaffer with the owner, whatever might be his price, he 



96 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

proceeded forthwith to weigh out the money. Even this is still common ; for, 
although coins have now a definite name, size and value, yet every merchant 
carries a small apparatus by which he weighs each coin, to see that it has not 
been tampered with by Jewish clippers. In like manner the specifications in 
the contract are just such as are found in modern deeds. It is not enough that 
you purchase a well-known lot; the contract must mention everything that 
belongs to it, and certify that fountains or wells in it, trees upon it, etc., are 
sold with the field. If you rent a house, not only the building itself, but every 
room in it, above and below, down to the kitchen, pantry, stable and hen-coop, 
must be specified. Thus Abraham bought this field, and the cave that was 
therein, and all the trees that were in the field, and that were in all the borders 
round about, were made sure. I see this negotiation in all its details enacted 
before me, and hear the identical words that passed between the parties. The 
venerable patriarch, bowed down with sorrow, rises from beside the couch on 
which lay, the lifeless body of his beloved Sarah. He stands before the people 
— the attitude of respect which etiquette still demands. He addresses them as 
beni Heth — sons of Heth ; and in the same words he would address these Arabs 
at>out us as beni Keis, beni Yemen, etc., etc., according as each tribe is now des- 
ignated. Again, Abraham begins his plea with a reference to his condition 
among them as a stranger — the very idiom now in use — I, a stranger, ana 
ghurib; and this plea appeals strongly to the sympathies of the hearers. It is by 
such an appeal that the beggar seeks now to enlist your compassion, and 
succeeds, because all over the East the stranger is greatly to be pitied. He is 
liable to be plundered and treated as an enemy, and among these denizens of the 
desert strangers are generally enemies, and dealt with as such. The plea, 
therefore, was natural and effective. 

Abraham stood and bowed himself to the children of Heth ; another act of 
respect in accordance with modern manners, and the next step is equally so. 
He does not apply directly to the owner of the field, but requests the 
neighbors to act as mediators on his behalf; and were we anxious to succeed 
in a similar bargain with these people, we must resort to the same rounda- 
bout mode. There is scarcely anything in the habits of Orientals more 
annoying to us Occidentals than this universal custom of employing mediators 
to pass between you and those with whom you wish to do business. Nothing 
can be done without them. A merchant cannot sell a piece of print, nor a far- 
mer a yoke of oxen, nor any one rent a house, buy a horse, ox get a wife, with- 
out a succession of go-betweens. Of course, Abraham knew that this matter of. 
the field could not be brought about without the intervention of the neighbors 
of Ephron, and therefore he applies to them first. How much manoeuvring, 
taking aside, whispering, nodding of heads, and clasping of hands there was 
before the real owner was brought within reasonable terms, we are not told, but 
at length all the preliminary uostacles and conventional impediments are sur- 
mounted according to the most approved style of etiquette, and the contract is 
closed in the audience of all the people that went in at the gate of the city. This 



GENESIS XXIV. 97 

also is true to life. When any sale is now to be effected in a town or village, 
the whole population gather about the parties at the usual place of concourse, 
around or near the gate, where there is one. There all take part, and enter 
into the pros and cons with as much earnestness as if it were their own individual 
affair. By these means, the operation, in all its circumstances and details, is 
known to many witnesses, and the thing is made sure, without any written con- 
tract. In fact, up to this day, in this very city, a purchase thus witnessed is 
legal, while the best drawn deeds of a London lawyer, though signed and sealed,, 
would be of no avail without such living witnesses. — So Abraham obtained the 
cave of Machpelah for the possession of a burying-place for himself and his 
descendants, and thus became legal proprietor of a portion of the promised 
inheritance. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 381-384. 

ELIEZER SEEKING A WIFE FOR ISAAC. 

Gen. xxiv : 4. — Thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my 

son Isaac. 

W. M. Thomson, D. D. — This is in exact correspondence with the custom of 
the Eastern nobility; nor need we limit the remark to the higher classes. Cer- 
tain degrees of affinity excepted, a relative always has the preference in matri- 
monial negotiations. The strict injunction of Abraham, therefore, to bring 
none but a relative from his own family, though enforced by religious considera- 
tions, was in no sense a departure from established usages and social laws in 
regard to marriage. — The Land and the Book, II., 403. 

Gen. xxiv : 10. — And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for 
all the goods of his master were in his hands : and he arose and went into Mesopotamia, unto, 
the city of Nahor. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The preparation and outfit for this journey agree in 
all respects with the persons concerned, the nature of the country, and the habr 
its of the people. Eliezer took ten camels loaded with provisions and presents; 
and such an expedition would not now be undertaken from Hebron with any 
other animals, nor with a less number. — The Land a?id the Book, II., 404. 
Gen. xxiv: u. — And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at 
the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — To enable the camel to receive its 
load, by a special provision of Nature, it is formed to kneel down whenever it 
desires to rest, or to drink, and it also prefers feeding in this posture.. This 
habit of kneeling down is not merely the result of training ; it is their natural 
posture of repose, as is shown also by the callosities upon the joints of the legs, 
and especially by that upon the breast, which serves as a pedestal to support the 
huge body. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, 60. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Every phrase of the eleventh verse of the twenty- 
fourth chapter of Genesis contains an allusion to matters Oriental. "He made 
the camels kneel'' — a mode of expression taken from actual life. The action is 
literally kneeling; not stooping, sitting, or lying down on the, side like a. horse,, 
7 



98 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

but kneeling on his knees, and this the camel is taught to do from his youth. 
The place is said to have been by "a well of water," and this well was " outside 
the city." In the East, where wells are scarce, and water indispensable, the 
existence of a well or fountain determines the site of the village. The people 
build near it, but prefer to have it outside the city, to avoid the noise, dust and 
confusion always occurring at it, and especially if the place is on the public 
highway. It is around the fountain that the thirsty traveller and the wearied 
caravan assemble ; and if you have become separated from your own company 
before arriving at town, you need only inquire for the fountain, and there you 
will find them. It was perfectly natural, therefore, for Eliezer to halt at the 
well. The time was evening ; but it is further stated that it was when the 
women go forth to draw water. True to life again. At that hour the peasant 
returns home from his labor, and the women are busy preparing the evening 
meal, which is to be ready at sunset. Cool, fresh water is then demanded, and 
of course there is a great concourse around the well. But why limit it to the 
women ? Simply because such is the fact. About great cities men often carry 
water, both on donkeys and on their own backs, but in the country, among the 
unsophisticated natives, women go only to the well or the fountain ; and often 
when travelling, have I seen long files of them going and returning with their 
pitchers, "at the time when women go out to draw water." — The Land and the 
Book, II., p. 404. 

Gen. xxiv : 15-18. — And it came to pass before Eliezer had done speaking (in prayer), that, 
behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abra- 
ham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder; and she went down to the well and filled 
her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me I pray thee 
drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord : and she hasted and let down 
her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Again : the description of Rebekah, the account she 
gives of herself, and the whole dialogue with Eliezer, agree admirably with 
Oriental customs. Even the statement as to the manner of carrying her pitcher, 
or rather jar, is exact — on he?' shoulder. The Egyptian and the Negro carry on 
the head, the Syrian on the shoulder or the hip. She went down to the well ; 
and nearly all wells in the East are in wadies, and many of them have steps 
down to the water — fountains of course have. Eliezer asks water to drink; she 
hastens and lets down the pitcher on her hand. How often have I had this iden- 
tical act performed for myself, when travelling in this thirsty land. Rebekah's 
address to the servant, Drink, my lord — Ishrub ya seedy — will be given to you 
in the exact idiom by the first gentle Rebekah you ask water from. — The Land 
and the Book, II., p. 405. 

Gen. xxiv : 22. — And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a 
golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight 
of gold. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The jewels, also, for the face, forehead and arms, are 



GENESIS XXIV. 99 

still as popular among the same class of people as they were in the days of 
Abraham. Not only are the head, neck and arms adorned with a profusion of 
gold and silver rings, chains, and other ornaments, but rings are suspended on 
the face, from the side of the nose, etc., etc. — The Land a?id the Book, II., p. 405. 

Gen. xxiv : 29, 31, 32. — And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban : and Laban ran out 
unto the man, unto the well. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord. Wherefore 
standest thou without ? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the 
man came into the house : and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the 
camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Laban's address, " Come in, thou blessed of the 
Lord," is still in good taste. I have often been welcomed in set phrases even 
more complimentary and sacred. The camels, it appears, were included in the 
invitation, and were brought "into the house; " and I have often slept in the 
same room with these peaceful animals, in company with their owner and all his 
family. " Straw and provender " were given to them ; that is tibin, and some 
kind of pulse or grain. There is no hay in the East. Water to wash the feet 
of the wearied travellers was of course given, and the same kind act will be done 
to you under similar circumstances. — The Land and the Book, II., p. 406. 

F. L. Porter, A. M. — We are among a people of patriarchal manners and 
genuine patriarchal hospitality. We were looked on and treated as welcomed 
guests. We could not pass town or village without being entreated to accept 
hospitality. "Will not my lord descend while his servants prepare a little 
food?" is the urgent language of every village sheikh. The coffee is always on 
the hearth; a kid or lamb is at hand, and can be "got ready" with all the 
dispatch of ancient days. Food for servants, "provender" for horses, accom- 
modation for all, are given as matters of course. In travelling through Bashan 
one fancies himself carried back to the days when the patriarchs sat in their tent 
doors, ready to welcome every visitor and hail every passer-by. — Gia7it Cities of 
Bashan, p. 48. 

Gen. xxiv: 50, 51, 53. — Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth 
from the Lord : we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold Rebekah is before thee ; 
take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken. And the 
servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to 
Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — So also the mode of negotiating the marriage con- 
tract, the presenting of gifts, etc., are all in perfect accordance with modern 
usages. The parents manage the whole affair, often, however, with the advice 
of the eldest son and heir, as Laban was in this case. And if the father be dead, 
the eldest son takes his place, and assumes his authority in the disposal of his 
sisters. Presents are absolutely essential in betrothals. They are given with 
much ceremony before witnesses, and the articles presented are described in a 
written document, so that if the match be broken off, the bridegroom can obtain 
them back again, or their value, and something more as a compensation for the 
injury. — The Land and the Book, II., p. 406. 



100 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



Gen. xxiv: 61, 63, 64, 65.— And the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac 
went out to meditate in the field at the eventide : and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and be- 
hold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, 
she lighted off the camel ; and she took a veil and covered herself. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Finally, the behavior of Rebekah, when about to 
meet Isaac, was such as modern etiquette requires. It is customary for both 
men and women, when an emeer of great personage is approaching, to alight 
some time before he comes up with them. Women frequently refuse to ride in 
the presence of men, and when a company of them are to pass through a town, 
they often dismount and walk. It was, no doubt, a point of Syrian etiquette 




MOSQUE OF HEBRON. 

for Rebekah to stop, descend from her camel, and cover herself with a veil in 
the presence of her future husband. In a word, this Biblical narrative is so 
natural to one familiar with the East, so beautiful also, and life-like, that the 
entire scene seems to be an affair in which he has himself been but recently an 
actor. — The Land and the Book, II., 4°6- 

DEATH AND BURIAL OF ABRAHAM. 

Gen. xxv : 8, 9.— And Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age. And his sons, 
Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave- of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of 
Zohar, the Hittite, which is before Mamre. 

Dean Stanley.— And now I am in Hebron, looking on the sight of a sep- 
ulchre whose genuineness has never yet been questioned. The cave of Mach- 



GENESIS XXIX. 101 

pelali is concealed, beyond all reasonable doubt, by the Mosque of Hebron. 
(See the testimonies given under Gen. xlix. 30, and 1. 12, 13.) — Sinai and 
Palestine, 102, 148. 

JACOB'S RED POTTAGE. 

Gen. xxv : 29-34. — Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles ; and he did eat and 
drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The Lentil is a species of Vetch, 
very like some of our wild sorts, especially the Tine-tare, and is much cultivated 
on the poorer soils in Palestine. There are several varieties recognized, but the 
Red Lentil is considered the best. We have eaten it mixed with meal for bread ; 
but it is more generally used as pottage, or cooked as the Spaniards cook haricot 
"beans, stewed with oil, and flavored with red pepper. It is by no means an 
unsavory dish. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, 462. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — In my rambles about the outskirts of Hebron 
last evening, I lit upon a company of Ishmaelites sitting round a large saucepan, 
regaling themselves with their dinner. As they said " Tufuddal " very ear- 
nestly, I sat down among them, and, doubling some of their bread spoon-fashion, 
plunged into the saucepan as they did, and I found their food very savory 
indeed. The composition was made of that red kind of lentiles which we 
examined in the market, and I can readily believe that to a hungry hunter it 
must have been very tempting. It is a singular fact that our Frank children 
born in this country are extravagantly fond of this same adis pottage. I can 
testify, also, that when cooking, it diffuses far and wide an odor extremely grate- 
ful to a hungry man. It was, therefore, no slight temptation to Esau, returning 
weary and famished from an unsuccessful hunt in this burning climate. I have 
known modern hunters so utterly spent as to feel, like him, that they were about 
to die. — The Land and the Book, II., 397. 

THE OATH OF PEACE. 

Gen. xxvi: 28, 29. — Then Abimelech said to Isaac, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even 
between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee ; that thou wilt do us no hurt, as 
we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent 
thee' away in peace. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Just so at this day the towns, and even cities, such 
as Hamath and Hums in the north, and Gaza and Hebron in this region, culti- 
vate with great care friendly relations with the sheikhs of prosperous tribes on 
their borders. The strife about the wells had been a fruitful source of annoy- 
ance to both parties no doubt. — The Land and the Book, II., 350. 

WATERING THE FLOCKS. 

Gen. xxix: 9-1 1. — And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep; 
for she kept them. And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his 
mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and 
watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his 
voice and wept. 

Dr. H. B. Tristram. — Many of the most attractive scenes of Oriental life 



102 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and history cluster round the sheep-troughs. It was at the well where they 
waited to water the sheep that Jacob first saw his cousin Rachel, and "went near 
and rolled away the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of 
Laban, his mother's brother, and Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice 
and wept." By a well in the land of Midian the exiled Moses sat down, and 
defended the daughters of Reuel from the shepherds, who would have disputed 
their right of watering their flocks, and for his gallant protection was soon 
rewarded by finding a home and a wife among them. And still "the places of 
drawing water" are the spots where the youth and girls of Bedouin life con- 
gregate, and at the wells alone is Oriental courtship carried on to this day. 
The Syrian girl, especially if a Druse or Christian, unlike the secluded daughter 
of the towns, is frequently entrusted, like Rachel or Zipporah, with the care of 
her father's flock. The well, the most precious of possessions, is carefully 
closed with a heavy slab until all those whose flocks are entitled to share its 
water have gathered. The time is noon. The first-comers gather and report 
the gossip of the tribe. The story of the twenty-ninth chapter of Genesis is, in 
its most minute details, a transcript of the Arab life of to-day. — Nat. Hist, of 
the Bible, 141, 142. 

TENDER EYE. 

Gen. xxix : 17. — Leah was tender-eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favored. 
Henry Hayman, B. D. — Ophthalmia is perhaps more common in Syria and 
Egypt than anywhere else in the world, especially in the fig season, the juice 
of the newly ripe fruit (according to Hippocrites) having the power of giving 
it. — Smith's Diet., 1863. 

MARRIAGE DECEPTION. 

Gen. xxix : 21-27. — And ^ came to pass, that in the morning, behold it was Leah. . . . And 
Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born. 

Rev. John Hartley. — In a conversation with an Armenian of Smyrna, the 
following fact was related to me : A young Armenian in Smyrna had solicited 
in marriage a younger daughter who had obtained his preference The girl's 
parents consented to the match ; but when the time for solemnizing the marriage 
arrived, the eldest daughter was conducted (closely veiled) by the parents to 
the altar, and the young man was quite unconsciously married to her. The 
deception was not discovered till it could not be rectified. I naturally 
exclaimed, " Why that is just the deception that was practised upon Jacob." 
" V tat deception ? " he replied. As the Old Testament is not yet translated into 
any language with which the Armenians are familiar, he was ignorant of the 
story. And this father, as the relator stated, excused his conduct in precisely 
the same way as Laban, alleging that custom did not warrant the marriage of 
the younger before the elder daughter. — Researches in Greece and the Levant. 

Roberts. — It has been said, and with much truth, that could Alexander now 
revisit India, he would find the same customs and manners that prevailed 
in his day. From age to age there is a careful and reverent adherence to 



GENESIS XXXI. 103 

ancient fashions and usages. When the eldest daughter is deformed, or blind, 
or deaf, or dumb, then the younger may be given first ; but under other cir- 
cumstances it would be disgraceful in the extreme. Should any one wish to 
alter the order of things, the answer of Laban would be given. Should a 
father, however, have a very advantageous offer for a younger daughter, he will 
exert all his powers previously to obtain a suitable match for the elder ; and 
until this can be accomplished, the younger will not be married. — Orient. 
Lllus.,p. 34. 

MANDRAKES. 

Gen. xxx : 14. — And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the 
field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, 
of thy son's mandrakes. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The mandrake is a plant of very 
peculiar appearance. It sends up in early spring a broad disk of leaves, 
lying flat on the ground, being a foot in length and four inches wide. In the 
centre of these come out the blossoms singly ; they are cup-shaped, and of a 
rich purple color. The fruit is of the size of a large plum, quite round, yellow, 
and full of soft pulp. The mandrake is universally distributed over all parts of 
Palestine, and its fruit is much valued by the natives, who still hold to the 
belief, as old as the time of Rachel, that when eaten it ensures conception. — ■ 
Nat. Hist, of the Bible, 466. 

W. Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — Venus was called Mandragositis by the 
ancient Greeks, and the fruit of the plant was termed "apples of love." — In 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1778. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Reuben gathered mandrakes in wheat harvest, and it 
is then that they are still found ripe and eatable on the lower ranges of Lebanon 
and Hermon, where I have most frequently seen them. The Arabs believe them 
to be exhilarating and stimulating. — The Land and the Book, II., 380. 

HOUSEHOLD GODS. 

Gen. xxxi : 30, 34. — Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods ? Now Rachel had taken the images, 
and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, 
and found them not. 

Josephus. — It was the custom of the Mesopotamians to have all the idols 
(teraphim) they worshipped in their own houses, and to take them with them 
on their journeys. 

Rev. Dr. W. M. Thomson. — It is still very common for Arabs to hide 
stolen property under the padding of their saddles. Nor does this act of steal- 
ing a god to worship strike these people as monstrous or absurd. I have known 
many such thefts of modern teraphim, pictures and images, and that by women, 
too. And why not ? It is surely not absurd to steal the god whose aid you 
invoke to assist you to steal other things. The Moslems often, pray for success ia 
their lowest intrigues. — The Land and the Book, II., 24. 



104 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

SHEPHERD LIFE OF JACOB. 

Gen. xxxi: 36-40. — And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: This twenty years have I 
been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy 
flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the 
loss of it : of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 
Thus I was; in the day time the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep 
departed from mine eyes. 

W. M. Thomson, D. D. — The terms with which Laban and Jacob reproved 
and berated each other are in admirable keeping with the parties and the story, 
and abound in allusions to Oriental customs, especially of a pastoral people. 
Twenty years long, cries Jacob, have I served thee. The ewes of thy flock have 
not cast their young; evidence of most careful and successful treatment. The 
rams of thy flock have I not eaten ; implying that then, as now, the males of the 
flock alone were used for food, or sold to the butcher. Then, as now, wild beasts 
tore some of the flock: but Jacob the shepherd, not Laban the landlord, bore 
the loss. Then, too, as at this day, thieves prowled about; but Jacob made 
good whatever was stolen. Of course, he had to watch by day and by night, 
in winter's storms and summer's burning suns. It was, therefore, no mere fig- 
ure of speech that the drought consumed him by day and the frost by night. 
Thus do the hardy shepherds suffer in the same regions at the present time. 
But it is a dog's life, in spite of all the eclogues and pastorals of love-sick poets. 
— The La?id and the Book, II., 26. 

Gen. xxxi: 53. — And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. 
Roberts. — One of the most solemn oaths taken in the East is that of swear- 
ing by the Father, whether he be living or dead. Is a man accused of some 
great crime? he says, "By my father I swear that I am innocent." "I have 
sworn in the name of my father, therefore believe me." — Orie?it. Must., p. 38. 

MOUNT SEIR. 

Gen. xxxii : 3. — And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, 

the country of Edom. 

Mr. George Grove, Crystal Palace, London. — Seir was the original name of 
the mountain ridge extending along the east side of the Valley of Arabah, from 
the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. This mountain range was originally inhab- 
ited by the Horites, or " troglodites," who were doubtless the excavators of 
those singular rock dwellings found in such numbers in the ravines and cliffs 
around Petra. They were dispossessed, and apparently annihilated, by the pos- 
terity of Esau, who dwelt in their stead. The history of Seir thus early merges 
into that of Edom. — In Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2902.' 

MILCH CAMELS. 

Gen. xxxii : 115. — And Jacob took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother : 
— thirty milch camels with their colts. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Camels' milk is very largely used 



GENESIS XXXV. 105 

in the East, and is excellent. The milk is rich and strong, but not very sweet. 
It is usually curdled and drunk sour, in which state it is both nourishing and re- 
freshing, and to many a travelling x\rab supplies both food and drink. — Nat. 
Hist, of Bible, p. 6$. 

FLOCKS JOURNEYING. 

Gen. xxxii : 16. — And Jacob delivered them into the hands of his servants, every drove by them- 
selves ; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and 
drove. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — During the months of November and December, 1853, 
the whole line of coast was covered with flocks ; they came from Northern Syria 
and from Mesopotamia; and their shepherds, in dress, manners, and language, 
closely resembled those of Abraham and Job, as I believe. At a distance the 
flocks look exactly like droves of hogs going to Cincinnati ; their progress is 
quite as slow, and their motions are very similar. The shepherds put a space 
between drove and drove, and then lead on softly, as Jacob's shepherds did, and 
for the same reason. If they over-drive them, the flock dies, and even with the 
greatest care many give out and perish. — The Land and the Book, I., 513. 

DEBORAH'S GRAVE. 

Gen. xxxv : 8. — Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el, under 

an oak. 

Dr. H. B. Tristram. — Great and remarkable Oaks were favorite resorts for 
the performance of idolatrous rites ; and of old under their shadow great per- 
sons were buried, as to the present day they are invariably chosen for the burial 
places of Arab sheikhs or saints. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, 371. 

RACHEL'S TOMB. 

Gen. xxxv: 16, 19, 20. — And they journeyed from Beth-el : and there was but little way to come 
to Ephrath : and Rachel travailed and she had hard labor. And Rachel died, and was buried 
in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar on her grave : that is the 
pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. 

Rev. W. L. Gage. — On the highland a little north of Bethlehem, at a place 
called Ephrath, Rachel died and was buried. The place of her burial, kept in 
remembrance by successive structures, one of which, of comparatively modern 
construction, can be seen even now, is unquestionably authentically preserved. 
She could not be carried to Hebron, it would seem; she must be buried by the 
wayside, where she fell. — Studies in Bible Lands, p. 61. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson.— From there we passed round to the southwest, and 
came in fifteen minutes to the tomb of Rachel. This is a plain Saracenic maus- 
oleum, having no claims to antiquity in its present form, but deeply interesting 
in sacred associations, for, by the singular consent of all authorities in such 
questions, it marks the actual site of her grave. Such a spot must ever be 
regarded with that sort of respect and tender emotion which are accorded to 
deep sorrow. — The Land and the Book, II., 501. 

Dean Stanley. — The sepulchre which is called the Tomb of Rachel agrees 



106 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

exactly with the spot described as " a little way from Bethlehem." — Sinai ani 
Palestine, p. 147. 

DOTHAN. 

Gen. xxxvii : 17. — And the man said, Thy brethren are departed hence; for I heard them say, 
Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. 

Mr. George Grove. — Dothain was known to Eusebius, who places it twelve 
miles to the north of Sebaste (Samaria) ; and here it has at length been dis- 
covered in our own times by Mr. Van de Velde and Dr. Robinson, still bearing 
its ancient name unimpaired, and situated at the south end of a plain of the 
richest pasture, four or five miles southwest of Jenin, and separated only 
by a swell or two of hills from the plain of Esdraelon. — In Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 613. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett. — The situation of Dothan, on the present line of 
travel from East-Jordan to Egypt, confirms the truth of the Biblical History ; 
for it is implied that the Dothan of Moses was on the great thoroughfare which 
led from Gilead beyond the Jordan to the great centre of traffic in the valley 
of the Nile. Mr. Tristram speaks of meeting there " a long caravan of asses 
and mules laden " (like the Ishmaelites of old), " on their way from Damascus 
to Egypt." Precisely here is found, at the present day, the best pasturage in 
all the region ; and thus, though the narrative is silent as to the reason why 
the sons of Jacob went from Shechem to Dothan, we see that it is the very place 
which herdsmen, such as they were, would naturally seek after having exhausted 
the supplies of their previous pasture-ground. It is distant from Shechem about 
twelve miles, and could be easily reached. — In Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 614. 

Gen. xxxvii : 23, 24. — And it came to pass when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they 
stripped him of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him ; and they took him and cast 
him into a pit : and the pit was empty, and there was no water in it. 

Lieut. S. Anderson, R. E. — In the continuation of this plain, and a little 
to the westward, is a hill called Dotan, which has been recognized as the site 
of Dothan, where Joseph's brethren were feeding their flocks, when he came 
from his father's settlement, at Hebron, to visit them. The numerous rock- 
hewn cisterns that are found everywhere would furnish a suitable pit into which 
they might have thrust him ; and as these cisterns are shaped like a bottle, with 
a narrow mouth, it would be impossible for any one imprisoned within to extri- 
cate himself without assistance. — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 360. 

Gen. xxxvii: 25. — And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, 
and, behold a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery 
and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down into Egypt. 

Dr. Vincent. — Here, upon opening the oldest history in the world, we find 
the Ishmaelites from Gilead conducting a caravan loaded with the spices of 
India, the balsam and myrrh of Hadramant ; and in the regular course of their 
traffic proceeding to Egypt for a market. The date of this transaction is more 
than seventeen centuries before the Christian era, and notwithstanding its an- 



GENESIS XXXIX. 107 

tiquity, it has all the genuine features of a caravan crossing the desert at the 
present hour. — Com?nerce and Navigation of the A?icients, II., 262. 

EGYPT IN THE TIME OF JOSEPH. 

Gen. xxxix : 1. — And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. 
Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Some thirty or forty years ago, attempts 
were made in Germany to prove that the description of Egypt contained in 
the latter portion of the book of Genesis exhibited "numerous mistakes and 
inaccuracies; " but the "mistakes and inaccuracies" alleged were scarcely of 
an historical character, and the writers who alleged them have been so triumph- 
antly refuted by Hengstenberg, and others, that the sceptical school has ceased 
to urge the point, and now allows the entire truthfulness and accuracy of the 
whole account. Few. things are in truth more remarkable than the complete 
harmony and accordance which exist between the picture of ancient Egypt and 
the ancient Egyptians, as drawn for us by Moses, and that portraiture of them 
which is now obtainable from their own contemporary writings and monuments. 
— Modern Scepticism, fi. 274. 

Gen. xxxix : 1. — And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, bought Joseph of the 
hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. 

Rosellini. — Pharaoh had a body-guard, which is constantly seen on the 
sculptures, in close attendance upon his person. — Monuments of Egypt, II., 201. 

J. Kendrick, M. A. — The monuments have given us a long list of officers, 
who ministered to the state and luxury of the sovereign. The king always 
appears surrounded by numerous military and sacerdotal attendants. Men of 
high rank, and even princes of the blood, formed his train, screening him from 
the heat or cooling him, and chasing away the flies with a feather fan. — Ancient 
Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. II., p. 28. 

Gen. xxxix: 4. — And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him : and he made him 
overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 
Rev. Daniel March, D. D. — Potiphar made Joseph overseer in his house, 
and the whole management of everything in the great establishment of the 
Egyptian lord was left in the hands of the Hebrew slave. Joseph himself had 
such a confidential steward after he became prime minister to Pharaoh. In a 
tomb at Kumel el Ahmar is a picture for which Joseph might have sat when he 
managed the affairs of Potiphar's house. The steward is taking an account of 
stores received and given out. His clerks are about him with account-books 
and implements of writing. One has the pen over his ear, the paper in his 
hand, and the writing-table under his arm. — Research and Travel in Bible 
Lands, in "Wood's Animals of the Bible," p. 697. 

Gen. xxxix : 7.— And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon 
Joseph : and she said, Lie with me. 

Prof. Geo. Rawlinson, M. A.— The liberty allowed to women is likewise 
Seen on the monuments, where, in the representation of entertainments, we find 



108 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

men and women frequently sitting together, both strangers and also members of 
the same family ; and that this liberty was liable to degenerate into license, 
appears both from what Herodotus says of the character of Egyptian women, 
and from the story told in the Papyrus d'Orbiney. — Historical Must, of the O. 
T.,p. 47- 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Soci. of Biblical Archaeology. — The corrupt manners 
of the period, to which so many allusions are found in the Pentateuch, are fully 
proven by an Egyptian romance written to entertain king Rameses II., and 
recently translated by M. Chabas. This Novel, probably the oldest in the 
world's literature, turns entirely upon the affection of two brothers for each 
other, the wife of the elder of whom, Anepou, endeavors to seduce the younger 
into an adulterous connection with her. On his resistance, her guilty passion, 
artifice and hatred, all the story turns, and the interposition of the gods is at 
last necessary to avenge the innocent and to punish the guilty. — Faith and Free 
Thought, p. 227. 

Gen. xl : 2. — And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, 
and against the chief of the bakers. 

Lenormant. — The domestic establishment and court of Pharaoh were mag- 
nificent, and comprised various grand functionaries, whose tombs are among the 
most splendid of the early remains of Egyptian art. — Manuel d' Histoire Anc. de 
V Orient., L, 333. 

Gen. xl : 3. — And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, 
the place where Joseph was bound. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — The authority of the Egyptian king was well nigh, if 
not altogether, absolute, as abundantly appears from Herodotus, Diodorus, and 
others. He enacted laws, administered justice, and executed or pardoned 
offenders at his pleasure. — Ancient Egypt, II., 22. 

Gen. xl : 9-1 1. — And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, 
behold, a vine was before me; and in the vine were three branches; and it was as though it 
budded, and her blossoms shot forth ; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes : and 
Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup 
and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. 

Prof. Geo. Rawlinson, M. A. — Though Herodotus denies the exist- 
ence of the vine in Egypt, and Plutarch states that wine was not drunk there 
till the reign of Psammetichus, yet it is now certain, from the momnnents, 
that the cultivation of the grape, the art of making wine, and the practice of 
drinking it, were well known in Egypt, at least from the time of the Pyramids. 
—Histor. Must, of the O. T., p. 52. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — Wine was universally used by the rich throughout 
Egypt, and beer supplied its place at the tables of the poor, not because they 
had no vines in the country, but because it was cheaper. — In Rawlinson' s Hero- 
dotus, Vol. II., p. 107. 

Rev. Daniel March, D. D. — In the oldest tombs of Gizeh are representa- 
tions of vines trained upon poles, of gathering grapes in baskets, treading the 



GENESIS XLI. 



109 



wine-press, straining of the juice, bottling, decanting, and storing the wine. At 
Thebes, boys are seen frightening away birds from the vineyards. At Beni 
Hassan kids are browsing among the vines after the vintage. Many monuments 
represent kings presenting offerings of wine to the gods. And these pictures go 
back to the time when the chief butler told his dream to Joseph in prison. — 
Research and Travel in Bible Lands, in " Wood's Bible Animals," p. 697. 

Gen. xl : 16. — And the chief baker said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold I had 
three white baskets on my head. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — The form of the Egyptian bread-basket is delineated 
in the Tomb of Rameses III. And the practice of men carrying burdens " on 
the head " both appears on the monuments, and is also noticed by Herodotus. — 
Ancient Egypt, II. , 151, 385. 

Gen. xl: 17. — And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh ; 
and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. 

Rev. Daniel March, D. D. — This verse describes just what I have seen many 
a time in the streets of old Cairo — bakers and confectioners carrying wide 
wicker-baskets on their heads, and birds flying about among the people and 
alighting on the burdens which men and beasts are carrying. In the ancient 
tombs at Biban el Moluk and elsewhere are found fancy loaves of wheaten and 
barley bread, kneaded in the form of stars, triangles, disks, and other figures; 
and the monuments show that the custom of carrying on the head was then, as 
now, universal. — Research and Travel in Bible Lands, in "Wood's Bible Ani- 
mals," p. 697. 

Gen. xl : 20. — And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birth-day, that he made 
a feast unto all his servants. 

Wilkinson. — The birth-days of the kings were in Egypt celebrated with great 
pcmp. They were looked upon as holy ; no business was done upon them, and 
all classes indulged in the festivities suitable to the occasion. Every Egyptian 
attached much importance to the day, and even to the hour of his birth. — 
Ancient Egypt, V., 290. 

Gen. xli : 14. — Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the 
dungeon : and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — Western Asiatics have always cherished the beard as 
the badge of the dignity of manhood, and attached to it the importance of a 
feature. The Egyptians, on the contrary, sedulously, for the most part, shaved 
the hair of the face and head, and compelled their slaves to do the like. Hero- 
dotus mentions it as a peculiarity of the Egyptians, that they let the beard grow 
in mourning, being at all other times shaved. Hence Joseph when released 
from prison, "shaved" his beard to appear before Pharaoh. — In Smith's Diet. 
of Bible, p. 258. 

Dr. John Kitto. — In any country mentioned in the Bible, excepting only 
Egypt, dressing the beard or the hair, instead of " shaving," would have been 
the kind of preparation required. But in Egypt, and in Egypt only, a man put 



HO TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

himself into decent condition by an operation which, in any other country, 
would have been ignominious. But this is one of the minute touches by which 
the exact historical truth of the narrative is established : for the testimony of all 
antiquity, as well as the sculptured and pictured monuments, concurs with this 
intimation in describing the Egyptians as a shaven people. — Daily Illustrations, 
p. 364. 

Gen. xli : 22. — And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and 

good. 

Rev. W. Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — Egypt, in ancient times, was cele- 
brated for the growth of its wheat ; the best quality, according to Pliny, was 
grown in the Thebaid ; it was all bearded ; and the same varieties, Sir G. Wil- 
kinson writes, existed in ancient as in modern days, among which may be 
mentioned the "seven-eared" quality described in Pharaoh's dream. — In 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3510. 

Gen. xli: 23. — And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung 

up after them. 

Ukert. — As long as the southeasterly wind, in Egypt, continues, doors and 
windows are closed, but the fine dust penetrates everywhere ; everything dries 
up; wooden vessels warp and crack. The thermometer rises suddenly from 
16.20 degrees up to 30, 36, and even 38 degrees Reaumur. This wind works 
destruction upon everything. The grass withers, so that it entirely perishes, 
if this wind blows long. — See ALgypten una 1 Mose, p. 10. 

Gen. xli : 37, 38. — And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his 
servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in 
whom the Spirit of God is ? 

Diodorus Siculus. — The king of Egypt was assisted in the management of 
state affairs by the advice of a council, consisting of the most able and distin- 
guished members of the priestly order. — Diod. Sie., I., 73. 

Gen. xli: 41, 42. — And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of 
Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — The ring was no doubt the signet of sover- 
eignty with which the royal acts were to be sealed, and which rendered them 
authentic and authoritative. It empowered the person who held it to enforce 
his measures by the royal authority. It doubtless contained the name or insig- 
nia of the king. We are well acquainted with the signet and other rings of the 
ancient Egyptians, as many specimens have been found. They are usually of 
gold. The form of the scarabseus, or sacred beetle, was that usually preferred 
for this purpose. In some cases the stone, flat on both faces, turned on pins, 
like many of our seals at the present day; and the ring itself was bound round 
at each end, where it was inserted into the stone with gold wire. — Daily II lust , 

/• 373- 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The use of a signet-ring by the monarch 
of Egypt has recently received a remarkable illustration by the discovery of an 



GENESIS XLI. Ill 

impression of such a signet on fine clay at Koyunjik, the site of the ancient Nin- 
eveh. This seal appears to have been impressed from the bezel of a metallic 
finger-ring ; it is an oval, two inches in length by one inch wide, and bears the 
image, name, and titles of the Egyptian king, Sabaco. Other impressions of 
royal signets have been found in Egypt; and the actual signet-rings of two of 
the ancient monarchs, Cheops and Horus, have been recovered. — Hist. Illust. 
of O. T.,p. 48. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — One of the largest ancient signets I ever saw was in 
the possession of a French gentleman at Cairo which contained twenty pounds 
worth of gold. It consisted of a massive ring, half an inch in its largest diame- 
ter, having an oblong plinth, on which the devices were engraved, one inch 
long, six-tenths in its greatest, and four-tenths in its smallest breadth. On the 
face was the name of a king, the successor of Amunoph III., who lived about 
1460 b. c. ; on the other a lion, with the legend "lord of strength," referring to 
the monarch: one side a scorpion, on the other a crocodile. (Here then 
we have an undoubted specimen of a royal signet., — In Kitto's Daily Illust., 
P> 374- 

Gen. xli : 42. — And he arrayed Joseph in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his 

neck. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — I have in my possession actual specimens of Egyptian 
"fine linen," the quality of which fully justifies all the praises of antiquity, and 
excites equal admiration at the present day; being to the touch comparable to 
silk, and not inferior in texture to our finest cambric. — In Kitto's Daily Illust., 

/■ 375- 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Society of Biblical Archaeology. — When Joseph appeared 
before Pharaoh, the Bible asserts that he was vested in a chain and collar of gold, 
and garments of fine linen. True in even its smallest details is this wonderful nar- 
rative, for the Egyptian monuments have shown us, that what we should call the 
blue ribbon of a military official, or a distinguished civil officer, was a golden 
collar. This, king Amenophis I. is reported to have bestowed on his servant 
Aahmes; in whose tomb at Beni Hassan there is a picture, which has been several 
times engraved, representing a similar investiture. In the Berlin Museum, 
there are portions of similar decorations. — Faith and Free Thought, p. 221. 

Gen. xli : 43. — And he made him to ride in the second chariot -which he had : and they cried 
before him, Bow the knee : and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — W T hen Pharaoh left his palace for any purpose, he in- 
variably rode in a chariot. His subjects, wherever he appeared, bowed down 
or prostrated themselves. These prostrations are frequently represented in the 
sepulchres. — Ancient Egypt, II., p. 24. 

Gen. xli : 44. — And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I AM Pharaoh : and without thee shall no man 
lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. 
W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Society of Bib. Archeology. — lam Pharaoh — this mode 
of expression was quite in accordance with a principle of the Egyptian theology, 



112 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



only recently revealed to us. According to the tenets of that faith, the king, 
from the moment of his accession, became deified, and spoke with correspond- 
ing assumption and authority. " I am Ra in the land of the Living," says the 
King, in an inscription yet preserved to us. "The King is as God," declares 
another Papyrus, that of Prisse d'Avennes. "Even from thy birth thou hast 
been as God," attests the inscription of Karnak to Rameses II. — Faith and Free 
Thought, p. 220. 

Gen. xli : 45. — And he gave him to wife, Asenath the daughter of Potiphera, Priest of On. 

Reginald Stewart Poole, British Museum. — The city of On, or Heliopolis, 
was situated on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, just below the 
point of the Delta, and about twenty miles northeast of Memphis. The chief 
object of worship at Heliopolis was the Sun, under the forms Ra (the sun simply), 
and Atum (the setting sun). The temple of the Sun described by Strabo, 




OBELISK OF ON. 

is now only represented by the single beautiful obelisk, which is of red granite, 
68 feet 2 inches high above the pedestal, and bears a dedication, showing that 
it was sculptured in or after the thirtieth year of Sesertesen I., or b. c. 2050. 
There were probably far more than a usual number of obelisks before the gates 
of this temple, on the evidence of ancient writers, and the inscriptions of some 
yet remain elsewhere, and no doubt the reason was that these monuments were 
sacred to the sun. The name of Asenath's father was appropriate to a Heliopo- 
lite, and especially to a priest of that place, for it means "Belonging to Ra," 
or the sun. — In Smith's Diet, of Bible, 2251, 2252. 

Dean Stanley. — At the very extremity of this cultivated ground, the ruins 
of On or Heliopolis remain to this day. They consist simply of a wide en- 
closure of earthen mounds, partly planted with gardens. In these gardens are 
two vestiges of the great Temple of the Sun. One is a pool, overhung with 



GENESIS XLII. 113 

willows and aquatic vegetation — "The Spring of the Sun." The other, now 
rising wild amidst garden shrubs, the solitary obelisk which stood in front of 
the temple, then in company with another, whose base alone now remains. 
This is the first obelisk I have seen standing in its proper place, and there it 
has stood for nearly 4,000 years. It was raised before the coming of Joseph ; it 
has looked down on his marriage with Asenath ; it has seen the growth of Moses; 
and Plato sat under its shadow. — Sinai a?td Palestine, xxxi. page. 

Gen. xli: 48, 49. — And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land 
of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities : the food of the field, which was round about every 
city, laid he up in the same. 

Rev. Daniel March, D. D. — In the tombs of Elethya and Beni Hassan there 
are pictures of the storehouse and of the whole process of taking in grain as it 
was prescribed by Joseph. The accountant stands by, writing down the number 
of bushels, the measurer pours the grain into sacks, porters carry the full bags 
into the granary, and still another overseer chalks down the tally of bushels in 
rude characters on the wall of the storehouse. And these pictures run parallel 
to the words of Moses, that Joseph gathered corn as the sands of the sea very 
much, till he left off numbering. — Research and Travel in Bible Lands, in 
"Wood's Bible Animals," p. 697. 

Gen. xli: 56. — And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the 
storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians : and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. 

Prof. George Rawlinson. — To deny, as Von Bohlen does, the possibility 
of famine in Egypt, is absurd. Ancient writers constantly notice its liability to 
this scourge, when the inundation of the Nile falls below the average ; and his- 
tory tells of numerous cases in which the inhabitants of the country have suffered 
terribly from want. Several famines are mentioned on the monuments. — Hist, 
lllust. of the O. T.,p. 54. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — The monuments abound with representations of 
Stewards and Granaries. — See Ancient Egypt, II., 135. 

Gen. xlii: 14, 15. — And Joseph said unto them, Ye are spies: hereby ye shall be proved. By 
the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. 

, W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Soci. of Bib. Archce. — Joseph, here, as an Egyptian, 
swore the official oath, and that very act of his, which has been explained away 
by some commentators, palliated by others, and been a stumbling-block to all, 
is in itself an inferential evidence of the truth of the narrative which contains 
the adjuration. The common ranks of Egyptian society swore by their name- 
sake, or local gods ; priests swore by the deity to whose worship they were 
devoted; but all who filled an official capacity, swore " By the life of Pharaoh." 
Men from the common ranks were prohibited from swearing thus " by the 
king;" to do so was a punishable offence. One Mesu, a slave, having com- 
mitted this sin, was immediately reported to the proper officer : the report is 
preserved on a fragment of a Papyrus, in the Musee de Louvre, and which reads 
as follows: "I have sent this report of the slave Mesu to my lord, not being 
willing to, and not knowing how to, act till I receive his instructions upon it ; 
8 



114 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

for it is no part of my duty to punish him for his oath By the life of Pharaoh." 
Hence from a mutilated fragment of papyrus is derived a wonderful explanation 
and a singular attestation of the veracity of an event in the life of Joseph. — 
Faith and Free Thought, p. 222-224. 

Gen. xlii : 26. — And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Returning from my ramble down the vale of Hebron 
this morning, I met a company of men and donkeys, going out apparently for 
grain, and I was struck with the resemblance of the animals themselves to those 
in pictures now found on the monuments of Egypt. The saddles and sacks of 
some appeared to be precisely like those used in the days when the sons of 
Jacob descended along the same valley to get corn from Egypt. Doubtless 
there has been but little change in all these matters from that time to this, and 
the resemblance is often still more exact from the fact that when the crops of 
this country fail through drouth or other causes, the people still go down to 
Egypt to buy corn, as they did in the time of the patriarch. — The Land and 
the Book, II., 407. 
Gen. xliii : 16. — And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, 

Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready ; for these men shall dine with me at noon. 

Rev. Geo. Rawlinson, M. A. — The denial of the use of flesh for food among 
high-caste Egyptians is one of those curious errors into which learned men 
occasionally fall, strangely and unaccountably. There is really no ancient 
writer who asserts that even the priests abstained ordinarily from animal food, 
while the best authors distinctly declare the contrary (Herod., ii., 37). And the 
cooking scenes, which abound on the Egyptian monuments of all ages, show 
that animal food was the principal diet of the upper classes. — Hist. Illust. of 
the O. T, p. 52. 
Gen. xliii : 32. — And they set on for Joseph by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the 

Egyptians which did eat with him by themselves : because the Egyptians might not eat bread 

with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — The table used by the ancient Egyptians is very 
similar to that of the present day in Egypt. This is a small stool supporting a 
round tray, on which the dishes are placed. These tables were sometimes 
brought in and removed with the dishes on them. Occasionally each guest had 
a table to himself. — Daily //lustrations, 13th week. 

Herodotus. — This writer testifies clearly and fully to the strong feeling of 
the Ancient Egyptians with respect to "uncleanness," and to their fear of 
contracting defilement by contact with people of another nation. — See Herod., 

ii-, 45- 

Gen. xliii : 23- — And they sat before him. . 

Prof. Geo. Rawlinson, M. A. — The practice of sitting at meals, which was 
unlike the patriarchal and the common Oriental custom, is in complete accord- 
ance with the numerous representations of banquets found in the tombs. — 
Hist. Illust. of the O. T, p. 47. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, British Museum. — The account of the noontide 



GENESIS XLVII. H5 

dinner of Joseph agrees with the representations of the monuments, although it 
evidently describes a far simpler repast than would be usual with an Egyptian 
minister. The attention to precedence, which seems to have surprised Joseph's 
brethren, is perfectly characteristic of Egyptian customs. — In Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 678. 

Gen. xliv: 4, 5. — Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my lord 
drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth ? ye have done evil in so doing. 

Prof. Geo. Rawlinson, M. A. — Divination by cups is noted as an Egyptian 
superstition by Jamblichus. — Hist, Illust., p. 48. 

Reginald Stuart Poole. — A Gnostic papyrus in Greek, written in Egypt in 
the earlier centuries of the Christian era, now preserved in the British Museum, 
describes the practice of the boy with the bowl, and alleges results strikingly 
similar to the alleged results of the well-known modern magician, whose divina- 
tion would seem, therefore, to be a relic of the famous magic of Ancient Egypt. 
— In Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1745. 

Joseph Benomi, F. R. S. L. — The evidences upon the walls lead us to suppose 
that in this chamber were practised the mysteries of Divination, both by the 
cup and arrows. Many cups of the form of those seen in the hand of the king 
were found by Layard, in the ruins of Nimroud, and are now deposited in the 
British Museum. They are made of bronze, of exquisite workmanship, embossed 
in separate compartments with numerous figures, representing men and animals. 
One of the most frequently-repeated figures is that so common in Egyptian sculp- 
tures, bearing reference to time, or cycles, or periods. There can hardly exist 
a doubt, from the nature of the decoration, that these are cups for divining — a 
practice common to Syria and Egypt. — Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 269. 

Gen. xlv : 19. — Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt, for your little ones, and for your 
wives, and bring your father and come. 

Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M. A. — In the monuments of Ancient Egypt 
representations are found of wagons or carts, with two wheels, having four or 
six spokes, used for carrying produce, and of one used for religious purposes 
having four wheels with eight spokes. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 392. 

Gen. xlvi : 34. — Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. 
Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — Whatever may have been its origin or cause, the 
Egyptian aversion and contempt for herdsmen appear abundantly on the monu- 
ments, where they are commonly represented as dirty and unshaven \ on the 
tombs near the Pyramids of Geezeh, they are caricatured as a deformed and 
unseemly race. — See Ancient Egyptians, Vol. II., p. 16. 

Gen. xlvii : 13. — And there was no bread in air the land : for the famine was very sore, so that 
the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 

Edward Stanley Poole, M. R. A. S. — The modern history of Egypt throws 
some curious light on these ancient records of famine ; and instances of their 
recurrence may be cited to assist us in understanding their course and extent. 
They have not been of very rare occurrence since the Mohammedan conquest. 



HQ TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

One of great severity, following a deficient rise of the Nile, was experienced 
a. d. 1 200. But the most remarkable famine was that of the reign of the Fati- 
mee Khaleefeh, El-Mustansir billah, which is the only instance on record of one 
of seven years' duration in Egypt since the time of Joseph. This was a. d. 
1064-1071. This famine exceeded in severity all others of modern times. 
Vehement drought and pestilence continued for seven consecutive years, so that 
the people ate corpses, and animals that died of themselves ; the cattle perished ; 
a dog was sold for five deenars, and a cat for three deenars ; and an ardeb (about 
five bushels) of wheat for one hundred deenars — and then it failed altogether. 
All the horses of the Khaleefeh, save three, perished. Numerous instances are 
given by the historian of 'the terrible visitation of the straits to which the 
wretched inhabitants were driven, and of the organized bands of kidnappers who 
infested Cairo and caught passengers in the streets by ropes furnished with 
hooks and let down from the houses. This account is confirmed by El-Makree- 
zee, from whom we further learn that the family, and even the women of the 
Khaleefeh fled, by the way of Syria, on foot, to escape the peril that threatened 
all ranks of the population. The whole narrative is worthy of attention, since 
it contains a parallel to the duration of the famine of Joseph, and at the same 
time enables us to form an idea of the character of famines in the East. — In 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 811. 

Gen. xlvii : 22. — Only the lands of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion 
assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them : wherefore 
they sold not their lands. 

Herodotus and Diodorus. — While the monuments offer -no evidence of the 
priests' privilege with respect to land, yet this is mentioned by both Herodotus 
and Diodorus Siculus. — See Herod., ii., 168, and Diod. Sic, i., 73. 

Gen. xlvii : 23. — Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold I have bought you this day and your 
land for Pharaoh : lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Soci. of Bib. Archoz. — The sale of families and children 
occurs again and again on the tablets in the British Museum, which form a class 
by themselves. The kings of Egypt, in other respects some of the most 
enlightened sovereigns the world ever possessed, were but slave-dealers on a 
large scale, and many of their wars were undertaken for no less brutal a 
purpose. — Faith and Free Thought, p. 226. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — It may be broadly stated that, in the 
entire description given in Genesis, there is not a single feature which is out of 
harmony with what we know of the Egypt of this remote period from other 
sources. Nay, more, almost every point in it is confirmed either by the clas- 
sical writers, by the monuments, or by both. — Hist. I/lust, of the O. T., p. 43. 

THE PROPHETIC BLESSING OF JACOB. 

Gen. xlviii : 1, 5. — And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold thy 
father is sick : and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And Jacob said 



GENESIS XLIX. 117 

unto Joseph, Now th*y two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the 
land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they 
shall be mine. 

Prof. George Bush. — Thus Joseph, who otherwise would have obtained but 
a single share of the promised inheritance, obtained a double portion. Joseph, 
accordingly, in the subsequent history (of the Jews) is reckoned as two tribes 
instead of one.— Notes in loco. 

THE BLESSING OF EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 

Gen. xlviii : 16. — The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name 
be named on them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac ; and let them grow 
into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 

Prof. George Busk. — According to the purport of this prophetic blessing, 
the issue of Joseph by his two sons, amounted in the time of Moses, to 85,000, 
a number surpassing that of any of the rest of the tribes. — Notes in loco. 

Gen. xlviii: 18, 19. — And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first- 
born ; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it, my son, 
I know it : he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great : but truly his younger 
brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. 

Prof. George Bush. — According to this saying we find that at the first 
numbering of the people of Israel in the wilderness the children of Ephraim 
exceeded those of Manasseh by upwards of eight thousand ; and in later times 
it is clear that Ephraim was the chief of the ten tribes that separated themselves 
from the children of Judah. We have no account of the comparative numbers 
of the tribes; but we know that Ephraim was frequently the royal tribe, and 
that it gave a name to the whole kingdom. — Notes in loco. 

THE BLESSING OF REUBEN. 

Gen. xlix : 1-4. — And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I 
may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. — Reuben, thou art my first-born : — 
unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This tribe never rose to any eminence in Israel ; was 
not so numerous by one-third, as either Judah, Joseph or Dan, when Moses took 
the sum of them in the wilderness, and was among the first that was carried into 
captivity. — Notes in loco. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal, London. — No judge, no prophet, no hero of 
the tribe of Reuben is handed down to us. — In Smith's Diet., 2721. 

Prof. George Bush. — We learn from the sacred narrative that this tribe, 
which was few in number, and reproached for their pusillanimity by Deborah, 
never distinguished themselves by any noble exploits. None of the ancient 
heroes whose names are yet famous belonged to this tribe. Neither the priest- 
hood nor the royalty was given to the tribe of the first-born of Jacob. Though 
there were Kings of the different tribes, yet none, as far as we know, of the 
tribe of Reuben. — Notes in loco. 



118 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THE BLESSING OF SIMEON AND LEVI. 

Gen. xlix : 5-7. — Simeon and Levi are brethren : I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them 

in Israel. 

Mr. George Grove. — Both were divided and scattered. But how differently ! 
The dispersion of the Levites arose from their holding the post of honor in the 
nation, and being spread, for the purposes of education and worship, broadcast 
over the face of the country. In the case of Simeon the dispersion seems to 
have arisen from some corrupting element in the tribe itself, which first reduced 
its numbers, and at last drove it from its allotted seat in the country; not as 
Dan, because it could not, but because it would not stay; and thus in the end 
caused it to dwindle and disappear entirely. — In Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, 

P- 3°43- 

Prof. George Bush. — The tribe of Simeon, as we learn from Joshua xix., 
was in great measure merged in that of Judah ; and their inheritance was 
within the inheritance of the children of Judah ; while that of Levi had their 
cities assigned them in the midst of the other tribes, all over the land of 
Canaan. — Notes in loco. 

THE BLESSING OF JUDAH. 

Gen. xlix : 8-12. — Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the 
neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee: etc. 

Prof. George Bush. — The intrepid and successful bravery of the men of 
Judah was often the subject of admiration. As soon as the tribes of Israel sent 
forth separate armies against the Canaanites, the tribe of Judah gained a high 
distinction, which was well maintained in succeeding generations. The fiercest 
giants about the region of Hebron could not stand before Caleb and his brave 
associates. David was of the tribe of Judah. By him was the kingdom of Israel 
raised to a pitch of power and glory which made his name great in distant lands. 
— Notes in loco. 

Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he 
washed his garments in wine, a?id his clothes in the blood of grapes : his eyes shall 
be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. This indicates the exceeding 
fertility of his inheritance in the land of Canaan, particularly in the production 
of the vine. So luxuriant should be the growth of vines in his allotment that 
it should not be unusual for men to bind their young asses to them as they 
do in other countries to any kind of barren timber, nor would they heed 
their eating their tender shoots and leaves, any more than if they were grass. 
And not only so ; wine was to be produced in such rich abundance, that the 
people might wash their garments in wine, and their clothes in the blood of 
grapes, as if it had been so much water. Of course the language is to be under- 
stood as a hyperbolical expression for the most teeming fecundity of soil. In 
support of this, reference is made to the mammoth cluster of grapes which grew 
at Eschol, in the tract assigned to Judah, which was carried back on a staff 
"between two, as a specimen of the growth of the country. — Ibid. 



GENESIS XLIX. H9 

Dean Stanley. — The Lowland, or that broad belt between the central high- 
lands and the Mediterranean Sea, was the garden and the granary of the tribe. 
Its cities at this day are remarkable for the beauty and profusion of the gardens 
which surround them; the scarlet blossoms of the pomegranates, the enormous 
oranges which gild the green foliage of their famous groves. From the edge of 
the sandy tract, which fringes the immediate shore, right up to the very wall of 
the hills of Judah, stretches the immense plain of corn-fields. These rich fields 
must have been the great source at once of the power and the value of Philistia; the 
causes of its frequent aggressions on Israel, and of the unceasing efforts of Israel 
to master the territory. It was in fact a "little Egypt." From these fields were 
gathered the enormous cargoes of wheat, which were sent by Solomon in exchange 
for the arts of Hiram, and which in the time of the Herods still nourished the 
countries of Tyre and Sidon. There were the olive-trees, the sycamore-trees, 
and the treasures of oil, the care of which was sufficient to task the energies of 
two of David's special officers. — See Sinai and Palestine, 253, 254. 

THE BLESSING OF ZEBULUN. 

Gen. xlix : 13. — Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of 
ships ; and his border shall be unto Zidon. 

Josephus. — The tribe of Zebulun' s lot included the land which lay as far as 
the lake of Genesareth, and that which belonged to Carmel and the Sea. — 
Ant. v., 1, § 22. 

Prof. George Bush. — It is unquestionable that a portion of the tribe of 
Zebulun occupied the havens on the coast, and addicted themselves to sea-. 
faring pursuits. This prophetic designation, uttered two hundred and fifty 
years before the event took place, corresponds with remarkable exactness with 
the geographical character of the lot of Zebulun in Canaan. It extended from 
the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea, on the west, to the lake of Genesaret on 
the east, and lay therefore very commodiously for the purpose of trade and 
navigation. — Nothing but the inspiration of the speaker can account for this 
clear and accurate designation of the country which Zebulun was to occupy in 
Canaan. Jacob says concerning the inheritance of this tribe what would not 
have been true had it been said of any other of the inheritances of the twelve 
tribes, except Asher, and yet was strictly true concerning them, that they should 
dwell at the haven of the sea, and enjoy the advantages of commodious harbors 
in the neighborhood of the ancient city of Zidon. How could Moses, too, 
when he committed this prophecy to writing, have known that it would be veri- 
fied? In no other way but by. his faith in the word of God. There could be 
no artifice used to effect an agreement between the lots used in the division of 
the land, and the prophecies of Jacob or Moses. The whole disposing of the 
lot was of God. Thus we know enough to fill us with wonder and praise, 
and to banish all doubts concerning the divine original of the word of 
prophecy. — Notes in loco. 



120 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THE BLESSING OF ISSACHAR. 

Gen. xlix : 14, 15. — Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens : and he saw 
that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant j and bowed his shoulder to bear, and 
became a servant unto tribute. , 

Prof. G. Bush. — The qualities of the ass are patience, gentleness, great 
capability of endurance, laborious exertion, and a meek submission to authority. 
And Issachar was 1 the progenitor of a race singularly docile, and distinguished 
for their patient industry. — Couching down between two burde?is. The two pan- 
niers of the laden ass form prominences, sticking upon each side above the back 
of the animal when lying down, which is the posture here described. This 
expression, as applied to a region of country, would naturally be supposed to 
imply two very marked and conspicuous limits, as for instance two ranges of 
mountains enclosing a valley ; and by a very remarkable coincidence the tribe of 
Issachar received for its lot, in the distribution of the land, the fertile and 
delightful vale of Esdraelon, lying between ranges of hills, in the peaceful and 
industrious occupancy of which they might very justly be likened to an ass 
reposing between his protuberant panniers. And he saw that rest was good, and 
the land that it was pleasant. Surrounded by the other tribes, and seeing his 
portion of the good land that it was very fertile, he devoted himself to the 
labors of husbandry. Accordingly Josephus says of Issachar's inheritance, 
" It is fruitful to admiration, abounding in pastures and nurseries of all kinds, 
so that it would make any man in love with husbandry." — Notes in loco. ■ 

Mr. George Grove. — The territory of Issachar was, and still is, among the 
richest land in Palestine. Westward was the famous plain which derived its 
name, ''The seed-plot of God" — such is the signification of Jezreel — from its 
fertility. On the North is Tabor, which even under the burning sun of that 
climate is said to retain the glades and dells of an English wood. On the East, 
behind Jezreel, is the opening which conducts to the plain of the Jordan — to 
that Bethshean which was proverbially among the Rabbis the gate of Paradise 
for its fruitfulness. It is this aspect of the territory of Issachar which appears 
to be alluded to in the Blessing of Jacob. — In Smith's Diet, of Bible, 11 79. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — But there is another aspect under which the Plain of 
Esdraelon must be considered. Every traveller has remarked on the richness 
of its soil — the exuberance of its crops. Once more the palm appears, waving 
its stately tresses over . the village enclosures. The very weeds are a sign of 
what in better hands the vast plain might become. The thoroughfare which it 
forms for every passage, from east to west, from north to south, made it in 
peaceful times the most available and eligible possession of Palestine. It was 
the allotted portion of Issachar; and in its condition — thus -exposed to the good 
and evil fate of the beaten highway of Palestine — we read the fortunes of the . 
tribe which, for the sake of this possession, consented to sink into the half- 
nomad state of the Bedouins who wander over it — into the condition of tribut- 
aries to the Canaanite tribes whose iron chariots drove victoriously through it. 
"Issachar is a strong ass, couching between two burdens; and he saw that rest 



GENESIS XLIX. 



121 



was good ; and the land that it was pleasant ; and bowed his shoulder to bear, 
and became a servant unto tribute. ' ' Once only did the sluggish tribe shake 
off this yoke ; when under the heavy pressure of Sisera, the chiefs of Issachar 
were with Deborah. — S. and P., p. 340. 

THE BLESSING OF DAN. 

Gen. xlix: 16-18. — Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a 
serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall 
backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord ! 

Rev. William Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — The habit of the serpent, Shep- 
hiphon, alluded to in Jacob's prophecy, namely, that of lurking in the sand, and 
biting at the horse's heels, suits the character of a well-known species of venom- 
ous snake, the celebrated horned viper, the asp of Cleopatra, which is found 
abundantly in the sandy deserts of Egypt, Syria and Arabia. — In Smith's Diet, 
of'the Bible, 30. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal, Lond. — Dan furnished a "prince" to the 
apportionment of the land ; and the tribe was appointed to stand on Mount 
Ebal, at the ceremony of blessing and cursing; and "the prince of the tribe 
of Dan " is mentioned in the list of 1 Chron. xxvii. 22. — In Smith's Diet, of 
the Bible, p. 533, 534. 

Prof. Geo. Bush. — "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of 
Israel." Accordingly it is expressly stated (in the sacred history) that Samson, 
of the tribe of Dan, "judged Israel twenty years." " Dan shall be a serpent 
by the way, etc." Although Dan in the person of his future representative 
should be renowned as a warrior, yet he should not accomplish his victories so 
much by open bravery and the direct force of arms as by subtilty and stratagem, 
surprising the enemy by unexpected assaults, as a serpent concealed by the way- 
side suddenly darts upon the unwary traveller. We have only to consult the 
history of Samson's warfare with the Philistines to see how strikingly this pre- 
dicted character was then realized. — Notes in loco. 

THE BLESSING OF GAD. 

Gen. xlix: 19. — Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last. 

Prof. Geo. Bush. — The drift of the oracle is to preintimate the fact, abun- 
dantly verified by the history, that this tribe should be annoyed, wasted, and 
sometimes brought into subjection by the predatory bands of Ammonites, Philis- 
tines, Hagarines, and other hostile powers bordering upon their territory. — 
Notes in loco. 

Mr. George Grove. — The character of the tribe of Gad is throughout 
strongly marked, fierce, and warlike, "strong men of might, men of war for the 
battle, that could handle shield and buckler, their faces the faces of lions, and 
like roes upon the mountains for swiftness." Such is the graphic description 
given of those eleven heroes of Gad, " the least of them more than equal to a 
hundred, and the greatest to a thousand," who joined their fortunes to David 



122 . TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

at the time of his greatest discredit and embarrassment, undeterred by the nat- 
ural difficulties of " flood and field " which stood in their way. Surrounded, as 
they were, by Ammonites, Midianites, Hagarites, •" Children of the East," and all 
the other countless tribes, animated by a common hostility to the strangers whose 
coming had dispossessed them of their fairest districts, the warlike propensities 
of the tribe must have had many opportunities of exercise. One of its great 
engagements is related in i Chron. v. 19-22. Here their opponents were the 
wandering Ishmaelite tribes of Jetur, Nephish, and Nodab, nomad people, pos- 
sessed of an enormous wealth in camels, sheep and asses, to this day the charac- 
teristic possessions of their Bedouin successors. This immense booty came into 
the hands of the conquerors, who seem to have entered with it on the former 
mode of life of their victims : probably pushed their way further into the eastern 
wilderness in the "steads" of these Hagarites. "A troop shall overcome him, 
but he shall overcome at the last." — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 849. 

THE BLESSING OF ASHER. 

Gen. xlix : 20. — Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. 
Mr. George Grove. — The territory of Asher contained some of the richest 
soil in all Palestine, and in its productiveness it well fulfilled the promise in- 
volved in the name "Asher" (fatness), and in the blessings which had been 
pronounced on him by Jacob and by Moses. Here was the oil in which he was 
to " dip his foot," the bread which was to be " fat," and the royal " dainties " 
in which he was to indulge. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 173. 

THE BLESSING OF NAPHTALL 

Gen. xlix : 21. — Naphtali is a hind let loose : he giveth goodly words. 
Mr. George Grove. — The translation of this difficult passage given by Ewald 
(Geschichte, ii., 380) has the merit of being more intelligible than the ordinary 
version, and also more in harmony with the expressions of Deborah's song : 
Naphtali is a towering Terebinth; he hath a goodly crest. The allusion, at once 
to the situation of the tribe at the very apex of the country, to the heroes who 
towered at the head of the tribe, and to the lofty mountains on whose summits 
their castles, then as now, were perched — is very happy, and entirely in the 
vein of these ancient poems. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 2066. 

THE BLESSING OF JOSEPH. 

Gen. xlix : 22-26. — Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches 

run over the wall : etc. 

Prof. George Bush. — The drift of the blessing is to announce the prolific 
character of the seed of Joseph, the numerous issue that should proceed from 
his two sons. The emblem of "the vine running over the wall " aptly denotes 
a population swelling beyond the compass of the bounds which they were to 
occupy. How strikingly this was fulfilled in the case of Joseph, may be seen 
from the ensuing narrative: "And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, 



GENESIS XLIX. 123 

saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing 
I am a great people, forasmuch as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto ? And 
Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, 
Thou art a great people, and hast great power ; thou shalt not have one lot only 
But the mountain shall be thine ; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down : 
and the outgoings of it shall be thine." Thus that part of the birthright which 
consisted in the " double portion " still accrued to Joseph. — Notes in loco. 

Mr. George Grove. — The territory allotted to the house of Joseph was in 
central Palestine — consisting of rounded hills, separated by valleys, with wide 
plains in the heart of the mountains, streams of running water, and continuous 
tracts of vegetation. All travellers bear testimony to the general growing rich- 
ness and beauty of the country in going northwards from Jerusalem, the innumer- 
able fountains and streamlets, the villages more thickly scattered than anywhere 
in the south, the continuous cornfields and orchards, the moist and vapory 
atmosphere : these are the precious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof 
which were invoked and predicted to the house of Joseph. — In Smith's Diet, of 
the Bible, 753. 

THE BLESSING OE BENJAMIN. 

Gen. xlix : 27. — Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at 

night he shall divide the spoil. 

Dean Stanley. — Small as the tribe of Benjamin was, its ambiguous situation 
gave it considerable importance — an importance which was increased by a fur- 
ther peculiarity of the Benjamite territory. Of all the tribes of Israel, none, 
except perhaps Manasseh, contained such important passes of communication 
into the adjacent plains — none possessed such conspicuous heights, whether for 
defence or for "high places" of worship. These advantages in the hand of a 
hardy and warlike tribe ensured an independence to Benjamin, which the 
Hebrew records constantly contrast with its numerical feebleness, and limited 
territory. In his mountain fastnesses — the ancient haunts of beasts of prey — 
"Benjamin ravined as a wolf in the morning," descended into the rich plains 
of Philistia on the one sideband of the Jordan on the other, and "returned in 
the evening to divide the spoil." In the troubled period of the Judges, the 
tribe of Benjamin maintained a struggle, unaided, and for some time with suc- 
cess, against the whole of the rest of the nation. And to the latest times they 
never could forget that they had given birth to the first king.— Sinai and Pal, 
p. 196. 

DEATH AND BURIAL OF JACOB. 

Gen. xlix: 29-31.— And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my 
people : bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the 
cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which 
Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place. 
There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his 
wife, and there I buried Leah. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson.— I have no doubt that this El Haram incloses the 



124 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

identical cave, and the graves of the six ancestors of the Hebrew nation, and 
therefore regard it as the most interesting of all spots on the face of the earth. 
Others might be equally sacred and precious could we be sure of their identity 
— the manger at Bethlehem, Calvary in Jerusalem, or the last resting place of 
Adam or Noah, for example; but doubt and obscurity, absolute and impenetra* 
ble, rest on all such sites. Here, however, there is no room for skepticism. 
We have before us the identical cave in which these patriarchs, with their wives, 
were reverently "gathered unto their people," one after another, by their chil- 
dren. Such a cave may last as long as " the everlasting hills " of which it is a 
part ; and from that to this day it has so come to pass, in the providence of 
God, that no nation or people has had possession of Machpelah who would have 
been disposed to disturb the ashes of the illustrious dead within it. — It is located 
on the declivity of the hill, with the town mostly below in the wady south and 
west of it. The rock above it is intensely hard, and portions of it are of a pale 
red color, like that from which books, crosses, and other curiosities are made 
for the pilgrims. I succeeded, in 1838, in breaking off specimens of it, though 
not without danger of a mob. The cave is beneath this foundation of hard 
rock. — The Land and the Book, II., 385. 

Gen. 1 : 2. — And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. 

Herodotus. — Egypt claims the invention of the healing art. A$d the 
medical practice among the Egyptians is divided as follows : each physician is 
for one kind of sickness, and no more ; and all places are crowded with physi- 
cians ; for there are physicians for the eye, physicians for the head, physicians 
for the teeth, physicians for the stomach, and for internal disease. — In Kitto's 
///. in loco. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — Egypt was the earliest home of medical skill for 
the region of the Mediterranean basin, and every Egyptian mummy of the 
more expensive and elaborate sort involved a process of anatomy. This gave 
opportunities for inspecting a vast number of bodies, varying in every possible 
condition. Such opportunities were sure to be turned to account by the more 
diligent among the faculty. The reputation of its practitioners in historic times 
was such that both Cyrus and Darius sent to Egypt for physicians. — In Smith's 
Diet., p. 1854. 

Gen. 1: I, 2. — And the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him; 
for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed : and the Egyptians mourned for 
him three score and ten days. 

Herodotus. — (This historian describes the process of embalming as follows:) 
The embalmers first removed part of the brain through the nostrils, by means of a 
crooked iron, and destroyed the rest by injecting caustic drugs. An incision was 
then made along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and the whole of the 
intestines removed. The cavity was rinsed out with palm-wine, and afterwards 
scoured with pounded perfumes. It was then filled with pure myrrh pounded, 
cassia and other aromatics, except frankincense. This done, the body was 



GENESIS L. 125 

sewn up, and steeped in natron for seventy days. When the seventy days 
were accomplished, the embalmers washed the corpse and swathed it in bandages 
of linen, cut in strips and smeared with gum. They then gave it up to the 
relatives of the deceased, who provided for it a wooden case, made in the shape 
of a man, in which the dead was placed. — Herod., ii., 86-89. 

Gen. 1 : 12, 13. — And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: for his sons 
carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah. 

Rev. W. L. Gage. — It is not too much to say that, in a good measure ot 
probability, the body of Jacob, embalmed as it was in Egypt, is in as perfect 
a condition there to-day as are the mummies which are disinterred on the Nile ; 
and it may be, the first layers of' the masonry to be still seen at Hebron were 
laid by Joseph himself, on the occasion of his father's sumptuous funeral. That 
this is no idle fancy is shown by the power and the wealth of the man, whose 
father had been a Hebrew shepherd, but who had wrought out his fortune with 
such signal success in Egypt. Here Joseph had become habituated to magnifi- 
cent sepulchres, as well as to sumptuous sepulchres, and after that costly 
pageantry of burial described so strikingly in the closing chapter of Genesis, it 
is hardly to be supposed that he would fail to designate, with some architectural 
memorial, the simple rock-grave which his great-grandfather purchased, and 
which for three generations had lain in its original rudeness. — Studies in Bible 
Lands, 55. 

Dean Stanley. — This afternoon we walked, under the guard of the Quaran- 
tine, around the western hills of Hebron. There was little to add to the first 
impressions, except the deep delight of treading the rocks and drinking in the 
view which had been trodden by the feet and met the eyes of the patriarchs and 
kings. And marvellous it was, too, to think that within the massive enclosure 
of that Mosque, lies, possibly, not merely the last dust of Abraham and Isaac, 
but the very body — the mummy — the embalmed bones of Jacob, brought in 
solemn state from Egypt to this (as it then was) lonely and beautiful spot. — 
Sinai and Palestine, p. 103. 

DEATH OF JOSEPH. 

Gen. 1 : 20. — As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to 
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 

Socrates. — To a good man nothing is evil, neither while living nor v/hen 
dead, nor are his concerns neglected by the gods. And what has befallen me 
is not the effect of chance; but this is clear to me, that now to die and be freed 
from my cares is better for me. On this account the warning in no way turned 
me aside; and I bear no resentment towards those who condemned me, or 
against my accusers, although they did not accuse me with this intention, but 
thinking to injure me; and in this respect they deserve to be blamed. — Plat. 
Socr. Apolog., c. 33. 



126 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Gen. 1 : 25, 26. — And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely 
visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being a hundred and 
ten years old : and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. 

Herodotus. — The body after having been duly embalmed, was given back 
to the relatives, who inclosed it in a wooden case which they made for the pur- 
pose, shaped into the figure of a man. — Rawlinsori s Herodotus, ii., 143. 

Wordsworth. — If a massive tomb or lofty pyramid had been erected to his 
memory, and if his mortal remains had been deposited there like those of the 
princes of Egypt, it would have been supposed that his body would remain in 
Egypt till the day of doom. But he would not permit this to be done; he took 
an oath of the children of Israel that they should carry up his bones from Egypt 
to Canaan, and for this reason he was content with a simple coffin of wood. — 
Genesis, p. 197. 

Prof. George Rawltnson, M. A. — The coffin of Menkeres, discovered in 
the third pyramid (which belongs to about B. c. 2300-2200), was of sycamore 
wood.— Hist. Must, of O. T.,p. 46. 

Burder. — Antique coffins of stone and sycamore wood are still to be seen in 
Egypt, — Annot. in loco. 

Prof. W. Jenks, D. D. — Coffins of wood, containing mummies, have reached 
America. — Coinp. Com. in loco. 

J. Kenrick, M. A. — In a mummy found at Saccara, thin plates of gold were 
wrapped round each limb and each finger, inscribed with hieroglyphics. Ex- 
terior to all bandages was a case usually of sycamore wood, sometimes excavated 
from the solid tree, at others composed of several pieces and secured by wooden 
pegs, which fasten the receptacle and the cover firmly together. This is some- 
times enclosed in a second, and that in a third wooden case, the outermost 
being also adorned with hieroglyphics, and with rich colors and elaborate gild- 
ing. The outermost case is of various forms, but most commonly adapted to 
that of the mummy. According to Herodotus, when the process of embalm- 
ment was completed, the case in which the body was enclosed was deposited in 
a sepulchral chamber against the wall. This however was done only when the 
tomb was not ready, or when interment was forbidden or delayed. — Ancient 
Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. I., p. 416, 418. 




(127) 



Exodus. 



Professor G. Rawlinson, M. A. — In Exodus, as in the later chapters of 
Genesis, almost every custom recorded can be confirmed either from the ancient 
accounts of Egyptian manners which have come down to us, or from the monu- 
ments, or from both. — Hist. Illust., p. 74. 

OPPRESSION OF THE HEBREWS. 

Exodus i : 7.— And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, 
and waxed exceeding mighty ; and the land was filled with them. 

Aristotle. — One woman in Egypt, at four births, brought forth twenty chil- 
dren ; for she had five at a time, and the greater part of them were reared. — 
Hist. Anim., lib. vii., c. 4. 

Puny. — When a greater number of children than three is produced at one 
birth, it is looked upon as portentous; except, indeed, in Egypt, where the 
water of the Nile, which is used for drink, is a promoter of fecundity. — Hist. 
Nat., lib. vii., c. 3. 

Exod. i : 8.— Now there arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 

John Kenrick, M. A.— This points to a change of dynasty ; and the com- 
mencement of the new monarchy, rather than the succession of a sovereign of the 
same family. Pharaoh, not being a personal name, its recurrence is no proof 
that one sovereign is intended throughout. After the expulsion of the Hyksos, 
the Israelites, who, though not the same, were closely connected with them, natur- 
ally became an object of alarm, and the kings of the 18th dynasty endeavored 
first to check their increase and then to break their spirit.— Ancient Egypt under 
the Pharaohs, II., 267. 

Exod. i : 9-1 1.— And he said unto his people, Behold the people of the children of Israel are 
more and mightier than we : come on, let us deal wisely with them ; lest they multiply, and 
it come to pass, that, when there fallelh out any war, they join also to our enemies, and fight 
against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters 
to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities (cities of store, 
or depots), Pithom and Raamses. 

John Kenrick, M. A. — Besides erecting monuments of stone, this monarch, 
Thothmes III., appears to have been the author of extensive constructions of 
bricks. Egypt affords abundant material for this manufacture, and a few days' 
(128)' 



EXODUS I. 129 

exposure to the sun hardens them sufficiently, unless they are to be subject to the 
action of water. Bricks bearing his titular shield, the scarabceus, the crenel- 
lated parallelogram, and the disk of the sun, are more common than those of 
any other sovereign. There is a tomb at Thebes, the inscriptions of which 
show, that its occupant, Roschere, was superintendent of the great buildings, in 
the reign of Thothmes III. : on its walls the operation of brick-making is rep- 
resented. Men are employed, some in working up the clay with an instrument 
resembling the Egyptian hoe, others of them in carrying loads of it on their 
shoulders, moulding it into bricks, and transporting them, by means of a yoke 
laid across the shoulders, to the place where they are to be laid out for drying in 
the sun. The physiognomy and color of most of those who are thus engaged 
show them to be foreigners, and their aquiline nose and yellow complexion sug- 
gest the idea that they are Jews. Their labor is evidently compulsory; 
Egyptian taskmasters stand by with sticks in their hands ■ and though one or 
two native Egyptians appear among them, we may easily suppose that they have 
been condemned to hard labor for their crimes. As the foreigners do not 
resemble any of the nations with whom Thothmes carried on war, and who are 
well known from the paintings and reliefs of subsequent monarchs, it is not 
probable that they are captives taken in war. They can therefore hardly be 
any other than the Israelites, whom we know from their own history to have 
been employed in this drudgery. Their oppression began with the accession of the 
1 8th dynasty, and the expulsion of their kindred Hyksos. It was a natural fear, 
that when any war fell out they should join themselves to the enemies of Egypt, 
and fight against her. The k.ngs of Egypt, therefore, while they endeavored by a 
cruel expedient to prevent their increase, and by hard labor to break their spirit, 
employed that labor to strengthen the frontier on the side of Arabia and Pales- 
tine, whence their danger came. The valley of Goshen, which was their place 
of settlement, was the direct road from Palestine to Memphis. By employing 
them to build two fortresses, Raamses at the eastern, and Pithom at the western 
extremity of this valley, the Pharaohs provided at once a barrier against future 
invasions and the means of keeping the children of Israel in subjection. Both 
these objects were important to a sovereign like Thothmes, who, during his 
Mesopotamian expeditions, must have left his country exposed to his neighbors, 
and whose long absences might tempt revolt. — Egypt under the Pharaohs, 
II., 194. 

Pliny. — It is asserted by most persons that the only motive for constructing 
the Pyramids of Egypt was, either a determination on the part of the monarchs 
not to leave their treasures to their successors, or to rivals that might be plotting 
to supplant them, or to prevent the lower classes from remaining unoccupied. 
— His. Nat., lib. xxxvi., c. 16. 

Aristotle. — It is the policy of a tyrant to render his subjects poor; that he 
may be compelled to maintain a guard against them ; and that they, being 
engaged in procuring their daily food, may have no time for plots and con- 
spiracies. — Polit., lib. v., c. 11. 
9 



130 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exod. i: 14. — And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and 
in all manner of service in the field : all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with 
rigor. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — Notwithstanding the great abundance of stone 
in Egypt, and the fact that most of the grander buildings were constructed of 
this material, yet there was also an extensive employment of brick in the 
country. Pyramids, houses, tombs, the walls of towns, fortresses, and the 
sacred inclosures of temples, were commonly, or, at any rate, frequently, built 
of brick by the Egyptians. A large portion of the brick-fields belonged to the 
monarch, for whose edifices bricks were made in them, stamped with his name. 
Immense masses of bricks are now found at Belbers, the modern capital of 
Tharkiya, i. e., Goshen, and in the adjoining district. — Hist. Illust. of O. T., 
p. 71. 
Exod. i : 15, 16. — And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, and said, When ye 

do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, 

then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — That women practised midwifery among the 
Egyptians is a fact verified from the sculptures. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, 
III., p. 1855. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — A strong confirmation of the Mosaic narra- 
tive has been obtained by modern inquiry ; the curious expression, whe?i ye see 
them upon the stools, being in remarkable accordance with the modern Egyptian 
practice, as stated by Mr. Lane. " Two or three days," he says, " before the 
expected time of delivery, the lay ah (midwife) conveys to the house the kursee 
elwiladeh, a chair of peculiar form, upon which the patient is to be seated 
during the birth. "—In Smith's Diet of the Bible, III., 1929. 

Roberts.— The females of the East are not accouched as their sex are in 
England. Instead of reclining on a couch or a bed, they sit on a stool about 
sixteen inches high, or on the rice-mortar inverted.— Orient. Illust., p. 61. 

Exod. ii : 3.— And when Jochebed could not longer hide the child, she took for him an ark of 
bulrushes (papyrus), and daubed it with slime and with pilch, and put the child therein; and 
she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 

Pliny and Lucan.— Pliny speaks of the " naves papyraceas armentaqui Nili" 
—the boats made of the papyrus, and the equipments of the Nile. And Lucan, 
the poet, has, " conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro "— the Memphian 
(or Egyptian) boat is made of the thirsty papyrus.— Prof. Bush, Notes in loco. 
Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A.— The practice of making boats out of the 
papyrus is specially Egyptian, and was not in vogue elsewhere. It is distinctly 
mentioned by Herodotus, Plutarch, and many other ancient writers, and is 
thought to be traceable on the monuments. The caulking of these boats with 
pitch and bitumen, a practice not mentioned anywhere but in Exodus, is highly 
probable in itself; and is so far in accordance with the Remains, that both 
pitch and bitumen are found to have been used by the Egyptians.— Hist. Illust. 
of the O. T.,p. ;8. 



EXODUS II. 131 

Inscription of Sargon. — I am Sargina, the great King ; the King of Agani. 
I knew not my father: my family were the rulers of the land. My city was the 
city of Atzu-pirani, which is on the banks of the river Euphrates. My mother 
conceived me : in a secret place she brought me forth : she placed me in an ark 
of bulrushes : with bitumen my door she closed up : she threw me into the 
river, which did not enter into the ark to me. The river carried me : to the 
dwelling of Akki, the water-carrier, it brought me. Akki, the water-carrier, in 
his goodness of heart lifted me up from the river. Akki, the water-carrier, 
brought me up as his own son. Akki, the water-carrier, placed me with a tribe 
of Foresters. Of this tribe of Foresters Ishtar made me king : and for . . . . 
years I reigned over them. — Records of the Past, Vol. V., p. 3 and 56. 

Plutarch. — Faustulus, pursuant to his orders, hid the children in a small 
trough cradle, and went down towards the river with a design to cast them in ; 
but seeing it very rough, and running with a strong current, he was afraid to 
approach it. He therefore laid it down near the bank and departed. — RomuL, 
c. 3. 

Exod. ii: 5. — And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and the 
maidens walked along the river's side ; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent 
her maid to fetch it. 

Sir George Wilkinson. — The bath is frequently visited by Eastern ladies, 
and may be reckoned among their principal recreations. Those Egyptians, who 
lived at the earliest period of which we have any account, were in the habit of 
bathing in the waters of the Nile. In one of the tombs at Thebes there is found 
a striking representation of an Egyptian bathing scene — a lady with four female 
servants, who attend upon her, and perform various offices — forcibly reminding 
us of the daughter of Pharaoh. — Ancient Egypt., III., 389. 

MOSES IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN. 

Exod. ii : 15. — Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. 
Diodorus Siculus. — He that wilfully killed a free man, or even a slave, was 
by the law of Egypt to die. — Diod. Sic, lib. i., c. 77. 

Exod. ii : 15— 17. — Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian : and 

he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters : and they came and 

drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and 

drove them away : but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Who that has travelled much in the East has not often 

arrived at a well in the heat of the day which was surrounded with numerous 

flocks of sheep waiting to be watered ? I once saw such a scene in the burning 

plains of northern Syria. Half-naked, fierce-looking men were drawing up 

water in leather buckets; flock after flock was brought up, watered, and sent 

away ; and, after the men had ended their work, then several women and girls 

brought up their flocks and drew water for them. Thus it was with Jethro's 

daughters when Moses stood up and aided them ; and thus, no doubt, it would 

have been with Rachel, if Jacob had not rolled away the stone and watered her 

sheep. ' I have frequently seen wells closed up with large stones, though in this 



132 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

part of the country it is not commonly done, because water is not so scarce and 
precious. It is otherwise, however, in the dreary deserts. — The Land and the 
Book, II., 399. 

Exod. iii : 2, 5. — And the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the 
midst of a bush : and he said, Draw not nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for 
the place whereon thou slandest is holy ground. 

William Latham Bevan, M. A. — It was a mark of reverence to cast off the 
shoes in approaching a place or person of eminent sanctity : hence the command 
to Moses at the bush, and to Joshua in the presence of the angel. In deference 
to these injunctions the priests are said to have conducted their ministrations 
in the Temple barefoot ; and the Talmudists even forbade any person to pass 
through the Temple with shoes on. This reverential act was not peculiar to the 
Jews ; in ancient times we have instances of it in the worship of Cybele at Rome; 
in the worship of Isis as represented in a picture at Herculaneum; and in the 
practice of the Egyptian priests, according to Sil. Ital. iii., 28. In modern times 
we may compare the similar practice of the Mohammedans of Palestine before 
entering a Mosque, and particularly before entering the Kaaba at Mecca; of 
the Yezidis of Mesopotamia before entering the tomb of their patron Saint; and 
of the Samaritans as they head the summit of Mount Gerizim. — In Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, IV., p. 2837. 

Exod. iii : 8. — I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring 
them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and 
honey. 

Tacitus. — The soil of Syria is rich and fruitful. In all those fruits of the 
earth which are common with us, they abound; and besides this they enjoy the 
Palm-tree, and that which produces balm. The palms are lofty and beautiful. 
— Hist., lib. v., c. 6. 

Pliny. — The more remarkable quality of the dates of Judea is a rich and unc- 
tuous juice; they are of a milky consistency, and have a sort of vinous flavor, 
with a remarkable sweetness like that of honey. — Hist. Nat., lib. xiii., c. 9. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, M. A., F. L. S., etc.— The visitor to the Wady Kurn, 
when he sees the busy multitudes of bees about its cliffs, cannot but recall to 
mind the promise, ''With honey out of the stony rock would I have satisfied 
thee." There is no epithet of the Land of Promise more true to the letter, even 
to the present day, than this, that it was "A land flowing with milk and 
honey. ' ' — La?id of Israel, p. SS. 

Exod. iii : 14. — And God said unto Moses, I am that I AM : and he said, Thus shalt thou say 

unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 

Plato. — We say a thing was, is, or will be, while, according to truth, the 
term it is is alone suitable, was and will be being expressions only suitable 
to generation which proceeds through time ; whereas what exists eternally the 
same and immovable, neither becomes at any time older or younger, neither 
has it been generated in the past, nor will be in the future. — Timaius, c. 10. 



EXODUS IV. 133 

Plutarch. — We must confess that God is, and that, not with reference 
to time, but as being eternal and immutable, whom nothing can be before or 
after, past or future, younger or older. Being essentially one, his eternity is 
included in a present existence ; the always in the now. And God alone can 
thus truly be said to be, having neither a past nor a future existence, having 
neither beginning nor end. By this name then, when worshipping Him, we 
ought to salute and call upon Him. The Deity is to be addressed by the name 
Ei, — Thou Art, because in Him there is no variableness or change. The word 
Et is an expression of admiration and reverence addressed to God as an eternal 
Being. — De Ei apud Delph., c. 19, 20, 21. 

Exod. iv : 6. — And the Lord said unto him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his 
hand into his bosom : and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 

Rev. Henry Hayman, B. D. — One principal feature of leprosy is a bright 
white spot, but especially a white swelling in the skin, with a change of the 
hair of the part from the natural black to white or yellow. — In Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, II., p. 1 63 1. 

Exod. iv: 10, II. — And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent; but I am 
slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's 
mouth ? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? have not I, the Lord ? 

The Compiler. — Here the organs of speech are affirmed to be the work of 
God, and the ability to employ them his gift. This is true, and the proof is 
sufficiently manifest in the marvels of the endowment itself. In order to ready 
and accurate utterance the mouth itself must be so constituted that its several 
parts shall be capable of assuming a distinct configuration for every word and 
every sound. The proper muscles must bring instantaneously the jaws, the 
teeth, and the lips into their precise position. Each syllable of articulated 
sound also requires for its utterance a specific action of the tongue ; and to 
qualify this member for its marvelous office, its muscles are required to be so 
numerous, and so implicated with one another, that they cannot be traced by 
the minutest dissection ; yet all must be so arranged that neither their number, 
nor their complexity, nor the entanglement of their fibres, shall in anywise im- 
pede its motion, or in any degree render its action uncertain. And nothing 
is more remarkable in all the living world than the variety, quickness and pre- 
cision of motion, of which the tongue is capable. How instantaneously are its 
positions assumed, and how instantaneously dismissed ! How numerous are its 
permutations, yet how infallible ! Besides all this, from the back part of the 
mouth, there must be opened a passage of remarkable construction for the ad- 
mission of air into and out of the lungs ; and connected with this are whole 
systems of muscles, some in the larynx, and without number in the tongue, for 
the purpose of modulating that air in its passage with the requisite variations, 
compass, and precision. And lastly, there must be a specific contrivance for 
dividing the pneumatic part from the mechanical, and for preventing one set 
of actions interfering with the other. 



134 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Nothing can exceed the exactness and perfection required, in all these parts, 
in order to the ready, accurate, and clear utterance of the mind's thoughts. " I 
am speaking to you this moment," says Prof. Huxley, " but if you were to alter, 
in the minutest degree, the proportion of the nervous forces now active in the 
two nerves which supply the muscles of my glottis, I should become suddenly 
dumb. The voice is produced only so long as the vocal cords are parallel ; and 
these are parallel only so long as certain muscles contract with exact equality ; 
and that again depends on the equality of action of those two nerves I spoke of. 
So that a change of the minutest kind in the structure of one of these nerves, 
or in the structure of the part in which it originates, or of the supply of blood 
to that part, or of one of the muscles to which it is distributed, might render all 
of us dumb. ' ' 

Such is the apparatus of speech — an apparatus the most complicated and yet 
the most perfect in its structure, the most delicate in its adjustments and yet 
the most infallible in its operations — an organism of inestimable advantages as 
well as of unfathomable consequences to man ; the organism, indeed, which 
gives to him his power and pre-eminence over all the living tenants of the 
globe, and without which he never could attain his high intellectual and moral 
destiny. In the marvelous organs of speech, then, we have indisputable and 
convincing evidences that they are, as the Scripture before us affirms, the work 
of none other than of Him who possesses infinite knowledge, skill and power. 
This is the instant and instinctive decision of natural reason. — See Present Con- 
flict of Science with Religion, by the Compiler, p. 234-236. 

Exod. iv: 12. — I will be with thy mouth. 

Xenophon. — From the gods it is that we have received the gift of speech. — 
Mentor., lib. iv., c. 3. 

Plutarch. — Of all those things that are in man, there is nothing more divine 
than the gift of speech. — De Isid. et Osirid., c. 68. 

Quintilian. — Eloquence is the greatest blessing which the immortal gods 
have given to mankind. — Quint/., lib. xii., c. 11. 

Exod. iv: 25.— Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast 
it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. 

Prof. George Bush. — The region of Sinai is abundantly strewed with flints, 
or sharp stones. — Notes in loco. 

Prof. Horatio B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — It is well known that in the 
Sinaitic Peninsula stone or flint knives have often been discovered on opening 
ancient places of sepulture. The Abyssinian tribes at the present day use flint/ 
knives in performing circumcision. Stone knives in early times were common 
in Egypt. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, II., p. 1573. 

THE HEBREWS' TASK INCREASED. 

Exod. v: 1, 2. — And Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of 
Israel, Let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh 



EXODUS V. 135 

said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go ? I know not the Lord, 
neither will I let Israel go. 

Egyptian Inscriptions. — The spirit and style of language ascribed by Moses 
to Pharaoh, such as, "Who is the Lord," "I know not the Lord," "I am 
Pharaoh," etc., are in striking accord with what has been discovered in the 
ancient Papyri and wall Inscriptions ; the same sublime and unconscious eg )tism 
appears in both. " I am Ra in the land of the living," says one inscription. 
"Even from thy birth thou hast been as God," says another. "The king is 
as God," declares the papyrus of Prisse d'Avennes. — See Faith and Free 
Thought, p. 220. 

Exod. v : 6, 7. — And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their 
officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore : let them 
go and gather straw for themselves. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — Chopped straw was an ordinary material in 
the bricks, being employed as hair by modern plasterers, to bind them together, 
and make them more firm and durable. — Historical Illustrations of the Old 
Testament, p. 71. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — The use of crude brick, baked in the sun, was universal 
in Upper and Lower Egypt, both for public and private buildings. Enclosures 
of gardens, granaries, sacred circuits encompassing the courts of temples, walls 
of fortifications and towers, dwelling-houses and tombs, in short, all but the 
temples themselves, were of crude brick. So great was the demand for them, 
that the Egyptian government, observing the profit that would accrue to the 
revenue from the monopoly of them, undertook to supply the public at a mode- 
rate price, thus preventing all unauthorized persons from engaging in their 
manufacture. And in order to obtain more effectually their end, the seal of 
the king, or of some privileged person, was stamped upon the bricks at the time 
that they were made. Now, it is manifest from the sacred narrative, though 
the fact is not expressly stated there or by any ancient writer, that the bricks 
were made under the immediate direction of the king through his officers. 
And this renders more interesting and important the above incidental corrobora- 
tion which the study of Egyptian antiquities has recently produced. — Ancient 
Egyptians, II. , p. 26 and 79. 

Exod. v: 12. — So the people were scattered abroad throughout the land of Egypt to gather 

stubble instead of straw. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — Stubble and straw both existed in ancient Egypt, 
wheat being occasionally cut with a portion of the stalk ; while the remainder, 
or more commonly, the entire stalk, was left standing in the fields. And both 
stubble and straw have been found in the bricks. — Ancient Egyptians, IV., 5-83, 
and I., 50. 

Rosellini. — The bricks which are now found in Egypt belonging to the same 
period, always have straw mingled with them, although in some of them that are 
most carefully made it is found in very small quantities.— Monumenti dell 
'Egitto, II., 252. 



136 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exod. v: 14. — And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set 
over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your ta»k in making 
brick both yesterday and to-day as heretofore? 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A.— Captives and foreigners commonly did the < 
work in the royal brickfields; and Egyptian taskmasters, with rods in their 
hands, watched their labors, and punished the idle with blows at their discre- 
tion. The bastinado was a recognized punishment for minor offences. — Hist. 
Illust. of O. T. t 72. 

Exod. v : 15. — Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying* 
Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants ? 

Prof. George Rawlinson. — The hearing of complaints and pronouncing of 
judgments by the king in person, was very usual throughout the East ; and the 
existence of the custom in Egypt is illustrated by many passages in ancient 
authors. Herodotus notices this custom in ii., 115, 121, etc.— Hist. Illust. of 
O. T.,p. 76. 

DIVINE TITLES. 

Exod. vi : 3. — I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God 
Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. 

Orpheus. — I say that the highest of all the Gods is IAO. — Apud Macrob. 
Saturn., lib. i., c. 18. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Moses asserted that the God who is called by the Jews 
IAO, was the author of his Laws. — Diod. Sic, I., 94. 

THE ROB TURNED INTO A SERPENT. 

Exod. vii : 10, II. — And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and i( 
became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers : now the magi? 
cians of Egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 

W. R. Cooper, Secretary of the Society of Biblical Archaeology . — An Egyptian 
painting in the British Museum represents certain priests carrying serpent-shaped 
sticks in their hands, for with them the cobra or basilisk was the emblem of 
eternal life ; and hence that reptile was called, " the serpent of immortal years." 
To this day, in India, the serpent-charmers possess the art, by pressure on the 
nape of the neck, of throwing the Naja, or spectacle snake, into a rigid, cata- 
leptic position. Be it granted, then, that the magicians of. Pharaoh were 
acquainted with a similar knack, and the whole mystery of their enchantment 
becomes apparent, for the act of flinging the serpent on the ground would 
restore it to its original consciousness and vivacity. — Faith and Free Thought, 
p. 224. 

PLAGUE OF BLOOD. . 

Exod. vii : 20, 21. — And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded : and he lifted up the 
rod and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of 
his servants ; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish 




(137) 



138 TESTIMONY OF TH*E AGES. 

that was in the river died ; and the river stank, and the Egyptians would not drink of the 
water of the river ; and there was blood throughout the land of Egypt. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of the Soci. of Bib. Archaeology. — Perhaps on no group of 
subjects has more information been obtained from the monuments of Egypt than 
on those terrible calamities which are detailed in the 7th and four following 
chapters of the book of Exodus, and are popularly called the Ten Plagues. 
Much trifling criticism has been bestowed by infidel critics upon the trifling 
character of many of these judgments ; but that very circumstance attests the 
authenticity of the narrative, for things deemed of little consequence in later 
times held then no unimportant rank in the book of Egyptian Theology. 
Permit me, therefore, very briefly to notice these events in their succession, 
bearing in mind that the purport of all those inflictions was to show the 
Egyptians that "I am God," for "against all the gods of the Egyptians I will 
execute judgment, saith the Lord." 

The first judgment was the conversion of the waters of Egypt into an appar- 
ently sanguineous fluid, revolting to the sight, nauseous to the taste, and offensive 
to the smell. To Moses, and to the Egyptians, the purport of this miracle of 
vengeance was obvious, for the Nile was a deity of the country ; and at the annual 
festival of the Niloa, Pharaoh, attended by all his court, paid, in the name of 
all his people, divine worship to this river. Popular tradition supposed the 
bounteous Nile to flow from heaven, and a lustral power was attributed to 
bathing in its waters. Many even of its fishes were venerated and adored, and 
the figure of one species was worn around the neck as an amulet and an 
ornament. At the touch of the rod of Moses the water of that river, famous as 
being the purest and sweetest in all the world, was rendered loathsome and 
impure ; unable to preserve their sacred lives, the deified fishes died under the 
shadow of their own temples : the celestial river attested the hand of a celestial 
messenger, and in its blood-stained waves was contained an omen of the 
destruction of the people who stood around its banks, and whose fathers in years 
past had reddened its stream with the carcasses of the Hebrew children. — Faith 
and Free Thought, p. 228, 229. 

Herodotus. — To all rivers the Egyptians pay extreme veneration ; they will 
neither spit, wash their hands, nor throw any filth into any of them, and 
a violation of this custom may not happen with impunity. — Clio, c. 138. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The Egyptians account their river Nile to be Oceanus, 
on whose banks the birth of the gods took place.— Diod. Sic, lib. i., c. 12. 

Plutarch. — The Nile, the father and Saviour of Egypt. — Symp., VIII., 8. 

Idem. — There is nothing so much honored among the Egyptians as the river 
Nile. — De Isid. et Osirid., c. 5. 

Reginald Stuart Poole.— The plagie of blood was doubly humiliating to 
the religion of the country, as the Nile was held sacred, as well as some kinds 
of its fish, not to speak of the crocodiles which probably were destroyed. It 
may have been a marked reproof for the cruel edict that the Israelite children 
should be drowned, and could scarcely have failed to strike guilty consciences 



EXODUS VIII. 139 

as such, though Pharaoh does not seem to have been alarmed by it. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, III., 2540. 

PLAGUE OF FROGS. 

Exod. via : 5, 6. — And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with 
thy rod, over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up 
over the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and 
the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 

H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The common, and indeed the only water- 
frog of Egypt, is the edible frog Rana esculenta. It is larger than our commorn 
frog, and generally of a bright green color, prettily spotted. It is found in 
myriads in all parts of Egypt where there is marsh or water, and its loud 
croaking by night is perfectly deafening. — Natural History of the Bible, 
p. 280. 

Pliny. — The inhabitants of a district in Gaul were driven from their country 
by frogs. — Hist. Nat., lib. viii., c. 43. 

W. R. Cooper, See. of Soei. of Bib. Arehceology. — The plague of frogs was no 
less significant than that of blood. Pthah, the creator of animal life, was ven- 
erated under the special form of a frog, that creature being supposed to be 
spontaneously generated from the mud of the Nile, by the vivific rays of the 
sun. From their immense fecundity, the frog and tadpole were used as the 
hieroglyphics of a million, and the titles "Lord of Life" and "Lord of the 
Land " were frequently engraved upon the statuettes of this Batrachian. Hence 
the people of Lower Egypt venerated the frog, and hence their animal worship 
was rebuked, and the very creatures they venerated were made a torture to 
them, so that even Pharaoh himself was compelled to exclaim, "Take away 
these (gods though they be) out of the land." — Faith and Free Thought, p. 229. 

PLAGUE OF LICE. 

Exod. viii : 16, 17. — And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and 
smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And 
they did so: and it became lice in man and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice 
throughout all the land of Egypt. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Vermin of all kinds are notoriously 
abundant in the East — none more so than these disgusting insects, which are 
harbored everywhere by the filthy habits of the Bedouin and the Fellahin, or 
country people. But the Egyptians had by no means the Arab indifference to 
vermin, and no plague could have been more loathsome than this to that 
people. So scrupulous were they in their cleanliness that, we are told by Hero- 
dotus, the priests shaved their heads and persons every third day, lest they 
should harbor any lice, and so be polluted when performing their religious rites. 
This, therefore, was more than merely a loathsome visitation; it rendered the 
whole of that superstitious people ceremonially polluted. — Natural History of 
the Bible, p. 305. 

W. R. Cooper, See. of Soei. of Bib. Archceology. — The plague of lice con- 



140 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

veyed a warning no less important than that which preceded it. According to 
both monumental and historical testimony, the strictest care was taken by the 
priests to avoid defilement by any unclean insect. For this purpose the whole of 
the body was scrupulously shaved, vestments of woollen were especially forbidden ; 
linen, or linen and cotton united, often washed, and oftener changed, were 
alone allowed to be used. Stated and repeated ablutions formed a part of the 
routine life of the sacerdotal orders, and the touch of an unclean insect rendered 
them ceremonially impure. That plague, therefore, the magicians could not 
imitate (and doubtless, secretly, did not wish to imitate), as the act would 
defile themselves, and thereupon came from their lips the reluctant exclamation, 
" This is the finger of God ! " — Faith and Free Thought, p. 230. 

PLAGUE OF FLIES. 

Exod. viii : 21, 24. — If thou wilt not let my people go, behold I will send swarms of flies upon 
thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses : and the houses of the 
Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And the 
Lord did so ; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into 
his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt : the land was corrupted by reason of the 
swarm of flies. 

Editor of the Pictorial Bible. — The original word here translated " flies " 
is arob, concerning the true meaning of which there exists some difference of 
opinion. Upon the whole we strongly incline to the opinion of Oedman, 
Kalisch and others, that the Egyptian beetle is here intended. All the circum- 
stances which the Scriptures in different places intimate concerning the arob 
apply with much accuracy to this species. It devours everything that comes in 
its way, even clothes, books and plants, and does not hesitate to inflict severe 
bites on man. This beetle is about the size of the common beetle, and its gen- 
eral color is black. It is chiefly distinguished by having a broad white 
band upon the anterior margin of its oval corslet. That this beetle occupied a 
conspicuous place among the sacred creatures of the Egyptians seems to be 
evinced by the fact that there is scarcely any figure which occurs more 
frequently in Egyptian sculpture and painting. Visitors to the British Museum 
may satisfy themselves of this fact ; and they will also observe a remarkable 
colossal figure of a beetle in greenish colored granite. Figures of beetles cut in 
green-colored stone occur very frequently in the ancient tombs of Egypt. They 
are generally plain, but some have hieroglyphic figures cut on their backs, 
and others have been found with human heads. If now we conceive that one 
object of these plagues was to chastise the Egyptians through their own idols, 
there is no creature of its class which could be more fitly employed than this 
insect. — See in loco. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Soci. of Bib. Archozology. — In the fourth plague, that 
of Flies, or, as the word implies, Beetles, the Ateuchis Sacer, or Sacred Scarab 
of the Egyptians, was selected as the minister of vengeance. This insect was 
a beautiful little beetle, and very abundant, which from its habit of laying its 



EXODUS IX. 141 

eggs in a ball of mud, and then rolling it to be hatched by the heat of the sun, 
was supposed to represent the care of the Creator over the world both in forming 
and preserving it, and was therefore representatively worshipped as the emblem 
of Kheper Ra, the formator of the world. The multiplication of figures Of this 
insect in all sizes and all materials, from the huge specimen in basalt, nearly five 
feet across, in the British Museum, down to another in crystal, scarce a quarter 
of an inch in diameter, in the same collection, was something almost incredi- 
ble. Every one wore it — sometimes not only one, but as many as fifty — in ' 
chains around the neck. It was wrought in the cheapest as well as the costliest 
stones, from the tender Stealite to the stubborn Jasper. Figures of the Scara- 
bseus were used interchangeably with rings for currency. The living wore it on 
their fingers ; the priests upon their breasts ; and the dead, protected by the 
sacred amulet, were expressly said by the Egyptian liturgy to " pass through the 
place of dangers, and to await in safety all their transformations." — But now, 
at the word of Moses, all this was reversed. Willingly or unwillingly, the 
people in self-defence were compelled to slay their own divinities, and the 24th 
verse of the 8th chapter of Exodus shows that Kheper Ra, instead of preserving 
the land which worshipped the beetle, by the myriads of those dead insects, 
corrupted it. — Faith and Free Thought, p. 230, 231. 

Exod. viii : 26. — Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and- 

will they not stone us ? 

Herodotus. — The Egyptians put no cattle to death. — Futerpe, c. 41. 

Tacitus. — The ox, which the Egyptians worship for the god Apis, the Jews 
sacrifice. — Hist., lib. v., c. 4. 

Diodorus Siculus. — He that wilfully kills any of the sacred beasts of Egypt 
is put to death; but if any kill a cat, or the bird Ibis, whether intentionally or 
not, he is dragged away to death by the multitude without any formal trial or 
judgment. Of an instance of this, I was an eye-witness at the time of my 
travels into Egypt. — Diod. Sic, lib. i., c. 83. 

PLAGUE OF MURRAIN. 

Exod. ix : 1,2,3,6. — The Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus 
saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. For if thou 
refuse to let them go and wilt hold them still, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle 
which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and 
upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. — And the Lord did that thing on the 
morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died. 

Herodotus. — The Egyptians esteem bulls as sacred to Epaphas, and cows 
are sacred to Isis. — Euterpe, c. 38-41. 

Idem. — The god Apis is the calf of a cow which can have no more young. 
The Egyptians say that on this occasion, the cow is struck with lightning, and 
from which she conceives and brings forth Apis. — Thai, c. 28. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The priests of Egypt hold bulls in great veneration, and 



142 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

renew their mourning for Osiris over the graves of those beasts. — Diod. Sic, lib. 
i., c. 21. 

Strabo. — At Memphis the ox Apis is kept in a sort of sanctuary, and is held 
to be a god. In front of the sanctuary is a court, in which there is another 
sanctuary for the dam of Apis. Into this court Apis is let loose at times for the 
purpose of exhibiting him to strangers. — Strab., XVII. , c. i. 

Idem. — Heliopolis contains a temple of the sun, and the ox Mneyis, which is 
kept in a sanctuary, and is regarded by the inhabitants as a god, as Apis is 
regarded by the people of Memphis. — Ibid. 

Idem. — At Hermonthis, both Apollo and Jupiter are worshipped. They also 
keep an ox there. — Ibid. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Soci. of Bib. Archeology. — Still the awful signs pro- 
ceed, and in the fifth, the plague of Murrain, Apis, the bull-god, suffered, with 
all his bovine tribe, — that Apis, the first of animal deities, one of the incarna- 
tions of Osiris, the god of agriculture, and the most popular deity throughout 
the land of Egypt, — that Apis which was stalled in a golden manger, and fed to 
the sound of music, with perfumed oats, and straw from golden plates, — that 
bovine deity, who bleated oracles, and whose very excrements were holy — who 
was supposed to be born of a virgin cow by the -direct influence of the rays of 
the moon, and upon whose life depended the welfare of Lower Egypt, — that 
same Apis then became hopelessly smitten with the same murrain whereby the 
less sacred domestic cattle of Egypt were destroyed. So important was the 
birth of the Apis, that his discovery was a triumphant festival, — his death a 
national mourning. That time of mourning was now come. " I am the Lord ; 
and against all the gods of the Egyptians I will execute judgment."— Faith and 
Free Thought, p. 232. 

PLAGUE OF BOILS. 

Exod. ix : 8-10. — And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handsful of 
ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 
And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth 
with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took 
ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; 
and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The goddess Isis used to reveal herself to the people 
in Egypt in their sleep, when they labored under any disorder, and afforded 
them relief. Many who placed their confidence in her influence were wonder- 
fully restored. — Diod. Sic, I., 25. 

Idem. — Orus, the last of the gods who reigned in Egypt, is reported to have 
learnt the science of physic, as well as of prophecy, from his mother Isis. — 
Diod. Sic, ib. 

Herodotus. — In Egypt, one physician is confined to the study and manage- 
ment of one disease. There are of course, therefore, a great many who study 
this art. — Euterpe, c. 84. 

Pliny. — The Egyptians will have it that the medical art was first discovered 
among them. — Hist. Nat. y VII., 57. 



EXODUS IX. 143 

Tacitus. — Many writers concur in the following account : That when 
Egypt was overrun by a pestilent disease, contaminating living bodies, and 
very foul to behold, Bacchoris, the king, applying for a remedy to the oracle 
of Jupiter Ammon, was ordered to purge his kingdom by removing into 
another country that generation of men (the Hebrews) so detested by the deities. 
—Hist, V., 3. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of the Soci. of Bib. Archaeology. — The sixth plague con- 
verted the Ashes of blessing into the instruments of curse. The priests, by 
supernatural power the prescriptive doctors of the people, fled from the inflic- 
tion, and were powerless to cure or to avert it, and hence they and their gods 
were shown to be inutile. Three treatises on medicine written in ancient hiero- 
glyphics exist ; one of these, published by M. Brugsch, and ascribed to the time 
of Rameses I., treats of the cure of diseases by the use of amulets, incantations 
and sympathetic remedies — all superstitious, empirical, and absurd to an extreme 
decree. When, therefore, in the sixth judgment, both physician and patient 
were attacked by the plague of boils, neither charm nor prayer availed them, 
no rank excepted, or amulet protected — all suffered alike. — Faith and Free 
Thought, p. 233. 

PLAGUE OF HAIL. 

Exod. ix : 18. — Behold, to-morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, 
such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, British Museum. — Hail is now extremely rare, but 
not unknown, in Egypt, and it is interesting that the narrative seems to imply 
that it sometimes falls there. Thunder-storms occur, but though very loud and 
accompanied by rain and wind, they rarely do serious injury. — In Smith's Diet, 
of the Bible, III., 2542. 

Lepsius. — In January, 1843, we were surprised by a storm. Suddenly this 
storm grew to a tremendous hurricane, such as I have never seen in Europe, 
and hail fell upon us in such masses, as almost to turn day into night. — Letters 
from Egypt, p. 27. 

Exod. ix: 20.— He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his 
servants and his cattle flee into the houses. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — We see on the monuments that cattle were kept, both 
in the field, where they were liable to be overtaken by the inundation, and also 
in stalls or sheds. — Cambridge Essays, 1858. 

Exod. ix: 23. — And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven : and the Lord sent thunder 
and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground (literally, toward the earth) ; and the Lord 
rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail. 

Prof. Elias Loomis, LL. D. — Large hail seldom if ever falls except during 
thunder-storms. Large hail is most common about the hottest part of the day. 
It falls at the commencement of the storm or during its continuance. It very 
rarely follows rain. — Treatise on Meteorology, p. 129. 



144 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exod. ix : 25. — And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, 
both man and beast j and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the 
field. 

Prof. Elias Loomis, LL. D. — Within (or near) the tropics hail is of rare 
occurrence at the level of the sea; but when it does occur the stones are gen- 
erally of very large size. On the nth of May, 1855, about 6 p. m., near the 
Himalaya Mountains, in India, in latitude 29 , hailstones fell weighing from 
eight to ten ounces, and one or two weighed more than a pound. On the 2 2d 
of May, 185 1, in latitude 13 north, in the southern part of India, many hail- 
stones fell about the size of oranges. The quantity of hail which falls from the 
sky in a single shower is sometimes enormous. On the 17th of August, 1830, 
in the streets of Mexico, hail fell to the depth of sixteen inches. — Treatise on 
Meteorology, p. 130, 131. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of the Soci. of Bib. Archozology. — Thus the 7th act of the 
drama of the Dies Irce opened with a fearful storm. Rain, which seldom fell 
in Egypt, was believed to be under the particular control of the Feminine 
Deities, Isis queen of heaven, Sate goddess of the material sky, and Neith god- 
dess of wisdom. But in this plague, regardless of, and restrainless by, feminine 
deities, the hail and lightning descended, and, terrified by the awful judgment, 
the king, disowning his own divinity, declared that he was wicked, a concession 
of a nature which only those who well understand the Egyptian theology can 
duly appreciate. — Faith and Free Thought, p. 234. 

Exod. ix : 31, 32. — And the flax and the barley was smitten : for the barley was in the ear, and 
the flax was boiled. But the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — The representations made by Moses with respect to 
Egyptian agriculture, feeding of cattle, etc., are borne out both by the ancient 
remains and the ancient authorities. The cultivation depicted on the monu- 
ments is especially that of wheat, flax, barley, and rye or spelt. — Ancient Egyp- 
tians, Vol. II., p. 398. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — However late or early the Barley 
harvest may be, there is always an interval between it and the Wheat harvest, 
generally not less than three weeks, more frequently a month. In consequence 
of the earlier ripening of the Barley, it was destroyed in Egypt by the plague 
of hail, when the wheat escaped. — Natural History of the Bible, p. 421. 
Exod. ix: 26. — Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no 

hail. 

Prof. Elias Loomis, LL. D. — Hail-storms usually travel rapidly over the 
country, and often in straight bands of small breadth as compared with their 
length. Many notable instances of this kind have been observed. On the 13th 
of July, 1788, a hail-storm traveled from the southwest part of France to the 
shores of Holland, at the rate of forty-six miles per hour. There were two dis- 
tinct bands of hail, the breadth of that in the west being eleven miles, and that 
in the east six miles, with a space of fourteen miles between them. Each band 
of hail extended a distance of about five hundred miles. — Treatise on Meteor- 
ology, p. 132. 




(145) 



146 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS. 

Exod. x: 12, 13. — And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand over the land of 
Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the 
land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of 
Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night ; and 
when it was morning the east wind brought the locusts. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The statement that the plague of 
locusts arrived in Egypt with an east wind, is confirmed in an interesting 
manner by modern observations. They are noticed always to come from the 
east into Egypt, and from the south and southeast into Syria, being in fact nur- 
tured in the wilds of Arabia, and nothing destroys them until they are driven 
by the wind into the sea, as was the case when, on the intercession of Moses, 
the west wind drove them into the sea. — Natural History of the Bible, p. 310. 

Exod. x: 14. — And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts 
of Egypt: very grievous were they; — for they covered the face of the whole eai-th, so that 
the land was darkened. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — For several days previous to the first of June (1845), 
we had heard that millions of young locusts were on their march up the valley 
toward our village, and at length I was told that they had reached the lower 
parts of it. Summoning all the people I could collect, we went to meet and 
attack them, hoping to stop their progress altogether, or at least to turn aside the 
line of their march. Never shall I lose the impression produced by the first 
view of them. I had often passed through clouds of flying locusts, and they 
always struck my imagination with a sort of vague terror ; but these we now con- 
fronted were without wings, and about the size of full-grown grasshoppers, 
which they closely resembled in appearance and behavior. But their number 
was astounding ; the whole face of the mountain was black with them. On 
they came like a living deluge. We dug trenches and kindled fires, and beat' 
and burned to death heaps upon heaps, but the effort was utterly useless. Wave 
after wave rolled up the mountain side, and poured over rocks, walls, ditches 
and hedges, those behind covering up and bridging over the masses already 
killed. After a long and fatiguing contest, I descended the mountain to 
examine the depth of the column, but I could not see to the end of it. Wearied 
with my hard walk over this living deluge, I returned and gave over the vain 
effort to stop its progress. I have this dreadful picture indelibly fixed on 
my mind. For several nights after "they came to Abeih, as soon as I closed 
my eyes the whole earth seemed to be creeping and jumping, nor could I banish 
the ugly image from my brain.— The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 102, 107. 

Exod. x : 15.— And they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the 
hail had left: and there remained not any green things in the trees, or in the herbs of the 
field, throughout all the land of Egypt. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, British Museum— The severity of the plague of 
locusts can be well understood by those who, like the writer, have been in Egypt 



EXODUS x. 147^ 

in a part of the country where a flight of locusts has alighted. In the present 
day locusts often appear suddenly in the cultivated land, coming from the desert 
in a column of great length, and where they alight they devour every green 
thing, even stripping the trees of their leaves. Mr. Lane, writing of Nubia, 
says: " Locusts not unfrequently commit dreadful havoc in this country. In 
my second voyage up the Nile, when before the village of Boostan, a little above 
Ibreem, many locusts pitched upon the boat. They were beautifully variegated, 
yellow and blue. In the following night* a southerly wind brought other 
locusts in immense swarms. Next morning the air was darkened by them, as 
by a heavy fall of snow, and the surface of the river was thickly scattered oyer 
by those which had fallen and were unable to rise again. Great numbers came 
upon and within the boat, and alighted upon our persons. They were different 
from those of the preceding day, being of a bright yellow color, with brown 
marks. The desolation they made was dreadful. In four hours a field of young 
durah (millet) was cropped to the ground. In another field of durah more 
advanced only the stalks were left. Nowhere was there a space on the ground 
to set the foot without treading on many. A field of cotton-plants was quite 
stripped. Even the acacias along the banks were made bare, and palm trees 
were stripped of the fruit and leaves." — In Smith's Diet, of Bib., III., p. 2543. 
Rev. F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S. — In vain the Arabs who had charge of the 
convent gardens beat iron pans, and shouted, and brushed them away from the 
beds with palm leaves ; they swarmed in till every green thing was eaten. The 
locusts appear to prefer death to a retreat. They swarm up the trees and strip 
them of every leaf; olives, and even oaks are not spared by them ; but they 
attack the apricots and mulberries first. Sad it was to see the poor people beaten 
by the overwhelming flights, and hopelessly wringing their hands over their little 
gardens overrun by the locusts, which crunched up every green thing. — First 
Journey to the Wilderness of Sinai. 

Exod. x: 16. — Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, in haste, and he said, I have sinned 
against the Lord your God, and against you. 

W. R. Cooper, See. of the Soci. of Bib. Archcz. — As the seventh act of the 
drama with Storm, so the eighth with locusts, devastated the land, and the trees, 
which themselves were sacred, the vegetable gods, despised by Juvenal and ridi- 
culed by Pliny — the Pine, the tree of life; the Tamarisk, the tree of knowledge ; 
the Lotus, sacred to the dead ; the Papyrus, sacred to the gods, and many lesser 
vegetables or lesser deities — all were smitten now — all devoured by the locusts ! 
Horror-stricken and confounded, " then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron 
in haste, and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against 
you — forgive, I pray you, my sin only this once, and entrea f the Lord for me ! " 
— Faith and Free Thought, p. 234. % 

Exod. x: 19. — And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts 
and cast them into the Red Sea ; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. 

Pliny. — There is another mode in which the locusts perish ; the winds carry 



148 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

them off in vast swarms, upon which they fall into the sea or standing waters. 
—Hist Nat., XL, 35. 

Mr. Barrow. — In the southern district of Africa, which I visited, the surface 
of nearly 2,000 square miles might be said to be covered with locusts. The 
water of a wide river was scarcely visible in consequence of the innumerable 
drowned locusts which floated on its surface. By and by these countless hosts 
were driven into the sea by a violent wind ; and their bodies, being thrown 
back on the shore, formed a bank about three feet high, and of many miles 
in length. — Quoted in Science and the Bible, p. 455. 

PLAGUE OF DARKNESS. 

Exod. x: 21-23. — And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that 
there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And 
Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven ; and there was a thick darkness in all the land 
of Egypt three days : they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. 

Diodorus Siculus. — In Egypt they worship the Sun under the name of Ra. 
— Diod. Sic, I., 11 ; See Wilkinson's Ancient Egypt, IV., 289. 

Plutarch. — Horns, the son of Isis, was the first to sacrifice to the sun. The 
Egyptians offer three times every day incense and sweet odours to the sun. — 
De Is id. et O sir id., c. 52. 

W R. Cooper, Sec. of Society of Bib. Arches. — This visitation, as it was the 
last directly theological, so it was also, in one sense, the most conclusive. At the 
root of all the Egyptian Theogony lay the great deity, Amun Ra, who was 
believed to inhabit the heaven of heavens, and was symbolized by "eternal 
light ; " the Sun was his representative. Now, at the word of the God of Israel, 
that Sun, that Amun Ra, is wrapped in a veil of darkness that utterly hides him 
from the view of his erring worshippers. Three days' curse to his threefold 
claims ; Amun Ra, father of divine life ; Khcper Ra, father of animal life ; 
Kneph Ra, father of human life ; he, even he, by the God of Israel, is blotted 
out for three days. — Faith and Free Thought, 235. 

PLAGUE OF THE FIRST-BORN. 

Exod. xii : 29. — And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the 
land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat upon his throne unto the first-born of 
the captive that was in the dungeon"; and all the first-born of cattle. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Society of Bib. Arches. — Last of all, descended the 
horrors of the tenth plague. The Egyptians having felt, and the Israelites 
having witnessed, the powerlessness of the gods they had been accustomed to 
venerate, the long-delayed retribution fell upon the Pharaoh and his servants ; 
and those who had made the Israelites childless were by an invisible and irre- 
sistible executioner rendered childless themselves. Fancy cannot imagine, artist 
cannot paint, nor poet describe, the scene which produced the cry which rang 
throughout the land of Egypt, when under the very shadow of the gods whom 
he worshipped, with their amulets upon his heart, and their adorations inscribed 



EXODUS XII. 149 

in the bracelets upon his hands, the first-born of every Egyptian lay agonized, 
paralyzed, dead ! — Faith and Free Thought, 236. 

. THE PASSOVER. 

Exod. xi : 1, 2. — And the Lord said unto Moses — Speak now in the ears of the people, and let 
every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver and 
jewels of gold. 

Exod. xii : 35, 36. — And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they 
borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. And the Lord 
gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things 
as they required ; and they spoiled the Egyptians. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A.— The wide-spread possession, by the 
Egyptians, of articles in gold and silver, vases, goblets, necklaces, armlets, 
bracelets, ear-rings, and finger rings, is among the facts most conspicuously 
attested by the extant remains, and is also illustrated by the ancient writers, 
who even speak of so strange an article as a golden foot-pan. — Historical Illus- 
trations of the O. T., ft, 77. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — The ornaments of gold found in Egypt consist of 
rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, ear-rings, and numerous trinkets belonging 
to the toilet. — Gold and silver vases, statues, and other objects of gold and 
silver, of silver inlaid with gold, and of bronze inlaid with the precious 
metals, were also common at the same time. — Ancient Egyptians, Vol. III., p. 
225, and p. 370-377- 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, LL. D. — The Egyptian Museums, in London, Paris 
and Berlin, contain almost as great a variety of ornaments for personal decora- 
tion (ivory, gold, silver) as are known to the fashions of modern life. They 
have been found in Egyptian tombs, pyramids, and mummy-pits, and many of 
them must be as old as the age of the Pharaohs and the pyramids. — Note, in Hist. 
lilust. of O. T.,p. 77. 

Exod. xii : 3-13. — Speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this 
month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a 
lamb for a house, etc. 

Rev. Joseph Parrish Thompson, D. D. — The passover contains features so 
unnatural, so remote in themselves from mere imagination or invention, that 
one cannot conceive of their origin except in some fact of actual occurrence. 
This is true especially of the time and manner of killing the lamb, and of the 
sprinkling of the blood on the side-posts and the upper door-posts of the houses. 
As the observance itself witnesses for the departure out of Egypt, so do these 
unique features of it witness for the facts which are recorded as having attended 
its own institution. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, Vol. III., p. 2546. 

Exod. xii : 14. — And this day shall be unto you for a memorial ; and ye shall keep it a feast to 
the Lord throughout your generations : ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 

The Compiler. — Of the actual occurrence of what is related in this chapter, 
namely, the institution of the Feast of the Passover, we have the unbroken tes- 



150 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

timony of history and of its perpetual observance down through all the ages to 
the day in which we live. The deliverance from Egypt was regarded as the 
starting-point of the Hebrew Nation. The Israelites were then raised from the 
condition of bondmen under a foreign tyrant to that of a free people owing 
allege .... e to no one but Jehovah. Hence, through all their generations, and 
especially in the periods of great national reformations and restorations, the 
Passover was observed in the most solemn and devout manner, to remind the 
people of their true position, and to mark their renewal of the covenant which 
their fathers had made. It was thus observed by Moses again, in the Desert 
(Num. ix.) It was celebrated by Joshua at Gilgal, when about to enter and 
possess the Promised Land (Josh, v.) It was kept with acts of special devotion 
by Hezekiah, on the restoration of the National worship to its original purity 
(2 Chron. xxx.) It was similarly observed by Josiah in the 18th year of his 
reign (2 Chron. xxxv.) So also by Ezra after the return from Babylon (Ezr. 
vi.) It was kept with punctilious reverence by the Jews in our Saviour's time 
(John xviii : 28.) And it has been yearly held in sacred remembrance by 
their descendants through all the centuries that have elapsed since, in all their 
wanderings over the face of the earth ; while through the same period, the 
event has been perpetually celebrated by all Christian nations under the form of 
the Lord's Supper. 

Exod. xii : 26, 27. — And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, What 
mean ye by this service ? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who 
passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and 
delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. 

Rev. William C. Brownlee, D. D. — A political skeptic might say, I do not 
believe, I deny the authenticity and genuineness of your Declaration of Independ- 
ence. How should we meet this skeptic ? Thus : Why, the whole American 
people had witnessed and experienced the oppression of the British government. 
Their leading men were engaged in drawing up that Declaration. The whole 
people at the time read it or heard it proclaimed. They celebrated the event 
with heroic rejoicing ; and they have annually celebrated it in like manner ever 
since. It cannot possibly, therefore, be a forgery or an imposture. It could 
not have been fabricated in the days of the Old Congress. The people of that 
day could not have been so imposed on, as to believe it, if they had not seen 
with their eyes, and heard with their ears, all these revolutionary movements, 
and this National Document setting them forth. Nor could this Declaration 
possibly have been fabricated since the death of those patriot fathers. How 
could any man, or any conspiracy of impostors, persuade the whole American 
Nation, unanimously to receive and credit the Declaration of our National Inde- 
pendence, and, in memory thereof, to celebrate the 4th of July, — if no such 
national event had taken place? 

Now apply this form of argument to the proof of the authenticity and genuineness 
of the institution of the Jewish Passover. How close and striking the parallel 
before us J The Hebrews had long been sorely oppressed, and they were now on 



EXODUS XII. 151 

the eve of their deliverance. The divine mission of Moses had been established 
before the nation by the many miracles wrought in Egypt. These facts were 
such that the people's outward senses could judge of them. They were' per- 
formed in the most public manner. His divine mission being thus established, 
he delivered to the officers of the nation the code of laws and the system of 
worship which they were to observe ; a copy of this was put in the hands of the 
rulers ; a copy was publicly deposited in the ark, and this was, by a national 
-law, brought out every seventh year, and read aloud in the ears of the national' 
assemblies. In this public document Moses declares to the nation that God 
had brought wasting judgments on Egypt, and had slain the first-born in every 
family; that he had brought them out of that land with a mighty arm; and 
had made them walk through the Red Sea in a miraculous manner; that they 
and their fathers had celebrated the national festival of the Passover ; and that 
.this was the grand and divinely appointed monument to perpetuate the memory 
of the miracles of their deliverance from bondage. And to all this are added 
the solemn words, " Know ye, this day ; for I speak not to your children which 
have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord, his 
greatness, his mighty hand, his miracles and acts : but your eyes have seen the 
great acts of the Lord, which he did." 

Now Mcses could not possibly have persuaded the whole Hebrew nation that 
these things had actually taken place before their eyes, if they really had 
never so happened. He could not have persuaded the whole nation to celebrate 
-the Passover in memory of their grand national deliverance, if they never had 
been so miraculously delivered. Their national celebration of this festival was 
an unanimous national declaration of their unshaken faith in all those miracles 
of Moses, which issued in their final emancipation. Hence the ordinance of 
the Passover could not possibly have been fabricated by Moses, nor by any 
in his day, or in the days of those who came out of Egypt. It is equally im- 
possible that it could have been forged in an after age. What man can gravely 
allege that a whole nation, such as the Hebrews, could have been persuaded by 
any combination of impostors whatever, to believe, and to receive, as a nation, 
a code of laws and observances on whose pages it was declared that they had, as 
a' nation, been delivered by the most stupendous miracles out of Egypt, if they 
had never heard of these miracles before ? 

How could any impostor persuade a whole nation to receive this as God's 
law, delivered to their forefathers in Egypt, if they had never heard of that law 
before ? What human power could induce a whole nation unanimously to cele- 
-brate annually their grand national festival, in commemoration of their escape 
from Egypt, if that event had never happened, and they, as a nation, had never 
heard of it? Hence it is manifest that the position which infidels assume here 
is infinitely more difficult to be believed than any position of the Christian 
For infidels profess to believe, in the face of reason and common sense, an 
absurdity the most palpable and ludicrous \— National Preacher, Vol. X.., 
■P- 257. . ..;. : 



152 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exod. xii : 34-36. — And the people took their dough before it was leavened, etc. . . And the 
Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such 
things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. 

Tacitus. — As a standing proof of the Jews having by robbery supplied them- 
selves with gain, the Jewish bread is still baked without leaven.— Hist., lib. 
v., c. 4. 

ISRAEL'S DEPARTURE OUT OF EGYPT. 

Exod. xii. 37. — And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hun- 
dred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also 
with them. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The great fact recorded, which stands 
out as historically true, and which no petty criticism can shake, is the exit from 
Egypt of a considerable tribe, the progenitors of the later Hebrew nation and 
their settlement in Palestine, after a sojourn of some duration in the wilderness. 
Of this fact the Hebrews and Egyptians were equally well convinced, and as 
both nations enjoyed a contemporary literature, and had thus the evidence on 
the point of witnesses living at the time, only an irrational skepticism can enter- 
tain a doubt respecting it. — Hist. Illust. of the Old Test., p. 84. 

Manetho and Cheremon. — There are passages in the writings of Manetho 
and Cheremon, Egyptian priests of high scholarship, which, though in reference 
to some things somewhat confused, are yet so specific as to the names of Joseph 
and Moses, and in some instances, so minute as to facts, that the following con- 
clusions may be held established: 1. That the Egyptians had a tradition of an 
Exodus from their country of persons whom they regarded as unclean — persons 
who rejected their customs, refused to worship their gods, and killed for food 
the animals which they held as sacred. 2. That these authors connected this 
race and this exodus with the names of Joseph and Moses. 3. That they made 
southern Syria the country into which the unclean people withdrew ; and 4. 
That they placed the event in the reign of a certain Amenophis, son of Rameses, 
and father of Sethos, who reigned toward the close of the 18th dynasty, or 
about 1400 b. c. — See Josephus Contr. Apion, I., 26, 27, 32. 

Herodotus. — This people (the Hebrews), by their own account, once 
inhabited the coasts of the Red Sea, but migrated thence to the maritime parts 
of Syria, all which district, as far as Egypt, is denominated Palestine.— 
Polymnia, c. 89. 

Diodorus Siculus. — In ancient times there happened a great plague in 
Egypt, and many ascribed the cause of it to God, who was offended with them 
because there were many strangers in the land, by whom foreign rites and cere- 
monies were employed in their worship of the deity. The Egyptians concluded, 
therefore, that unless all strangers were driven out of the country, they should 
never be freed from their miseries. Upon this, as some writers tell us, the 
most eminent and enterprising of those foreigners who were in Egypt, and 
obliged to leave the country, betook themselves to the coast of Greece, and 
also to other regions, having put themselves under the command of proper 



EXODUS XII. 153 

leaders for that purpose. Some of them were conducted by Danaus and 
Cadmus, who were the most illustrious of the whole. There were besides these 
a large but less noble body of people, wlio retired into the province now called 
Judea, which was not far from Egypt, and in those times uninhabited. These 
emigrants were led by Moses, who was superior to all in wisdom and prowess. 
He gave them laws, and ordained that they should have no images of the gods, 
because there wa» only one deity, the heaven, which surrounds all things, and 
is Lord of the whole. — Diod. Sic, lib. 1., ap. Phot. 

Strabo.. — Among many things believed respecting the temple and inhabitants 
of Jerusalem, the report most credited is that the Egyptians were the ancestors 
of the present Jews. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed a portion 
of the country called lower Egypt, being dissatisfied with the institutions there, 
left it and came to Judea, with a large body of people who worshipped the 
Divinity. — Strab., lib. xvi., c. 2. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — It is certain that migrations of tribes, quite 
as large as that of Israel is said to have been, have from time to time taken place 
in the East, and indeed in the West also. Such migrations have frequently been 
sudden ; the emigrants have started off with their women and children and ail 
their possessions on a certain day — they have traversed enormous distances, 
much greater ones than the Israelites traversed, and have finally settled them- 
selves in new abodes. That the Israelites made such a migration there cannot 
be a doubt. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, all accepted the fact as certain. 
— Modern Scepticism, p. 280 ; See Num. i : 2, etc. 

M. Hommaire de Hell. — It was on the 5th of January, 1771, the day ap- 
pointed by the High Priests, that Oubacha began his march, with seventy thou- 
sand families. Most of the hordes were then assembled in the steppes, on the 
left bank of the Volga, and the whole multitude followed him. — Travels, p. 227. 
Exod. xii : 38. — And flocks, and herds, even very much cattle (went up with them.) 

Rev. F. W. Holland. — (The alleged difficulty of subsistence in the case of 
the Israelites with their numerous flocks, during the forty years in the Wilder- 
ness, has been very much exaggerated. The above authority, who has repeat- 
edly traversed that region, says) : Large tracts of the northern portion of the 
plateau of the Tih, which are now desert, were evidently formerly under culti- 
vation. The Gulf of Suez (probably by means of an artificial canal connecting 
it with the Bitter Lakes) once extended nearly fifty miles further north than it 
does at present, and the mountains of Palestine were well clothed with trees. 
Thus there formerly existed a rain-making area of considerable extent, which 
must have added largely to the dews and rains of Sinai. Probably, also, the 
Peninsula itself was formerly much more thickly wooded. 

The amount of vegetation and herbage in the Peninsula, even at the present 
time, has been very much underrated ; and a slight increase in the present rain- 
fall would produce an enormous addition to the amount of pasturage. I have 
several times seen the whole face of the country, especially the wadies, marvel- 
ously changed in appearance by a single shower. 



154 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that the convent gardens at the foot of Jebel 
Miisa, and those in Wady Feiran, and at To?', mark the only three spots where 
any considerable amount of cultivation could exist in the peninsula. Hundreds 
of old monastic gardens, with copious wells and springs, are scattered over the • 
mountains throughout the granite districts ; and I could mention at least iwe?ity 
streams which are perennial, excepting perhaps in unusually dry seasons. 

It has been said that the present physical conditions of the country are such 
as to render it impossible that the events recorded in the Book of Exodus can 
ever have occurred there. It is wonderful, however, how apparent difficulties 
melt away as our acquaintance with the country increases. I see no difficulty 
myself in the provision of sufficient pasture for the flocks and herds, if, as I have 
shown, there are good reasons for supposing the rain-fall was in former days 
larger than it is at present ; and with regard to the cattle, I will point out one 
important fact, which appears to me to have been overlooked, namely, that they 
were probably used as beasts of burden ; and, in addition to other things, carried 
their own water, sufficient for several days, slung in water-skins by their side, : 
just as Sir Samuel Baker found them doing at the present day in Abyssinia, 
(The statements of Bishop Colenso, so different from this testimony of experi- 
enced travellers, are exaggerated and misleading). — See Recent Explorations in 
the Peninsula of Sinai — made in 1869. 

Exod. xiv : 1-3. — And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,, 
that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal- 
zephon ; before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, 
They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. 

Rev. F. W. Holland. — Goshen probably comprised the district called El 
Wady, the fertile valley on the edge of the desert, through which now flows the 
fresh-water canal, leading from the Nile to Ismailia. The starting-point of the 
Israelites cannot have been very far from the latter place. It appears from 
the history of the Exodus that the Red Sea was only three days' journey from 
that point — a distance which exactly agrees with that to the head of the Gulf; 
of Suez. 

The passage of the Israelites, across the Sea, is generally supposed to have 
taken place in the immediate neighborhood of Suez, and a careful examination 
of the Isthmus and head of the Gulf has led me fully to concur in this opinion. 
On leaving Egypt the Israelites had probably intended to cross over into tin j 
wilderness of Etham, or Shur, by the higher ridge of land which separates the 
head of the Gulf of Suez from the Bitter Lakes on the north. This was the 
natural road to have taken on the way to Sinai, but God commanded Moses to 
alter their intended course : he bade them turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, 
between Migdol and the Sea— that is, probably in the desert which lies between 
the range of Jebel Attakah and Suez. Pharaoh coming up in pursuit of them, ; 
and seeing that they had missed the road leading round the head of the Gulf, 
would naturally exclaim : " The wilderness hath shut them in ! " The sea was 
on their left, a high range of desert mountains on their right, beyond them a. 



EXODUS XV. 155 

narrow road along the shore, leading only to a yet more barren desert. Escape 
was impossible unless God had opened a way for them through the Sea, — 
Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 408, 413. 

Exod. xiv: 5, 6. — Why have we done this that we have let Israel go from serving us? And 
Pharaoh made ready his chariot, and took his people with him. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The practice of the king to lead out his 
army in person, is abundantly evident, and will scarcely be doubted by any. 
It was indeed a practice universal at the time among all Oriental sovereigns. — 
Hist. Illust. of O. T.,p. 75. 

Exod. xiv : 7. — And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and 
captains over every one of them. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — -The monuments show that in Ancient Egypt by far 
the most important arm of the military service was the chariot force. The 
king, the princes, and all the chiefs of importance fought from chariots. — 
Ancient Egyptians, L, 335. 

Exod. xiv : 27. — And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his 
strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord over- 
threw the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 

Diodorus Siculus. — It is an ancient report among the Ichtheophagi, who 
inhabit the shores of the Red Sea, that by a mighty reflux of the sea which hap- 
pened in former days, the whole gulf became dry land, and appeared green all 
over ; and that the water overflowed the opposite shore, and that all the 
ground continued bare to the very lowest depth of the gulf, until the water, 
by an extraordinarily high tide, returned to its former channel. — Diod. Sic, 
lib. iii., c. 40. 

Exod. xv : 1-21. — Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and 

spake, saying, I will sing, etc. 

Prof. George Bush. — The circumstances which called forth this grateful 
song of praise were indeed unparalleled. We behold an immense congregation 
just rescued in a marvelous manner from the power of their enemies, standing 
upon the shore of the sea, which was strewed with the dead bodies of men 
and horses, with the broken pieces of chariots and weapons of war scattered 
in all directions, and all the other wrecks of that awful catastrophe. — Notes 
in loco. 

F. W. Holland. — Ayoun Musa — "The Wells of Moses" — formed probably 
their first halting-place after the passage. Here, about eight miles south of 
Suez, are at the present day several springs or pools. — Recovery of Jerusalem, 

P- 4i3- 

E. H. Palmer, M. A. — Here tradition places the site of the passage of the 
Red Sea ; and certain it is that, at least, within the range over which the eye can 
wander, the waters must have closed in upon Pharaoh's struggling hosts. — Desert 
of the Exodus, p. 42. 



156 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exod. xv : 10. — Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the 

mighty waters. 

William Aldis Wright, M. A., Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge. — 
Lead was early known to the ancients. The rocks in the neighborhood of Sinai 
yielded it in large quantities, and it was found in Egypt. The ancient Egyp- 
tians used it for fastening stones together in the rough parts of a building, and 
it was found by Mr. Layard among the ruins of Nimroud. — In Smith's Diet. 
of the Bible, II., p. 1619. 

JOURNEY FROM THE RED SEA TO SINAI. 

Exod. xv : 22. — So Moses brought the Israelites from the Red Sea, and they went out into the 

wilderness of Shur. 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — The word " Shur," in Hebrew, signifies a wall; 
and as we stand at Ayun Musa and glance over the desert at the Jebels er Rahah 
and et Tih, which border the gleaming plain, we at once appreciate the fact 
that these long wall-like escarpments are the chief, if not the only, prominent 
characteristics of this portion of the wilderness, and we need not wonder that 
the Israelites should have named this memorable spot after this most salient 
feature, the wilderness of Shur or the Wall. — Desert of the Exodus, p. 44. 

Exod. xv : 22. — And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — From the Wells of Moses we traversed an un- 
varied desert plain for three days : there is nothing to attract attention but the 
bleached camel bones that mark the track, and nothing to afford food for reflec- 
tion but the thought that, like the Israelites, you have gone " three days in the 
desert and have found no water." — Desert of the Exodus, p. 45. 

Exod. xv : 23. — And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, 
for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah (i. e., bitterness). 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — On the third day we reached Ain Hawarah, 
which most previous travelers have sought to identify with the Marah of Scrip- 
ture. It is a solitary spring of bitter water, with a stunted palm-tree growing near 
it, and affording a delicious shade. The quality of the water varies considerable 
at different times. — Desert of the Exodus, p. 45. 

Rev. F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S. — The water of Ain Hawarah varies much 
in bitterness. I have found it at one time so bitter that I could not even 
hold it in my mouth, at another more pleasant to drink than the water I had 
brought in water-skins from Suez. The size of the spring is very small, but the 
mass of calcareous deposit which surrounds it seems to prove that the water- 
supply from it was formerly larger than at the present time. — Appendix to 
Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3650. 

Exod. xv : 24, 25. — And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 
And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast 
into the waters, the waters were made sweet. 

Prof. George Bush. — "The Lord showed him a tree; " Greek, showed him 



EXODUS XV. 157 

a wood. It is clear that the Lord by some special monition or suggestion indi- 
cated to Moses a peculiar kind of tree or wood, which when thrown into the 
water rendered it sweet and fit for use. There is no doubt that certain species 
of vegetable productions have this corrective property, and that they have often 
b;en employed for this purpose. A modern traveler in South America speaks 
of a shrub called Ahnnbre, a branch of which put into the muddy stream of the 
Magdalena, precipitated the mud and earth, leaving the water sweet and clear. 
The first discoverers of the Floridas are said to have corrected the stagnant and 
fetid waters they found there, by infusing into it branches of Sassafras ; and it 
is understood that the first use of Tea among the Chinese, was to correct the 
waters of their ponds and rivers. — Notes in loco. 

Prof. James F.Johnston, M. A., F. R. S. — Well-waters sometimes contain 
vegetable substances of a peculiar kind, which render them unwholesome, even 
over large tracts of country. When boiled, the organic matter coagulates, and 
when the water cools separates in flocks, leaving the water wholesome, and 
nearly free from taste or smell. The same purification takes place when the 
water is filtered through charcoal, or when chips of oak wood are put into it. 
Such is the character of the waters in common use in the Landes of the Gironde 
around Bordeaux, and in many other sandy districts. The waters of rivers, and 
of marshy and swampy places, often contain a similar coagulable substance. 
Hence the waters of the Seine at Paris are clarified by introducing a morsel 
of alum, and the river and marshy waters of India by the use of the nuts of the 
Strychnos potatorum, of which travelers often carry a supply. One or two of 
these nuts, rubbed to powder on the side of the earthen vessel into which the 
water is to be poured, soon causes the impurities to subside. In Egypt, the 
muddy water of the Nile is clarified by rubbing bitter almonds on the sides of 
the water-vessel in the same way. In all these instances the principle of the 
clarification is the same. The albuminous matter is coagulated by what is added 
to the water, and in coagulating it embraces the other impurities of the water, 
and carries them down along with it. These cases, and especially that of the 
sandy Landes of Bordeaux, and elsewhere, throw an interesting light upon the 
history of the waters of Marah, as given in the 15th chapter of Exodus. As in 
our European sandy dunes, the waters of that sandy wilderness may contain an 
albumen like substance which an astringent plant will coagulate. The discovery 
of such a plant among the natural vegetation of the desert would give, therefore, 
the means of purifying and rendering it wholesome, as cuttings of the oak tree 
render salubrious the waters of the Landes of La Gironde. — Chemistry of Com- 
mon Life, vol. i., p. 36. 

Roberts. — In India, water is often brackish in the neighborhood of salt-pans, 
or the sea ; and the natives correct it by throwing into it the wood called 
"perru.-nelli," Phylanthus emblica. Should the water be very bad, they line 
the well with planks cut out of this tree. In swampy grounds, or where there 
has not been rain for a long time, the water is often muddy, and very unwhole- 
some. But providence has again been bountiful by giving to the people the 



158 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

" teata maram," Strychnos potatorum. Those who live in the neighborhood of 
such water, or who have to travel where it is, always carry a supply of the nuts 
of this tree. They grind one or two of them on the side of an earthen vessel: 
the water is then poured in, and the impurities soon subside. — Orient. Illust., 

P- 73- 

Rev. H. H. Milman. — Some water from the fountain called Marah has been 
brought to England, and has been analyzed by a medical friend of mine. His 
statement is subjoined: "The water has a slightly astringent bitterish taste. 
Chemical examination shows that these qualities are derived from the selenite 
or sulphate of lime which it holds in solution, and which is said to abound in 
the neighborhood. If, therefore, any vegetable substance containing oxalic 
acid (of which there are several instances) were thrown into it, the lime would 
speedily be precipitated, and the beverage rendered agreeable and wholesome." 
— Note in History of the Jews. 

Editor of Comprehensive Comtnentary. — The above facts would lead us to 
suppose that the discovery of this "tree" to Moses, is alone to be considered 
miraculous : " and the Lord showed him a tree." — In loco. 

Exod. xv : 27. — And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and three-score and 
ten palm-trees : and they encamped there by the waters. 

Strabo. — On the Arabian Gulf, contiguous to Poseidium, is a grove of palm- 
trees, well supplied with water, which is highly valued, because all the district 
around it is burnt up, and is without water or shade. — Strab., XVI., c. 4. 

E. H. Palmer, M. A. — Here again, our own experience accords with that 
of the Israelites. Here the eye is again refreshed by the sight of green tamarisks 
and feathery palms, and just off the customary track is a pleasant stream of run- 
ning water. This is Wady Gharandel, generally regarded as Elim, and whether 
or no the grove and stream are the lineal descendants of the twelve springs 
and seventy palm-trees which the Israelites found there, it is clear that the site 
of Elim must lie somewhere in the immediate neighborhood. — Desert of the 
Exodus, p. 46, 226. 

F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S. — On joining the road which leads from 'Ain 
Howarah, and mounting the southern bank of Wady Gharundel, a raised and 
undulating plain of considerable extent is reached ; this plain is drained by 
Wady Useit, and contains a few water-holes and scattered palm-trees. The 
station of Elim is generally thought to have been situated in this plain, and in 
spite of its present barrenness, it is quite possible that the ancient inhabitants, 
by sinking wells and utilizing the water thus obtained, may have rendered it a 
pleasant spot for an encampment. The marvellous effect that water has in pro- 
ducing vegetation in the most barren desert is exemplified a few miles further 
northward, where a small natural basin receives the drainage of the surrounding 
ground, and produces a luxuriant crop of grass and other herbs. It is called 
by the Arabs Engi e/ful, " the bean fields." It is, therefore, by no means im- 
probable that these few water-holes, and groups of palm-trees, may mark the 



EXODUS. XVI. 159 

site of the "twelve wells of water, and three-score and ten palm-trees," which 
the children of Israel found at Elim. — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 416. 
Exod. xvi : I. — And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children 
of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. 

E. H. Palmer, M. A. — After a thorough examination of all the of-her passes, 
we are forced to the conclusion that, after leaving Elim, Wady Taiyebeh was 
the only road down which the children of Israel could have marched. And on 
the supposition that they did so, the Wilderness of Sin will be the narrow strip 
of desert which fringes the coast south of Wady Taiyebeh. — Desert of the 
Exodus, 227. 

F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S.— At the mouth of the Wady Taiyebeh is found 
a considerable plain, which would afford an admirable position for a temporary 
camp. To the south the mountains approach nearer to the sea, but sufficient 
space is left for a road along the shore for several miles until the mountains 
again recede, and the plain of El Murkhah is reached. There can, I think, 
be little doubt that this plain marks the site of the Wilderness of Sin, where 
the children of Israel made a long halt, and where God gave them bread from 
heaven, and they were fed with manna and quails. This plain extends as far 
south as Wady Feiran, a distance of about twenty-five miles. Like most of the 
coast plains, it is somewhat barren now ; still, it is not without vegetation, and 
probably in former days, when the rain-fall was larger, and the drainage from the 
mountains descended gradually, instead of sweeping everything before it, as at 
the present time, it- would have afforded excellent pasturage. — Recovery of 
Jerusalem, p. 418. 

Exod. xvi : 11-13. — And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of 

. the children of Israel : speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the moraing 

ye shall be filled with bread ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it 

came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the 

dew lay round about the host. 

William Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — The quail migrates in immense num- 
bers. See Pliny, H. N. X. 23. Tourneyfort says that all the islands of the 
Archipelago at certain seasons of the year are covered with these birds. Col. 
Sykes states that such quantities were once caught in Capri, near Naples, as to 
have afforded the bishop no small share of his revenue, and that in consequence 
he has been called "Bishop of Quails." The same writer mentions also that 
160,000 quails have been netted in one season on this little island ; according 
to Temminck, 100,000 have been taken near Nettuno in one day. The Israel- 
ites would have had little difficulty in capturing large quantities of these birds, 
as they are known to arrive at places sometimes so completely exhausted by their 
flight as to be readily taken, not in nets only, but by the hand. Sykes says, 
They arrive in spring on the shores of Provence so fatigued that for the first 
few days they allow themselves to be taken by the hand. It is interesting to note 
the time specified by Moses; " it was at even " that they began to arrive, and 
they no doubt continued to come all the night. Many observers have recorded 
that the quail migrates by night. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2650. 



160 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exod. xvii : I, 8. — And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilder- 
ness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in 
Rephidim : and there was no water for the people to drink. — Then came Amalek, and fought 
with Israel in Rephidim. 

F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S. — On the site of Rephidim, where the battle 
with the Amalekites was fought, my opinion differs from that of Captain Wilson 
and Mr. Palmer. They believe the battle to have been fought in the Wady 
Feiran, near the site of the ancient city of Paran, and that Jebel Tahunah was 
the hill on which Moses sat, with Aaron and Hur supporting his arms. The 
road up this hill, and the churches and chapels on its summits and sides, cer- 
tainly mark this hill as a very sacred spot in the eyes of the old inhabitants of 
Paran. — I am strongly of opinion, however, that the Israelites marched up the 
Wady es-Sheikh, and that the narrow defile of el- Watiyeh, about twelve miles 
from Jebel Musa, marks the site of the battle of Rephidim. All the require- 
ments of the account of the battle are found at this spot. There is a large 
plain, destitute of water, for the encampment of the Israelites ; a conspicuous 
hill on the north side of the defile, commanding the battle-ground, and pre- 
senting a bare cliff, such as we may suppose the rock to have been which Moses 
struck. There is another plain on the south of the pass for the encampment of 
the Amalekites, with abundance of water within easy reach; and, curiously 
enough, at this very spot, at the foot of the hill on which Moses sat, if this be 
Rephidim, the Arabs point out a rock, which they call " the seat of the prophei 
Moses." — Appendix to Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3651. 

Exod. xviii : 21. — Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, 
men of truth, hating covetousness ; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and 
rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens; and let them judge the people at all 

seasons. 

Rev. W. L. Gage. — It is a curious fact that the polity which Jethro, priest of 
Midian, here, imparted to Moses, his son-in-law, is singularly like that which 
prevails among the Bedouins of the present time. The taking away of that 
single responsibility which was slowly crushing the strength of the great law- 
giver by overtaxing his power, was followed by that delegation of trust to rulers 
of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, which is a marked feature of Arab polity ; 
and every line in the description of the interview of Moses and Jethro, recorded 
in the 18th chapter of Exodus, is faithful to the experience of all close observers 
of the Bedouin character. — Studies in Bible Lands, p. 85. 

Exod. xix : 1, 2.— In the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the 
land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed 
from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and 
there Israel camped before the mount. 

Rev. W. L. Gage. — From the foot of Serbal, and the luxuriant verdure of 
Wady Feiran, there runs a broad, curving valley, the largest and most impor- 
tant in the whole peninsula, bearing the name of Wady Sheikh. This doubtless 
was the one taken by the main body of the Israelites. Emerging from the 



EXODUS XIX. 161 

broad mouth of Wady Sheikh, the traveller stands on the desert of Sinai. A 
plain is seen, vast in size when one thinks how rare it is to meet any continuous 
tract in that broken and rocky country, for it embraces no less than a square 
mile. At one extremity there towers the lofty, craggy pile known as Ras Sasa- 
feh, the northern abutment of Sinai. Its grandeur and precipitousness, taken 
in connection with the great plain at its base, suggests to the mind, in a moment, 
that here was the scene of the Delivery of the Law. — Studies in Bible Lands, 
p. 88. 

The Compiler. — The mountain peaks, which form the granitic kernel of this 
whole region, are divided into three groups ; the central cluster is Jebel Musa, 
or the Mount of Moses. This range is some three miles long, and about one 
mile in breadth. It is an isolated mass of rugged and precipitous rocks, being 
cut off from the other mountains on three sides by deep wadys or valleys, 
and partially on the fourth or south side by two smaller valleys. On it are 
three prominent points that demand special notice. Near the southern extremity is 
the Jebel Musa, or Mount of Moses, 7,359 feet high. About the middle is Mount 
Horeb, of lesser elevation. And at its northern end is Ras Sufsafeh, a bold 
headland surmounted by two peaks, which abruptly and almost perpendicularly 
terminates the range. Curving along the foot of this stupendous promontory is 
the wide valley of Rahah, presenting an open and even space, two miles long, 
and half a mile wide, gently sloping down to the very base of the mountain. 
From the southern side of this natural and magnificent amphitheatre, the two 
peaks of Ras Sufsafeh rise precipitously to the height of 2,000 feet, "standing 
out in lonely grandeur against the sky, like a huge altar." On this plain, and 
at the foot of this altar, both ancient tradition and modern research have fixed 
the scene of the thousands of Israel assembled to receive the Law at the 
mouth of God. The late Ordnance Expedition were unanimous in this con- 
viction. — See Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 571. 

Exod. xix : II, 12, 17. — Be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come 
down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the 
people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or 
touch the border of it: whosoever loucheth the mount shall surely be put to death. — And. 
Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether 
part of the mount. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — No one who has approached the Ras Sasa- 
feh through that noble plain, the Wady Es-Sheykh, or who has looked down upon 
the plain from that majestic height, will willingly part with the belief that these 
are the two essential features of the view of the Israelite camp. That such a plain 
should exist at all in front of such a cliff is so remarkable a coincidence with 
the sacred narrative, as to furnish a strong internal argument, not merely of its 
identity with the scene, but of the scene itself having been described by an eye- 
witness. The awful and lengthened approach, as to some natural sanctuary, 
would have been the fittest preparation for the coming scene. The low line of 
alluvial mounds at the foot of the cliff exactly answer to the "bounds" which 
11 



162 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

were to keep the people off from "touching the mount.' * The plain itself 
is not broken and uneven and narrowly shut in, like almost all others in the 
range, but presents a long retiring sweep, against which the people could 
"remove and stand afar off." The cliff, rising like a huge altar, in front of 
the whole congregation, and visible against the sky in lonely grandeur from end 
to end of the whole plain, is the very image of "the mount that might be 
touched," and from which the voice of God might be heard far and wide over 
the stillness of the plain below, widened at that point to its utmost extent by 
the influence of all the contiguous valleys. Here, beyond all other parts of the 
Peninsula, is the adytum, withdrawn as if in the "end of the world," from all 
the stir and confusion of earthly things. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 43. 

F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S. — The account which we have in Scripture of 
Mount Sinai is but scanty. Still there are certain points in connection with it 
which appear to be indisputable. First. It must have been a mountain easy of 
approach, and having before it an open space sufficiently large for the congrega- 
tion of the children of Israel to have been assembled there to receive the Law. 
Secondly. It was evidently a prominent mountain, rising up abruptly from the 
plain before it, for the people are said to have come near, and "stood under the 
mountain," and it is described as a mountain that could be "touched," and 
"at the nether part" of which the people stood. It seems also to have 
been separated by valleys from the surrounding mountains, since bounds were 
ordered to be placed around it. Thirdly. Its immediate neighborhood must 
have afforded a plentiful supply of water and pasturage. 

Let us now see how far Jebel Musa meets these necessary requirements. 
Under this name I include the peaks of Ras Sufsafeh, which, in fact, form the 
northern portion of Jebel Musa. Its two peaks rise up precipitously from the 
bottom of the plain of Er Rahah to a height of about 2,000 feet, being distinctly 
visible from every part of that plain. It is also isolated by valleys from the 
mountains on every side, so that it would be by no means difficult to set bounds 
round about it ; while at the same time, its northern cliffs rise so steeply from the 
plain beneath that it might well be described as "a. mountain that could be 
touched," and at the nether part of which the people could stand. No place 
could be conceived more suitable than the plain of Er Rahah for the assembling 
together of many thousands of people, both to witness the thunders and light- 
ning upon the mount, and to hear the voice of the Lord, when he spake unto 
them. The plain itself is upward of two miles long, and half a mile broad, 
and slopes gradually down from the water-shed on the north to the foot of Ras 
Sufsafeh. About 300 yards from the actual base of the mountain there runs 
across the plain a low, semicircular mound, which forms a kind of natural 
theatre, while further distant on either side of the plain the slopes of the enclos- 
ing mountains would afford seats to an almost unlimited number of spectators. 
And with regard to the water supply, there is no other spot in the whole Pen- 
insula which is nearly so well supplied as the neighborhood of Jebel Musa. 
Four streams of running water are found there, besides numerous wells and 



EXODUS XIX. 163 

springs. — For the above reasons the members of our Expedition were unanimous 
in their conviction that the Law was given from Ras Sufsafeh to the Israelites 
assembled in the plain of Er Rahah. — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 408-412. 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — It is clear from the Biblical account that the 
place from whence the Law was proclaimed was a prominent, if not an abso- 
lutely isolated mountain. Such passages as " and ye came near and stood under 
the mountain," and " they stood at the nether part," point conclusively to the 
fact that it was what the apostle describes it to be, "A mountain that could be 
touched." Here, again, the block of Jebel Musa answers in every way to the 
description ; it is so separated from the adjacent mountains by narrow, rugged 
valleys that it Would be easy to "set bounds about the mount;" a cordon 
across the mouths of the Wadies ed Deir and Sh'reich, and a few men posted 
upon Jebel Moneijah to keep the pass leading into Wady Sebaiyeh, would be 
sufficient to accomplish this task. The " nether part of the mount," namely the 
bluff Ras Sufsafeh, rises so abruptly from the plain that you may literally stand 
under it and touch its base. Again, it is clear that at the foot of Sinai there 
was a plain commanding a view of the mountain from every part, and suffi- 
ciently large to admit of the people manoeuvring upon it — for them, at one time, 
to "come near and stand under the mountain ;" at another, " to remove and 
stand afar Off." It is not necessary to suppose that all the Israelites were act- 
ually encamped upon the plain itself, nor do the words of the Bible even imply 
it ; for we are expressly told that " Moses brought the people forth out of the 
camp to meet God." They would doubtless spread over a considerable area, 
and occupy many of the neighboring glens, valleys, and mountain sides, espe- 
cially where there was plenty of water and pasturage for their flocks and herds. 
All that is required is a plain capable of affording standing-room for the Isra- 
elites as spectators, and the plain of Er Rahah more than satisfies this condition. 
A calculation made by Captain Palmer, from the actual measurements taken on 
the spot, proves that the space extending from the base of the mountain to the 
water-shed, or crest of the plain, is large enough to have accommodated the 
entire host of the Israelites, estimated at two million souls, with an allowance 
of about a square yard for each individual. — The neighborhood of Jebel Musa 
is also the best watered in the whole Peninsula, running streams being found in 
no less than four of the adjacent valleys.— Desert of the Exodus, p. 101, 102. 

Exod. xix: 20. — And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount; and 
the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount ; and Moses went up. 
Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A.— It is clear from the accounts given in the Bible 
that there must have been a secluded tract of ground on the Mountain, but 
independent of the summit ; for it was after Moses had gone up into Sinai to 
meditate apart from the people that " the Lord called him up to the top of 
the mount." The physical characteristics of the mountain, considered as a 
whole, satisfy the conditions required. First there is the awful descent of the 
Lord in thunder and fire upon the mountain in the sight of the assembled host ; 
then Moses is called up to the secluded summit to receive the words of the Law 



164 TESTIMONY OF- THE AGES. 

from God's own mouth, and again he is sent down to proclaim them to the 
people. The sequence of events is perfectly natural, and in strict accordance 
with the present topography of the place. — Desert of the Exodus, p. ioo. 

Exod. xx : I. — And God spake all these words, saying, etc. 

Rev. W. L. Gage. — A person sitting on the summit of Ras Sasafeh, and 
speaking in ordinary tones, can be understood at the base, for there is not the 
sound of a bird, or insect, or brook to mingle with his voice. The desert is 
inhabited by absolute, unbroken silence. — Studies in Bible Lands, p. 94. 

Dr. Robinson. — I know not when I have felt a thrill of stronger emotion, than 
when in first crossing the plain of Rahah, the dark precipices of Ras Sasafeh 
rising in solemn grandeur before us, I became aware of the entire adaptedness 
of the scene to the purpose for which it was chosen. — Bib. Repos., April, 1839. 

Exod. xxxii : 15-20. — And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two Tables 
of the Testimony were in his hand. — And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they 
shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And he said, It is not the 
voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being over- 
come ; but the noise of them that sing do I hear. And it came to pass, as soon as he came 
nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing : and Moses' anger waxed hot, and 
he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the 
calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it 
upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — It is clear from the account in Exodus that the 
camp was within hearing of, though not visible from, the path by which Moses 
and Joshua came down from the mount. If, therefore, the people were 
encamped in the neighborhood of the plain, this path was probably at that end 
of the mountain which is nearest to Er Rahah. Now there is a path, called 
" Jethro's Road," at the northeastern corner of the mountain, close by the mouth 
of Wady ed Deir, and consequently nearest to the plain. This path emerges into 
the valley at the foot of the " Hill of the Golden Calf," where our own camp 
was also situated ; it was therefore selected by the members of the Expedition 
as the most convenient and quickest road. Often in descending this, while the 
precipitous sides of the ravine hid the tents from my gaze, have I heard the 
sound of voices from below, and thought how Joshua had said unto Moses as he 
came down from the mount, " There is a noise of war in the camp." — Desert of 
the Exodus, p. 101. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — There are some details of the plainof Er 
Rahah which remarkably coincide with the scene of the worship of the Golden 
Calf, evidently the same as that of the encampment at the time of the Delivery 
of the Law. In this instance the traditional locality is. happily chosen. A 
small eminence at the entrance of the convent valley is marked by the name of 
Aaron, as being that from which Aaron surveyed the festival on the wide plain 
below. This tradition, if followed out, would of necessity require the encamp- 
ment to be in the Wady Er Rahah, as every other circumstance renders probable. 
% But there are two other points which meet here, and nowhere else. First, 



EXODUS XXXII. 1(J5 

Moses is described as descending the mountain without seeing the people ; the 
shout strikes the ear of his companion before they ascertain the cause ; the view 
bursts upon him suddenly as he draws nigh to the camp, and he throws down 
the Tables and dashes them in pieces " b.neath the mount." Such a combination 
might occur in the Wady Er Rahah. Any one coming down from one of the 
secluded basins behind Ras Sasafeh, through the oblique gullies which flank it 
on the north and on the south, would hear the sounds borne through the si- 
lence from the plain, but would not see the plain itself till he emerged from the 
Wady El Deir or the Wady Leja; and when he did so, he would be immedi- 
ately under the precipitous cliff of Sasafeh. Further, we are told that Moses 
strewed the powder of the fragments of the idol on the ''waters" of the 
"brook that came down out of the mount." This would be perfectly possible 
in the Wady Er Rahah, into which issues the brook of the Wady Leja, descend- 
ing, it is true, from Mount St. Catherine, but still in sufficiently close con- 
nection with the Gebel Mousa to justify the expression, " coming down out of 
the mount." — Sinai and Palestine, p. 43. 

CONCLUSION. 

F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S. — At last the obscurity which has so long hung 
over the Peninsula of Sinai, with regard to the possible determination of the 
route of the Israelites through the desert, has been removed. Almost the whole 
of the country has now been explored; and that portion of it which possesses 
the greatest interest for us has been most carefully mapped, by an Expedition 
sent out under the auspices of the Director-General of our Ordnance Survey. 
Until lately no one traveller had traversed more than two of the routes of the 
desert. Hence no just comparison could be instituted between the facilities, or 
the difficulties, which attended them all. Now, however, we have had gathered 
up by professional men, the well-known accuracy of whose work places their 
report and maps beyond suspicion, all the materials that the desert affords for 
setting at rest the important topographical questions which have been at issue. 
It was my privilege to form one of the Exploring Party; having been requested, 
in consequence of my knowledge of the country, and personal acquaintance 
with the Arabs, gained during three previous visits in 1861, 1865, and 1867, to 
accompany the expedition in the capacity of guide. 

The Israelites, having crossed the Red Sea somewhere in the neighborhood 
of Suez, kept down the east coast. They first "went three days in the wilder- 
ness, and found no water." They then came to Marah, where "the water was 
bitter, so that they could not drink it." From there they removed to Elim, 
and from thence they removed to their encampment "by the sea." Now, the 
traveller to this day, on his journey to Mount Sinai, after traversing a long 
strip of barren desert without water that extends down the coast, comes to a 
district where the water is brackish and unwholesome; a day's journey next 
brings him to an elevated plain, where there are wells of water and palm-trees; 
and then he descends again to the sea-coast, having been forced to pass round 
the back of a mountain, which reaches out into the sea. Thus the character of 



166 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

the country, and distances from point to point, exactly agree with the Bible nar- 
rative. And this is the case the whole way to Mount Sinai; for next comes a 
large plain, that answers well to the wilderness of Sin, where the Israelites were 
first fed with manna; and from the plain one of the principal Wadies affords an 
easy road to Mount Sinai; a day's journey from which is a spot which tradition 
marks as the site of the battle of Rephidim, and which agrees well with the 
short description we have of that battle-field. So mountainous is the country 
that there is only one other route which could possibly have been followed by 
the Israelites; and the mention of encampment "by the sea" renders that 
almost impossible. Thus the features of the country bear out and explain the 
Bible narrative ; and research here, as elsewhere in Bible lands, confirms our 
belief in the truth of that history of God's chosen people which has been given 
us in the Holy Scriptures. — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 403, and Scenes from Bible 
Lands (London, 1872). 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — We have found that the natural route from 
Egypt to Sinai accords exactly with the simple and concise account given in the 
Bible of the Exodus of the chosen people of God. In these conclusions all the 
members of the expedition are agreed. Mr. Holland, it is true, dissents upon 
one point, the position of Rephidim. In the main facts of the routes, however, 
and in the identification of Jebel Musa with Mount Sinai, our investigations 
have led us to form one unanimous opinion. We are thus able not, only to trace 
out a route by which the children of Israel could have journeyed, but also to show 
its identity with that so concisely but graphically laid down in the Pentateuch. 
We have seen, moreover, that it leads to a mountain answering in every respect 
to the description of the Mountain of the Law; the chain of topographical 
evidence is complete, and the maps and sections may henceforth be confidently 
left to tell their own tale. — Desert of the Exodus, p. 228. 

F. W. Holland, F. R. G. S. — The Ordnance Survey Expedition consisted 
of Captains Wilson and Palmer, of the Royal Engineers; Mr. E. H. Palmer, 
Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, whose knowledge of iVrabic, and rare 
power of distinguishing between those letters in the language which are so 
puzzling to European ears, rendered his services of infinite value in many ways, 
and especially in collecting the traditions and ascertaining the correct nomen- 
clature of the country ; Mr. Wyatt, whose occupation was the collection of 
specimens of natural history; myself; and four non-commissioned officers of 
the Royal Engineers, all of whom were specially selected for the work from the 
staff of the Ordnance Survey, one of them, Sergeant -Major MacDonald, being 
an experienced photographer. — Not a single member of this Party returned 
home without feeling more firmly convinced than ever of the truth of that sacred 
history which he found illustrated and confirmed by the natural features of the 
desert. The mountains and valleys, the very rocks, barren and sun-scorched as 
they now are, seem to furnish evidences, which none who behold them can 
gainsay, that this was that "great and terrible wilderness," through which 
Moses, under God's direction, led his people. — Recovery of Jerusalem, p % 
404, 429. 



EXODUS XX. X^7 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.. 

Exod. xx : 3-17. — Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee 

any graven image, etc. 

Rev. William Jay. — The Law of the Lord is perfect. The righteousness 
and excellency of its requirements claim my implicit obedience. Each of its 
prohibitions only says, Do thyself no harm. Each of its injunctions is an 
order to be wise, and rich, and noble, and happy. While following them, my 
understanding never blushes ; my conscience never reproaches me. Their de- 
mands are always a reasonable service. — Morning Exercises, Sep. 16. 

Dr. T. Dwight, President of Yale College. — The Law of the Ten Command- 
ments is the product of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness. It requires the best 
possible moral character. It proposes and accomplishes the best possible end — 
the glory of God, and the happiness of the Intelligent Creation. It is perfectly 
fitted to the State and Capacity of intelligent creatures ; it is so short as to be 
wholly included in two precepts, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and thy neighbor as thyself ; and so intelligible as to be understood by 
every moral being, who is capable of comprehending the meaning of the words, 
.God and Neighbor. In the meantime, these two Precepts, notwithstanding 
their brevity, are so comprehensive, as to include every possible moral action. 
The archangel is not raised above their control ; nor can any action of his ex- 
ceed that bound which they prescribe. The child, who has passed the verge of 
^moral agency, is not placed beneath their regulation ; and whatever virtue he 
may exercise is no other than a fulfilment of their requisitions. All the duties 
which we immediately owe to God, to our fellow-creatures, and to ourselves, 
are by these precepts alike comprehended, and required. In a word, endlessly 
various as moral action may be, it exists in no form, or instance, in which he 
who perfectly obeys these precepts, will not have done his duty, and will not 
find himself justified and accepted of God. 

These features of the Divine Law will advantageously appear by a comparison 
of it with the most perfect human laws. I shall select for this purpose those of 
Great Britain. The Statute Laws of that kingdom are contained, if I mistake 
not, in about eighteen or twenty folio, or about fifty octavo volumes. The 
Common, or, as it is sometimes styled, the Unwritten Law, occupies a number 
of volumes far greater. To understand them is a work of deep science ; the 
employment of the first human talents ; and the labor of a life. The great body 
of them can never be known by the generality of men ; and must, therefore, be 
very imperfect rules of their conduct. In the meantime, multitudes of cases 
are continually occurring, which they do not reach at all. Those which they 
actually reach, they affect in many instances injuriously ; and in many more,, 
imperfectly. The system of happiness, which they propose, is extremely defec- 
tive ; a bare state of tolerable convenience ; and even that attended with many 
abatements. They also extend their influence only to a speck of earth, and a 
moment of time. Yet these laws were devised, reviewed, and amended, by 
persons of the first human consideration for learning and wisdom. 



168 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

But the Law, which we have been examining, is comprised in Two Precepts 
only : is so short ; so intelligible ; so capable of being remembered, and applied, 
as to be perfectly fitted to the understanding, and use, of every moral being. 
At the same time, it is so comprehensive, as to reach, perfectly, every possible 
moral action • to preclude every wrong, and to secure every right. It is equally 
fitted to men and angels, to earth and heaven. Its control extends with the 
same efficacy, and felicity, to all worlds, and to all periods. It governs the 
Universe; it reaches through Eternity. The system of happiness, proposed 
and accomplished, by it, is perfect, endless, and forever progressive. — Must not 
candour, must not prejudice itself, confess, with the Magicians of Egypt, that 
here is " The Finger of God? " — System of Theology, Serm. XCI. 

Thomas Dick, LL. D. — The ten commandments, when properly considered, 
carry in them an evidence of their divine origin, as striking, and, perhaps, more 
convincing than any other. Th^y unfold to us the moral laws of the universe 
—they present to us a summary of moral principles and precepts, which is 
applicable to all the tribes and generations of men, to all the orders of angelic 
beings, and to all the moral intelligences that people the amplitudes of creation 
— to man, during his temporary abode on earth, and to man when placed in 
heaven, so long as eternity endures — precepts, which, if universally observed, 
would banish misery from the creation, and distribute happiness, without alloy, 
among all the intellectual beings that exist throughout the empire of God. Can 
these things be affirmed of any other system of religion or of morals that was 
ever published to the world ? Now, can it be supposed, for a moment, that a 
Jew, who had been born and brought up in a land of gross idolatry and super- 
stition, and who had spent forty years of his manhood life as a shepherd in a 
desert country, who lived in a rude age of the world, who had never studied a 
system of ethics, and whose mind was altogether incapable of tracing the various 
relations which subsist between intelligent beings and their Creator, could have 
investigated those moral principles and laws which form the foundation of the 
moral universe, and the basis of the divine government in all worlds, unless 
they had been communicated immediately by Him, who, at one glance, beholds 
all the physical and moral relations which exist throughout creation, and who 
can trace the bearings and eternal consequences of every moral law ? Surely it 
must be admitted by all that the unassisted powers of the human mind were 
inadequate to such a task. The very simplicity which distinguishes these pre- 
cepts of universal application is characteristic of their Divine Author, who, from 
the general operation of a few general principles and laws in the system of 
Nature, produces all the variety we perceive in the material world, and all the 
harmonies, the contrasts, the beauties, and the sublimities, of the universe. If, 
then, we find in a book which professes to be a revelation from heaven, a system 
of moral laws which can clearly be shown to be the basis of the moral order of 
the universe, and which are calculated to secure the eternal happiness of all 
intellectual beings — it forms a strong presumptive proof, if not an unanswerable 
argument, that the contents of that book are of celestial origin, and were die- 



EXODUS XXII. 169 

tated by Him, who gave birth to the whole system of created beings. — Philosophy 
of Religion, c. III. See Deut. v: 6-21. 

SPECIAL LAWS. 

Exod. xxi: 5, 6. — But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my 
children; I will not go out free: then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall 
also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post ; and his master shall bore his ear through 
with an awl ; and he shall serve him for ever. 

Plautus. — Stalino. Would you prefer to be single and a freeman, or as a 
married man to pass your life, with your wife and children, in slavery ! Which- 
ever condition you prefer, take it. — Chalinus. If I am free, I live at my own 
cost; at present I live at yours. — Casin., Act II., sc. 4. 

Prof. Charles Bush. — This boring of the ears was in the Eastern countries 
a badge of servitude. — Mates in loco. 

Juvenal. — Why should I fear or doubt to defend the place, though born on 
the banks of the Euphrates, as the tender perforations in my ear evince ? — 
Sat. I., 102. 

First come, first served, he cries, and I, in spite 
Of your great lordships, will maintain my right : 
Though born a slave, though my torn ears are bored, 
'Tis not the birth, 'tis money makes the lord. — Sat. I., 102. 

Exod. xxi : 23-25. — And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, 
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for 
stripe. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The lex talionis, or law of like for like, prevailed among 
both the Greeks and Romans. Among the latter it constituted a part of the 
" Twelve Tables," so famous in antiquity ; but the punishment was afterwards 
changed to a pecuniary fine, to be levied at the discretion of the Praetor. — Com. 
in loco. 

Prof. C. Bush. — In several countries of the East, we find the law of retalia- 
tion obtaining at the present day in regard to the same class of injuries as those 
which came under its operation in the Hebrew statute book. — Notes in loco. 

Exod. xxii : 6. — If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing 
corn, or the field, be consumed therewith, he that kindled the fire shall surely make resti- 
tution. 

Harmer. — It is a common custom in the East, to set the dry herbage on fire 
before the autumnal rains ; which fires, for want of care, often do great damage ; 
and in countries where great drought prevails, and herbage is generally parched, 
great caution was peculiarly necessary ; and a law to guard against such evils, 
and to punish inattention and neglect, was highly expedient. — Obs. viii., 
p. 310. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — When I was crossing the plain of Gennesaret, 
in 1848, during harvest I stopped to lunch at 'Ain et Tiny, and my servant 
kindled a very small fire to make a cup of coffee. A man detached from a 



170 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

company of reapers, came immediately and stood patiently by us until we had 
finished, without saying what he wanted. As soon as we left, however, he care- 
fully extinguished our little fire, and upon inquiry I found he had been sent 
for that purpose. Burckhardt, while stopping at Tiberias, hired a guide to the 
caves in Wedy el Ham&m, and says that this man was constantly reproving him 
for the careless manner in which he threw away the ashes from his pipe. He 
then adds, " The Arabs who inhabit the Valley of the Jordan invariably put to 
death any person who is known to have been even the innocent cause of firing 
the grass; and they have made it a public law among themselves that, even in 
-the height of intestine warfare, no one shall attempt to set his enemy's' harvest 
on fire." The ordinance of Moses on this subject was a wise regulation, 
designed to meet a very urgent necessity. To understand the full value of the 
law, we must remember that the wheat is suffered to become dead ripe, and as 
dry as tinder, before it is cut ; and farther, that the land is tilled in common, 
and the grain sown in one vast field, without fence, ditch, or hedge to separate 
the individual portions. A fire catching in any part, and driven by the wind, 
would consume the whole, and thus the entire population might be stripped of 
their year's provisions in half an hour.— The Land and the Book, Vol. I., 
P- 5 2 9- 

Exod. xxii : 21.— Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him : for ye were strangers in 

the land of Egypt. 

Euripides. — It is impious for a state to reject the suppliant prayer of the 
strangers. — Heracl., v. 107. 

Plautus. — You must be a worthless, bad servant, to be laughing at one who is 
a foreigner and a stranger.-— Pozn, Act V., sc. 2. 

,££neas,— Enter, my noble guest ! and you shall find, 
If not a costly welcome, yet a kind ; 
For I myself, like you, have been distressed, 
Till heaven afforded me this place of rest. 
Like you, an alien in a land unknown, 
I learn to pity woes so like my own. — Virgil, s&n., I., 631. 
. Apol, Rhodius.— Jove, the Friend of strangers. — Arg., III., 986. 

Exod. xxii : 29.— Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — From the practice of the Hebrews, in obedience to this 
law, the heathens borrowed a similar one, founded on the same reason. — Com, 
in loco. 

Pliny.— The Romans never tasted either their new corn or wine, till the 
priests had offered the first-fruits to the gods. — Hist. Nat., lib. xviii., c. 2. 

Tibullus. — My grateful fruits, the earliest of the year, 
Before the rural god shall daily wait, 
From Ceres' gifts I'll cull each browner ear, 
And hang a wheaten wreath before her gate.— Eleg., lib. 1., 13. 



EXODUS xxxiv. 171 

Censorinus. — Our ancestors, who held their food, their country, the light, 
and all that they possessed, from the bounty of the gods, consecrated to them a 
part of all their property ; rather as a token of their gratitude, than from the 
conviction that the gods needed any thing. Therefore, as soon as the harvest 
was got in, before they had tasted of the fruits, they appointed libations to be 
made to the gods. And as they held their fields and cities as gifts from their 
gods, they consecrated a certain part, in the temples and shrines, where they 
worshipped. — De Die Natali, 

Exod. xxiii : 3. — Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause. 

Quintilian. — Both kinds of injustice are to be avoided. A bribe is not to 
be received from the rich against the poor ; nor, on the other hand, is that 
more plausible habit of supporting the feeble against the powerful to be adopted ; 
for fortune does not in itself make any cause just or unjust. — Quint. , lib. 
xii., c. 7. 

THE THREE GREAT FEASTS. 

Exod. xxiii : 14, 17. — Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.' — Three times in 

the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. 

Exod. xxxiv : 24. — Neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before 

the Lord thy God thrice in the year. 

Prof. Charles Bush.— It might seem at first view that there was signal 
impolicy in leaving the land defenceless, while all the adult male population 
were congregated at a distance from their families and homes. Humanly 
speaking, it is indeed surprising that the hostile nations on their borders did not 
take advantage of their exposedness. For the matter was no secret ; it was pub- 
licly known that at three set times every year they actually attended at 
Jerusalem. Why, then, were not inroads made at these seasons, to slay the old 
men, women and children, to burn the cities and carry off the spoil ? How shall 
we account for the enmity of their foes being asleep at these particular times, 
when the land was defenceless? and perfectly awake at every other season, when 
they were at home, and ready to oppose them ? Unless the Scriptures had given 
a solution, the matter would have been deemed inexplicable ; but from this 
source we learn that the same Being who appointed those feasts guaranteed the 
security of the land while they were attending them. Thus runs the promise, 
" Neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before 
the Lord thy God, thrice in the year." Thus to remove all apprehensions as 
to the safety of their property or their families, he pledged himself to protect 
their frontier, and so overrule the minds of their enemies, that they should not 
even "desire" to invade their land at any of those seasons. Accordingly we 
look in vain throughout the whole course of their subsequent history for an 
instance of foreign aggression made under these circumstances. Can anything 
afford us a more striking instance of a particular providence? During the 
whole period between Moses and Christ, we never read of an enemy invading 
the land at the time of the three festivals; the first that occurs was thirty-three 



172 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

years after they had withdrawn from themselves the divine protection, by 
embruing their hands in the Saviour's blood, when Cestius, the Roman General, 
slew fifty of the people of Lydda, while all the rest were gone up to the Feast 
of Tabernacles, a. d. 66. — Notes in locis. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — What a manifest proof was this of the power and par- 
ticular providence of God ! How easy would it have been for the surrounding 
nations to have taken possession of the whole Israelitish land, with all their 
defenced cities, when there were none left to protect them but women and 
children ! Was not this a standing proof of the divine origin of their religion, 
and a barrier which no deistical mind could possibly surmount ? Thrice every 
year did God work an especial miracle for the protection of his people: con- 
trolling even the very "desires " of their enemies, that they might not so much 
as meditate evil against them. — Comment, in loco. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — This remarkable promise would form, while the people 
continued to observe the solemn feasts, a full demonstration of the divine origin 
of their religion, and three times in the year they would put this matter to a 
new proof. No instance is recorded, through the whole history, of the land 
being invaded on these occasions. No false prophet would ever have inserted 
such an engagement in his writings, by which his own imposture would always 
be liable to detection. — Corwnent. in loco. 

Exod. xxiii: 19. — The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the 

Lord thy God. 

Aristotle. — The ancient sacrifices and general meetings seem to have been 
held after collecting the fruits of the earth as first-fruits. — Eth., lib. viii., c. 10. 

Ovid. — Thou, O Bacchus, having subdued the Ganges and all the East, didst 
set apart the first-fruits for the mighty Jove. — Fast., lib. iii., v. 729. 

CONSTRUCTION OF THE TABERNACLE. 

Exod. xxv. 8, 9, etc. — And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 
According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the 
instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — The state of the arts as represented among the 
Hebrews when in the wilderness (Exod. xxv : 2-8) has sometimes been objected 
to as " unduly advanced ; " but all that we read of there is in entire accordance 
with the condition of art in Egypt at the period. The Egyptian civilization of 
the 18th and 19th dynasties embraces all the various arts and manufactures 
necessary for the construction of the tabernacle and its appurtenances, for the 
elaborate dress of the priests, and for the entire ceremonial described in the 
later books of the Pentateuch. The employment of writing, the arts of cutting 
and setting gems, the power of working in metals — and especially in gold, in 
silver, and in bronze — skill in carving wood, the tanning and dyeing of leather, 
the manufacture of fine linen, the knowledge of embroidery, the dyeing of textile 
fabrics, the employment of gold thread, the preparation and use of highly- 




(173) 



EXODUS XXVIII. 175* 

scented unguents, are parts of the early civilization of Egypt, and were prob- 
ably at their highest perfection about the time that the exodus took place. 
Although the Hebrews, while in Egypt, were, for the most part, mere laborers 
and peasants, still it was natural that some of them, and, even more, that some 
of the Egyptians who accompanied them (Ex. xiii : 38), should have been 
acquainted with the various branches of trade and manufactures established in 
Egypt at the time. Hence there is nothing improbable in the description given 
in the Pentateuch of the Ark and its surroundings, since the Egyptian art of the 
time was quite equal to their production.— Historical 'Illustrations of the O. T. y 
p. 80. 

THE URIM AND THUMMIM, AND PRIESTLY ROBES. 

Exod. xxviii : 2, 4, 30. — And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory 
and for beauty. . . . And these are the garments which they shall make ; a breastplate, and 
an ephod, etc. . . . And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and Thunv 
mim ; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord : and Aaron 
shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. 

./Elian. — Among the Egyptians those who judged were formerly priests, and 
of these the eldest was the chief; he pronounced the law to all, and it behoved 
him to be the justest and most impartial of all men. He wore suspended from 
his neck an image of sapphire, which was called " Truth." — Var. Hist., lib. 
xiv., c. 34. 

Diodorus SicuLUS.-^-An adequate stipend was awarded to the judges by the 
king ; the chief judge receiving the largest income. He wore suspended from 
his neck by a golden chain a small figure which was called "Truth," set with 
precious stones. As soon as the chief judge had placed this image upon his 
neck the pleading of a cause began. — Diod. Sic, lib. i., c. 75. 

Prof. Edward Hayes Plumtree, M. A. — "Urim and Thummim" — of 
these words, "Light and Truth " is the translation given in the Vulgate; but 
"Light and Perfection" would probably be the best English equivalent . . . 
Seeing the Urim and Thummim are mentioned with no description or explana- 
tion, we must infer that they and their meaning were already known, if not to 
the other Israelites, at least to Moses. And if we are to look for their origin 
anywhere, it must be in the customs and symbolism of Egypt. And here we 
find at once a patent and striking analogy. The priestly judges of Egypt, with 
Whose presence and garb Moses must have been familiar, wore, each of them, 
hanging on his neck, suspended on a golden chain, a figure which Greek writers 
describe as an image of Truth, often with closed eyes, made sometimes of sap- 
phire or other precious stones, and, therefore, necessarily small. They were to 
see in this a symbol of the purity of motive, without which they would be un- 
worthy of their office. With it they touched the lips of the litigant as they 
bade him speak the truth, the whole truth, the perfect truth. (Diod. Sic., lib. 
i-> 48, 75 ; Allian, Var. Hist., xiv., 34.) . . . This custom was of very an- 
cient origin ; it is set forth on the older monuments of Egypt. There round 
the neck of the judge are seen the two figures of Thmei (Thummim), represen- 



176 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



tative of Truth, Justice. (Wilk., Ancient Egyptians, V., 28.) . . . On the breast 
of well-nigh every member of the priestly caste of Egypt there hung a pectoral 
plate, corresponding in position and in size to the Choshen or Breastplate of 
the High Priest of Israel. And in many of these we find, in the centre of the 
perforate, right over the heart of the Priestly Mummy, as the Urim was to be 
" on the heart " of Aaron, what was a known symbol of Light. In that symbol 
were united and embodied the highest religious thoughts to which man had 
then risen. It represented the Sun and the Universe, Light and Life, Creation 
and Resurrection . . . Position,- size, material, meaning, everything answers 
the conditions of the problem. . . . The High Priest, in the use of the Urim 




HIGH PRIEST AT THE ALTAR OF INCENSE, 



and Thummim, fixing his gaze on " the gems oracular " that lay " on his heart," 
fixed his thoughts on the Light and Perfection which they symbolized, on the 
Holy Name inscribed on them. The act was itself a prayer, and, like other 
prayers, it might be answered . . . All disturbing elements — selfishness, pre- 
judice, and the fear of man — were eliminated. He received the insight which 
he craved. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3357, etc. 

Exod. xxviii: 31, 33. — Thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. . . . And beneath, 
upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round 
about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: a golden bell and a 
pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. 

Plutarch. — The High Priest of the Jews wears a vesture of deer-skin, wrought 
with gold, together with a long robe, reaching to the feet, and buskins : and 



EXODUS xxx. 177 

many little bells are suspended from his garments, jingling as he goes. — Symfi., 
IV., 6. 

Plautus.— I'll fetch two sacrificers with their bells. — Pseud., a. I., sc. 3. 

Exod. xxviii : 39. — Thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen ; and thou shalt make the mitre 
of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needle-work. 

Herodotus. — The priesthood in Egypt is confined to one particular mode 
of dress : they have one vest of linen, and their shoes are made of byblus. — 
Euterpe, c. 37. 

Plutarch. — The Egyptian priests wear no garments of wool, which they 
esteem to be impure, but surplices and vestments of linen. — De Isid. et Osirid., 
c. 4. 

Martial. — The bare-headed priests of Isis, clad in linen vestments. — Mart., 
lib. xii., epgr. 29. 

SACRIFICE AND INCENSE. 

Exod. xxix : 13. — And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that 
is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon 
the altar. 

Homer. — The limbs they sever from the inclosing hide, 
The thighs, selected to the gods, divide. 
On these, in double cauls, involved with art, 
The choicest morsels lie from every part. — Iliad, II., 460. 
Strabo. — Among the Persians, of the victim slain for sacrifice, they lay only 
a small piece of the caul upon the fire. — Strab., XV., 3. 

Exod. xxix : 40.— And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of 
an hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink-offering. 
Homer. — The priest himself before his altar stands, 
And burns the offering with his holy hands; 
Gives the best morsels to the sacred fire, 

Pours the black wine and sees the flames aspire.—///^, I., 62. 
Hesiod.— Propitiate the gods with libations and incense, both when you go 
to rest, and when the holy light has risen. — Oper. et Dies, v. 336. 

Exod. xxx : 19, 20.— Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat : when 
they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not, 
or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering by fire unto the Lord. 
Homer.— Disposed in rank their hecatomb they bring, 
With water purify their hands, and take 
The sacred offering.—///^, I., 44 8. 
Idem.— Bring water for the hands, and use words of good omen, that we may 
beseech Saturnian Jove, etc. — Iliad, IX., 171. 

Roberts.— In the vestibule of every heathen temple, in India, a large brass 
laver is kept filled with water. In it the priest washes his hands and feet t>e*ore 

he enters into the holy place.— Orient. Illust.,p. 80. 
12 



178 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exod. xxx : 23-25. — Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred 
shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of 
sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the 
shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil-olive an hin : and thou shalt make it an oil of holy oint- 
ment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary. 

Plutarch. — The composition called by the Egyptians cuphi, is a mixture of 
sixteen ingredients, among which are rosin, myrrh, mastich, cardamomum, and 
calamus. These are not compounded at a venture, but certain sacred writings 
are read to the apothecaries while they compound them. — De Isid. et Osirid., c. 
81. 

Pliny. — Scented calamus, which grows in Arabia, is common to both India 
and Syria.— Hist. Nat., XII., 48. 

Rev. Daniel March, D. D. — Moses was commanded to prepare holy oil fcr 
the consecration of the tabernacle and all the vessels used in the service of the 
sanctuary. He was to compound it with sweet spices, after the art of the 
Egyptian perfumer, as he himself had known it to be done in Egypt. The 
vases in which these perfumes were kept have been found in the valley of the 
Nile. In some cases the precious ointment remains in the alabaster box just as 
it was put up by the Egyptian apothecary, and the spices still exhale their odor. 
The sweet savour of the costly preparation, 3,000 years old, in the tombs of 
Egypt, is a testimony that the word of Moses is true. — In Wood's Bible Animals, 
p. 6gj. 

THE ARTS. 

Exod. xxxi : 4. — To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, etc. 

Sir William Drummond. — It follows from the numerous facts that have come 
into our possession, that when the Hebrews quitted Egypt, the knowledge of 
metallurgy, chemistry, and pharmacy, must have been alreadv well advanced in 
that country. — Origines, II., p. 272-275. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The artistic genius of Bezaleel and Aholiab was given to 
them originally by God, and the circumstances of life which gave them an op- 
portunity to exercise and improve that genius in Egypt were determined by 
Him with a view to its ultimate employment in his special service. . . . The 
three metals, gold and silver and copper, were naturally the first which men ap- 
propriated to their service; and the scripture exhibits them as in use, and even 
abundant, in Egypt and Palestine, a few ages after the flood. We know not 
precisely, when these metals first became known ; but at the time now immedi- 
ately under our notice, the arts of metallurgy had certainly attained consider- 
able perfection ; various personal ornaments — various utensils — and even images 
— of gold and silver, have already been often mentioned, in the sacred text. 
It seems to our mind, that a large mass of evidence in favor of the verity of 
the Pentateuch remains yet untouched — the evidence resulting from the perfect 
conformity of all its allusions to the state of the arts and the materials on which 
the ans operate, as well as the agreement of its statements concerning the con- 
dition of men, with the natural progress of men, and of the arts they cultivate, 



EXODUS XXXII. 179 

and with the condition of things at the most early times of which profane his- 
tory exhibits any knowledge. Even the silence of the Pentateuch, as to particulars 
which a writer later than Moses could scarcely have failed to notice, is not the 
least valuable of the internal evidences which the book bears of its own antiquity 
and truth. In the present instance, all history and all experience corroborate the 
statements of Moses with regard to the early and prior use of gold, silver, and 
copper. These are the metals which are the most easily found, which are found 
in the purest state, and which are the most easily wrought when they are found. 
— Pict. Bib. in loco. 

THE MOLTEN CALF. 

Exod. xxxii : 4. — And Aaron received the ear-rings at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving 
tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which 
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 

Dr. John Kitto. — It is expressly said that the Hebrews had, while in Egypt, 
served the gods of that country; and had this information been wanting, the 
fact of their predilection for the idolatry of Egypt would be sufficiently 
apparent from their conduct on the present and various other occasions. It is 
not at all questioned that the idol to which they turned aside at this time was 
an Egyptian god ; and it is also very generally agreed that this god was no 
other than Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, under whose form Osiris was 
worshipped ; or, perhaps, Mnevis, the sacred ox of Heliopolis, which was also 
dedicated to Osiris, and honored with a reverence next to that paid to Apis. 
These animals, as representatives of Osiris, were worshipped as gods throughout 
the land of Egypt. Thus as the Israelites were tainted with the idolatry of 
Egypt, and as Apis was one of the most conspicuous objects in the idolatrous 
system, a sufficient explanation seems to be given of the direction taken by the 
first apostacy of the Israelites from Him who had recently given them such large 
and manifest evidence of his mercy and regard. — Pict. Bib. i7i loco. 

Exod. xxxii: 6, 19. — And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play . . . 
And it came to pass, as soon as Moses came nigh unto the camp that he saw the calf, and the 
dancing. 

Lucian. — Of all the ancient mysteries no one is discoverable at which dancing 
was not in practice.— De Saltat., c. 15. 

Arrian. — Dances are led up, and paeans sung in honor of the gods. — Exped. 
Alex. IV., 11. 

Xenophon. — And when they had performed the sacrifices, and sung their 
paeans, the Thracians rose up, and armed men danced to the sound of the pipe ; 
and they sprang up nimbly and used their swords in the dance.— Cyrop., V., 9. 

Exod. xxxii: 15, 16.— And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of 
the testimony were in his hand : the tables were written on both sides ; on the one side and on 
the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was 
the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 

Dr. John Kitto. — It would appear that the first and earliest purpose to 



180 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

which the art of writing was applied was to transmit Laws, and the memory of 
great events, to future times. And all our existing information points to sione 
as the substance on which writing was first executed ; and men continued to 
engrave important documents on stone in times long subsequent to that in which 
writing was made subservient to the intercourse of life and the service of liter- 
ature. Ancient inscriptions on the surface of perpendicular rocks are still found 
in different parts of Asia, many of them of such early date that the knowledge 
of the characters in which they were written is lost. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The inhabitants of Panchaea possess a record, written, 
as they say, by Jupiter's own hand. They have also a large golden pillar, on 
which are letters inscribed, called by the Egyptians sacred writing, expressing 
the famous actions of Uranus, Jupiter, Diana and Apollo, written, as they say, 
by Mercury himself. — Diod. Sic, V., 46. 

Goguet. — There is nothing in all antiquity more famous than the pillars or 
tables of stone on which Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes, is said to have written 
his theology, and the history of the first ages. In Crete there existed very 
ancient columns, charged with inscriptions detailing the ceremonies practised 
in the sacrifices of the Corybantes. In the time of Demosthenes there still 
existed at Athens a law of Theseus inscribed on a stone pillar. — Origine des 
Lois, Vol. I., p. 204. 

WORK IN GOLD AND PRECIOUS STONES. 

Exod. xxxv : 21-28. — And they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the 
congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And they came both men 
and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, and ear-rings, and rings, 
and tablets, all jewels of gold . . . And every man with whom was found blue, and purple, 
and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's hair, and red skins of rams, and badger skins, brought 
them . . . And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the 
breastplate ; and spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet 
incense. 

Rev. Daniel March, D. D. — Some have wondered how the Hebrews could 
contribute vast quantities of gold, and silver, and precious stones, as Moses 
says they did, for the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture in the 
desert. But they had learned the art of ornamentation from their masters, and 
they had conformed to the social life around them in the days of their freedom 
and prosperity ; and now necklaces of gold and cornelian, engraved signets, 
girdles, rings, pendants, bracelets, armlets, amulets, chains, metalic mirrors, 
costly and elegant ornaments of every description, are found in tombs with 
mummies, and the forms are engraven and painted on monuments of the age of 
Moses. The explorer in the valley of the Nile to-day can see the models from 
which Bezaleel and Aholiab learned the art of setting precious stones, and of 
making wreathen chain-work in gold, and of carving in wood, and of devising 
all manner of tasteful forms in gold, and silver, and brass. The children of 
Israel also brought an offering of red skins of rams, and badger skins, for the 
service of the sanctuary : and the monuments show us the forms and devices 




«L81) 



182 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

which they used for the adornment of the sacred tent. In the tombs of Thebes 
leather has been found stamped with beautiful figures in various colors, with the 
names of the most ancient kings. Sandals, shields, harps, quivers, are orna- 
mented with green morocco. The stamp of the lotus blossom can still be 
traced in the leather, and the shop of the workers is pictured on the walls of 
the tomb. At Beni Hassan the Bible student can see to-day the representation 
of the whole process of preparing the fine-twined linen which was used in 
making the curtains of the tabernacle, and the pictures are as old as the days of 
Moses. Men are beating the yarn with sticks to make it soft. They are boiling 
it in water to increase its pliability. Women join with men in twining the 
thread for weaving. The blue, and the purple, and the scarlet thread which 
the wise-hearted Hebrew women spun for the tabernacle in the desert has been 
kept 3,300 years in the dry air of Egypt for our eyes to see.— Research and 
Travel in Bible Lands, in " Wood's Bible Animals," p. 695. 

DYEING AND GILDING. 

Exod. xxxv : 35. — Work ... in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet. 

Dr. John Kitto. — As the Hebrews had just come from Egypt, there is no 
doubt that they employed the same coloring materials that were there in use, 
and it is therefore interesting to inquire what these were. The cloths in which 
the mummies are enfolded, is in application to the present subject. The 
colors of these are various, being pure yellow, brownish yellow, dark red, flesh 
color, and pale brick, or red color. The selvage of these cloths is sometimes 
adorned with blue stripes. A small pattern of edging to one of these cloths 
was composed of a strip of blue, followed by three narrow lines of the 
same color, alternating with three narrow lines of a fawn color, all appar- 
ently formed in the loom with threads previously dyed. A variety of colors 
may also, be seen in the paintings which adorn their ancient tombs. — Pict. 
Bible in loco. 

Exod. xxxvi : 34. — And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be 
places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. 

Herodotus. — At Papremis, the image of the go<d is kept in a small wooden 
shrine covered with plates of gold. — Euterpe, c. 63. 

Idem. — Mycerinus conceived the wish to entomb his child in some unusual way. 
He therefore caused a cow to be made of wood, and after the interior had been 
hollowed out, he had the whole surface coated with gold ; and in this nove\ 
tomb laid the dead body of his daughter. The cow was not placed under ground, 
but continued visible to my times — the head and neck are coated very thickly 
with gold, and between the horns there is a representation in gold of the orb 
of the sun. — Euterpe, c. 129-132. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — The gold used by the Egyptians for overlaying 
the faces of the mummies, and ornamental objects, is often remarkable for its 
thickness. — Rawlinson's Herod, Vol. II., p. 177, n. 



EXODUS XXXVIII. 133 

MIRRORS. 

Exod. xxxviii : 8.— And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking- 
glasses of the women assembling. 

' Sir G. Wilkinson. — The mirrors of the ancient Egyptians were made of a 
mixed metal, chiefly copper, wrought with such admirable skill, that they were 
susceptible of a lustre, which has even been partially revived at the present day,- 
in some of those discovered at Thebes, though buried in the earth for many 
centuries. — Ancient Egypt, III., 384. 

Euripides. — Having placed the golden chaplet around her tresses she ar- 
ranges her hair in the radiant mirror. — Med., v. 1161. 

Idem. — I was binding my braided hair with fillets, looking into the round pol- 
ished surface of the golden mirror. — Hecub. v. 925. 

Puny. — Pure silver was formerly used for the purpose of making mirrors. 
The best mirrors in the times of our ancestors were those of Brundisium, com; 
posed of a mixture of stannum and copper. — Hist. Nat., XXXIII., 45. 



Leviticus. 



sacrifices. 



Lev. i : 2. — If any man ot you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of 
the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Only such animals as formed part of their herds and 
flocks, and were used for food, should be offered for sacrifice. This formed one 
important distinction between the sacrifices of the Hebrews and those of other 
ancient nations; for although the latter sacrificed oxen, sheep and goats, they also 
offered many other animals, clean and unclean, wild and tame. Thus, horses 
were sacrificed to the sun, hogs to Ceres and to Bacchus, dogs to Hecate, and 
wolves to Mars. In Arabia, camels were anciently sacrificed, as is still done 
occasionally. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Lev. i : 4. — And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering ; and it shall be ac- 
cepted for him to make atonement for him. 

Rev. J. Roberts. — It is a fact, that when a Hindoo makes an offering of a 
goat or a ram, he puts his hand on the head of the victim, while the priest re- 
peats the mantherams or prayers ; after which the head is struck off at one blow. 
- — Orient. Must., p. 8$. 
Lev. i : 5. — And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord : and the priests, Aaron's sons, 

shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of 

the tabernacle. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Many curious and illustrative traces of this custom of 



184 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

sprinkling or offering the blood may be discovered among nations remote from 
each other in time and place. Among the Greeks the blood was reserved 
in a vessel and offered on the altar. Among the Scythians (who often sacrificed 
men) the blood of the victims was sprinkled on their deity ; with blood also they 
profusely sprinkled the trunks of their sacred trees. The Indians who reside 
among the hills Rajamahall sprinkle the blood of their sacrifices on the shrine 
Chimida. Some Indian tribes worship a rude stone by an offering of blood. The 
Chaman Tartars stain their idols with blood. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

THE SACRED FIRE. 

Lev. vi : 13. — The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. 

Rev. J. J. Stewart Browne, B. D. — This fire was the symbol and token of 
the perpetual worship of Jehovah. For inasmuch as the whole religion of Israel 
was concentrated in the sacrifices which were offered, the extinguishing of the 
fire would have looked like the extinguishing of the religion itself. — In Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 76. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington, M. A. — The Chaldeans and Persians, and 
after them the Greeks and Romans, had sacred hearths on which they preserved 
a perpetual fire. In the temple of Apollo Carneus at Cyrene the fire upon the 
altar was never suffered to be extinguished : the same is related of the sacred fire 
in the temple of Aderbain in Armenia: the Caimachitae of India also maintained 
a perpetual fire. Pausanias mentions the lamp of Minerva Pallas, at Athens, 
which never went out: and many of the Romans maintained a constant fire, 
not only in the temple, but in their private houses. — Testimony of the Heathen, 
p. 109. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — In imitation of this perpetual fire (upon the Hebrew 
altar), the ancient Persian Magi, and their descendants the Parsees, kept up a 
perpetual fire: the latter continue to the present day. — Note in loco. 

FAT AND BLOOD PROHIBITED. 

Lev. vii : 23, 26. — Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat. Moreover ye 
shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. 
Henry Hayman, B. D. — The prohibition on eating fat was salubrious in a 
region where skin diseases are frequent and virulent ; and that on blood had, no 
doubt, a similar tendency.— In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3346. 

ABLUTIONS. 

Lev. viii : 6. — And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. 
Dr. John Kitto. — We find at the heathen temples, lavers of a similar use to 
this at the tabernacle. The Egyptian priests washed themselves with cold 
water twice every day, and twice at night ; the Greeks had their sprinklings, 
the Romans their lavations and lustrations ; the ancient Christians practised 
ablution before receiving the sacrament, and also bathed their eyes on entering 
a church. The Roman Catholic Church retains something of the practice of 
ablution before, and sometimes after, mass; and Calmet says that the holy- 
water vessels at the entrance of the churches are in imitation of the laver of the 



LEVITICUS XI. 185 

tabernacle. The Mohammedans wash before entering a Mosque. The Hin- 
doos rejoice in the purifying virtues of the Ganges. In fact, nothing is, or has 
been, more common than ablutions in the worship which different nations render 
to their gods ; and there are few acts connected with their service which are not 
begun or ended with some rite symbolical of purification. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS. 

Lev. xi : 2. — Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat 
among all the beasts that are on the earth. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — As regards the animals allowed for food, compar- 
ing them with those forbidden, there can be no doubt on which side the balance 
of wholesomeness lies. Nor would any dietetic economist fail to pronounce in 
favor of the Levitical dietary code as a whole, as insuring the maximum of public 
health. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3346. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The close connection that subsists between the body 
and the soul, we cannot fully comprehend ; and as little can we comprehend 
the influence they have on each other. Many moral alterations take place 
in the mind in consequence of the influence of the bodily organs ; and these 
latter are greatly influenced by the kind of aliment which the body receives. 
God knows what is in man, and he knows what is in all creatures ; he has, there- 
fore, graciously forbidden. what would injure both body and mind, and com- 
manded what is best calculated to be useful to both. — Comment on chap, xi., in 
fine. 

Lev. xi : 3. — Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud, among 

the beasts, that shall ye eat. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Here we have a specific allusion to that order of the Mam- 
malia which are called the Ruminantia, as embracing all those animals that chew 
the cud, and have the foot divided into two principal toes. The reader will 
not fail to observe that the beautifully simple and scientific division of quadru- 
peds here stated on Divine authority at so early a period, is one which has never 
yet, after all the improvements in natural history, become obsolete; but on the 
contrary, is one which the greatest masters of the science have continued to 
consider useful. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Lev. xi : 7, 8. — And the swine ... of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcass shall ye not 

touch : they are unclean to you. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — Swine are said to be peculiarly liable to disease in 
their own bodies. This probably means that they are more easily led than 
other creatures to the foul feeding which produces it ; and where the average 
heat is great, decomposition rapid, and malaria easily excited, this tendency in 
the animal is more mischievous than elsewhere. A meazel or mezel, from whence 
we have " measled pork," is the old English word for a "leper," and it is 
asserted that eating swine's flesh in Syria and Egypt tends to produce that dis- 
order. — In Smith's Diet, of the Bible ; p. 3346. 



186 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Of all animals, the hog is the only one subject to leprosy, 
and also to measles, and a disorder resembling the king's evil. The Hebrews 
were aware of this, and had a saying that the hogs received nine out of ten 
measures of leprosy that descended on the world. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Michaelis. — Whoever is afflicted with any cutaneous diseases must carefully 
abstain from swine's flesh if he wishes to recover. It has likewise long ago 
been observed, that the eating of swine's flesh produces a peculiar susceptibility 
of ichy disorders. Now in the whole tract of country in which Palestine lies, 
something more to the south, and something more to the north, the leprosy is 
an endemic disease : in Egypt it is peculiarly common ; and the Israelites left 
that country so far infected with it, that Moses was obliged to make many 
regulations on the subject, that the contagion might be weakened, and the people 
tolerably guarded against its influence. Every physician will interdict a person 
laboring under any cutaneous disease from eating pork. — Obs. in loco. 

Plutarch. — -As for swine's flesh, the Jews have it in great abomination. 
They suppose that the white leprosy may be engendered by feeding upon it. — 
Sympos., 1. iv., qu. 5. 

Idem. — The bodies of those who drink the milk of swine break out into lep- 
rous and rough scabs. — De Isid. et Osirid., c. 8. 

Pliny. — In cases of scrofula, the use of swine's flesh is forbidden to the 
patient. — Hist. Nat., 1. xxx., c. 12. 

Lev. xi : 9, 1 2. — These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters : whatsoever hath fins and scales 
in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. Whatsoever hath no fins nor 
scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. 

Henry Hayman, B. D.~ Amongst fishes, those which were allowed contain, 
unquestionably, the most wholesome varieties, save that they exclude the oyster. 
*— Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3344. 

Dr. John Kitto. — We may observe that the fish with fins and scales are 
generally to this day regarded as wholesome, and often delicious, while the rest 
that differ in these particulars are frequently looked upon with disgust, and 
sometimes with horror, from the belief that they are sometimes poisonous. It is 
interesting to remark how the sentiments of mankind do generally, in this 
instance, coincide with the Divine precept. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Lev. xi: 13. — And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls: they 

shall not be eaten. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — By the law of Moses, birds were 
divided into two classes, so far as food was concerned — the clean and the un- 
clean. The unclean included all birds of prey, and carrion and fish-feeders. 
On other classes, as the passerine birds, game and poultry groups, the Duck 
tribe, and most of the Waders, excepting only the Herons and Storks, there 
was no restriction. In fact, the Mosaic Law permitted the eating of all those 
birds which are considered edible now, and only forbade those which, however 
repugnant to our tastes, are yet eaten by many of the half-savage tribes of 
Syria and Arabia ; as the mountaineers of Lebanon will devour the flesh of the 



LEVITICUS XII. 187 

Eagle without scruple. The Law of Moses in this respect did but sanction by 
legislative enactment that which the instinct of civilized man has in all ages 
approved. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 158. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — As regards birds, the Raptores have commonly 
tough and indigestible flesh, and some of them are in all warm countries the 
natural scavengers of all sorts of carrion and offal. This alone begets an 
instinctive repugnance towards them, and associates them with what was before- 
hand a defilement. Thus to kill them for food would tend to multiply various 
sources of uncleanness. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3345. 

Lev. xi : 22. — Even these of them ye may eat ; the locust after his kind, etc. 

Herodotus. — The Nasamones hunt for locusts, which, having dried in the 
sun, they reduce to a powder, and eat, mixed with milk. — Lib. iv., c. 172. 

Strabo. — There is a people of Arabia whose food consists of locusts, which 
the southwest and west winds, when they blow violently in the spring-time, 
drive in bodies into the country. The inhabitants catch them, by throwing into 
the ravines materials which, when ignited, cause a great deal of smoke. The 
locusts as they fly across the smoke are blinded, and fall down. They are 
pounded with salt, made into cakes, and eaten as food. — Lib. xvi., c. 4. 

Pliny. — Some tribes of the Ethiopians subsist on nothing but locusts, which 
are smoke-dried and salted as their provision for the year. — Nat. Hist., 1. vi., 

c- 35- 

M. Lewysohn. — A regular traffic used to be carried on with the chagabim 
(locusts), which were caught in great numbers, and sold after wine had been 
sprinkled over them ; but the Israelites were only allowed to buy them before 
the dealer had thus prepared them. — Zoolog. des Talm., § 384. 

Rev. William Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — There are different ways of pre- 
paring locusts for food ; sometimes they are ground and pounded, and then 
mixed with flour and water, and made into cakes, or they are salted and then 
eaten; sometimes smoked; boiled or roasted ; stewed, or fried in butter. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1673. 

PURIFICATION AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 

Lev. xii : 1-6. — If a woman have conceived seed, and borne a man-child : then shall she be 
unclean seven days ; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be 
unclean. . . . And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days ; 
she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying 
be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid-child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her 
separation : and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three-score and six days. And 
when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb 
of the first year for a burnt-offering, etc. 

Roberts. — After the birth of a child, the mother of the Brahmin caste is 
unclean eleven days ; of the royal family, sixteen ; of the merchant caste, 
twenty-one ; of the Vellalah, and other castes, thirty-one days. No difference 
is made in the time of purification for a male or female child. As were the 



188 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Hebrew women, so are these : they cannot touch any hallowed thing, nor even 
the vessels used for domestic purposes. When the days of her purification are 
over, the woman either takes or sends an offering to the temple. — Orient. Illust., 
p. 86. 

LEPROSY. 

Lev. xiii : 2. — When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and 
it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy ; then he shall be brought unto Aaron 
the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — The Egyptian bondage, with its studied degrada- 
tions arid privations, and especially the work of the kiln under an Egyptian sun, 
must have had a frightful tendency to generate this class of disorders; hence 
Manetho asserts that the Egyptians drove out the Israelites as infected with 
leprosy. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1630. 

Lev. xiii : 9-1 1. — When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the 
priest ; and the priest shall see him : and behold if the rising be white in the skin, and it have 
turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; it is an old leprosy in the 
skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — There is a remarkable concurrence between the 
./^Eschylean description of the disease which was to produce "lichens coursing 
over the flesh, eroding with fierce voracity the former natural structure, and 
white hairs shooting up over the part diseased," and some of the Mosaic symp- 
toms ; the spreading energy of the evil is dwelt upon both by Moses and by 
.^Eschylus, as vindicating its character as a scourge of God. But the symptoms 
of "" white hairs " is a curious and exact confirmation of the genuineness of the 
detail in the Mosaic account, especially as the poet's language would rather 
imply that the disease spoken of was not then domesticated in Greece, but the 
strange horror of some other land. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1633. 

Lev. xiii : 47-49. — The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woolen 
garment or a linen garment ; whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or of woolen ; whether 
in a skin, or in any thing made of a skin ; and if the plague be greenish or reddish in the gar T 
ment, or in the skin, either in the warp or in the woof, or in any thing of skin ; it is a plague 
of leprosy. 
Lev. xiv : 34, 35. — When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a pos- 
session, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession ; and he that 
owneth the house shall come and tell the priest. 

Henry Hayman, B. D. — This classing of garments and house-walls with the 
human epidermis, as leprous, has moved the mirth of some, and the wonder of 
others. Yet modern science has established what goes far to vindicate the 
Mosaic classification as more philosophical than such cavils. It is now known 
that there are some skin diseases which originate in an acarus, and others which 
proceed from a fungus. In these we may probably find the solution of the 
paradox. The analogy between the insect which frets the human skin and that 
which frets the garment that covers it, between the fungus growth that lines the 
crevices of the epidermis and that which creeps within the interstices of 



LEVITICUS XVII. 189 

masonry, is close enough for the purposes of a ceremonial law, to which it is 
essential that there should be an arbitrary element intermingled with provisions 
manifestly reasonable. It is evident also that a disease in the human subject 
caused by an acarus or by a fungus would be certainly contagious, since the pro- 
pagative causes could be transferred from person to person. Some physicians 
indeed assert that only such skin diseases are contagious. Hence perhaps arose 
a further reason for marking, even in their analogues among lifeless substances, 
the strictness with which forms of disease so arising were to be shunned. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1634. 

OFFERINGS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. 

Lev. xvi : 6. — And Aaron shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 
Roberts. — The Hindoos make offerings for each other ; thus a husband for 
his wife, or a brother for his brother. Should a person at a distance be in 
doubtful circumstances, his friends will make an offering for him. Whilst 
Kasinaden was being tried for his life, before the Supreme Court> his mother 
was making offerings for him at the different temples; and, after his acquittal, 
he employed two days in making additional ones, before he returned to his 
house. A father, in the offerings for his family, mentions the names of the 
different members. It is, however, more common for the priest to do this, and 
when he presents them, he repeats the name of the individual, as, " In the name 
of Muttoo."— Orient. Must., p. 87. 

Lev. xvi. 10. — But the goat, on which the lot fell to be a scapegoat, shall be presented alive 
before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the 
wilderness. 

Roberts. — When a person is sick, he vows, on his recovery, to set a goat at 
liberty, in honor of his deity. Having selected a suitable one from his flocks, 
he makes a slit in the ear, or ties a yellow string round its neck (as the Jewish 
High Priest did a long fillet), and lets it go whithersoever it pleases. Whoever 
sees the animal knows it to be a nate-kadi, " the vowed goat," and no person 
will molest it. But it is not merely in time of sickness that they have recourse 
to this practice — when a person has committed what he considers a great sin, 
he does the same thing ; but in addition to other ceremonies, he sprinkles the 
animal with water, puts his hands upon it, and prays to be forgiven. — Orietit. 
Illust.,p. 88. 

THE BLOOD. 

Lev. xvii :■ io, II.— I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him 
off from among his people : for the life of the flesh is in the blood. 
Dr. Adam Clarke.—" For the life of the flesh is in the blood "—this sen- 
tence, which contains a most important truth, had existed in the Mosaic 
writings for 3600 years, before the attention of any philosopher was drawn to 
the subject. That the blood actually possesses a living principle, and that the 
life of the whole body is derived from it, is a doctrine of divine revelation, 



190 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and a doctrine which the observations and experiments of the most accurate 
anatomists have served strongly to confirm. — Note in loco. 

Prof. T. H. Huxley, LL. D., F. R. S.— The function of the blood is to 
supply nourishment to, and take away waste matters from, all parts of the body. 
It is absolutely essential to the life of every part "of the body that it should be 
in such relation with a current of blood, that matters can pass freely from the 
blood to it, and from it to the blood, by transudation through the walls of the 
vessels in which the blood is contained. And this vivifying influence depends 
upon the corpuscles of the blood. The proof of these statements lies in the " 
following experiments : If the vessels of a limb of a living animal be tied in 
such a manner as to cut off the supply of blood from the limb, without affecting 
it in any other way, all the symptoms of death set in. The limb will grow 
pale and cold ; it will lose its sensibility, and volition will no longer have 
power over it; it will stiffen, and eventually mortify and decompose. But, 
even when the death stiffening has begun to set in, if the ligatures be removed, 
and the blood be allowed to flow into the limb, the stiffening speedily ceases, 
the temperature of the part rises, the sensibility of the skin returns, the will 
regains power over the muscles, and, in short, the part returns to its normal 
condition. — Element. Physiology, p. 72. 

MARRIAGE RESTRICTIONS. 

Lev. xviii : 3. — After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do : etc. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The just and wise regulations which this chapter contains, 
forbidding the marriages of near relations, form the basis of the laws on this 
subject now in operation in most Christian States ... A laxity respecting 
marriages among relatives distinguished the Egyptians, whose doings in this 
respect the Israelites are forbidden to imitate. The marriage with a sister, in 
particular, so strongly forbidden by Moses, was considered among them as uncon- 
ditionally allowable. Philo (" De Spec. Legg.," p. 780) relates of the Egyp- 
tian Lawgiver, that he gave permission to all to marry their sisters, those who 
were sisters by birth not less than step-sisters, those of like age and older not 
less than younger. And Wilkinson says that by the sculptures in Upper and 
Lower Egypt it is a fact fully authenticated, that this law was in force in the 
earliest times. ("Anct. Egypis.," II., 63.) — Put. Bib. in loco. 

Diodorus Siculus. — It is, contrary to the common custom, lawful among the 
Egyptians to marry a sister, since such a union was, in the case of Isis, so for- 
tunate in its consequences. — Hist, L, 27. 

Pausanias.— Philadelphus in marrying his own sister did that which is by no 
means lawful among the Macedonians, but entirely in accordance with the law 
of the Egyptians, over whom he ruled. — Attica, I., 7. 1 

Lev. xviii: 6. — None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their i 

nakedness. 

Rev. William Latham Bevan, M. A. — There is a.dirTerence in kind between 



LEVITICUS XIX. 191 

the affection that binds the members of a family together, and that which lies 
at the bottom of the matrimonial bond ; and the amalgamation of these affec- 
tions cannot take place without a serious shock to one or the other of the two ; 
hence the desirability of drawing a distinct line between the provinces of each, 
by stating definitely where the matrimonial affection may legitimately take root. 
— Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1798. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The duties owing by nature to relatives, might not be 
confounded with those of a social ox political kind : for could a man be a brother 
and a husband, or a son and a husband, at the same time, and fulfil the duties 
of both? Impossible. — Comment, in loco. 

Rev. William Jenks, D. D. — Distinguished physiologists assert, that in man, 
as in other animals, the offspring of near relations is deteriorated physically, 
and of course mentally. Michaelis allows that the offspring becomes smaller, 
and goes on to depict the terrible effects of the marriages here forbidden, from 
passion, jealousy, covetousness and ambition, which would be so rife, where con- 
tinual family intimacy would present provocations, inducements and opportuni- 
ties, unless checked by an inculcated horror of such connections. Domestic 
life being thus embittered by those worst of quarrels, family quarrels, the foun- 
tains of human happiness would be broken up, desecrated and poisoned : — ■ 
reason enough why these laws are still binding on us and ours to the end of 
time. — Comprehensive Commentary, in loco. 

REPROOF. 

Lev. xix: 17. — Thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon Tiim. 

Plautus. — To reprove one's friend for a fault that deserves it, is a thankless 
task; but sometimes it is needful and profitable. Therefore this day I will 
soundly reprove my friend for a fault that much deserves it. Unwilling am I, 
indeed, did not my friendship bid me do it. — Trinum., Act I., sc. 1. 

Aristotle. — It is the characteristic of the good neither to commit faults 
themselves, nor to suffer their friends to be subservient to that which is wrong. 
— Eth., 1. viii., c. 8. 

RETALIATION. 

Lev. xix : 18. — Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; 
but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 

Plato. — It is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however 
one may have suffered from him. — Crito, c. 10. 

Juvenal. — To brutes our Maker, when the world was new, 
Sent only life ; to men a spirit too, 
That kindred feelings might our state improve, 
And mutual wants conduct to mutual love. — Sat. XV. 

SELF-MUTILATION. 

Lev. xix : 28. — Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead ; nor print any marks 

upon you. 

Herodotus. — The royal Scythians on the death of their king cut off a part 



192 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of their ear, shave their heads in a circular form, take a round piece of flesh 
from their arm, wound their foreheads and noses, and pierce their left hand 
with arrows. — Lib. iv., c. 71. 

Plutarch. — Solon forbade the people to tear themselves at funerals. — Solon. , 
c. 21. 

HONOR TO AGE. 

Lev. xix : 32. — Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, 

and fear thy God. 

Herodotus. — The Egyptians surpass all the Greeks, the Lacedaemonians ex- 
cepted, in the reverence they pay to age. If a young man meets his senior, he 
instantly turns aside to make way for him ; if a senior enter an apartment, the 
youth always rise from their seats. This ceremony is observed by no other of 
the Greeks. — Herodot., 1. ii., c. 80. 

Aristotle. — To every old man honor is to be rendered, according to his 
age, by rising up and giving way to him, and in other similar ways. — Arist., 
Eth.y 1. ix., c. 2. 

THE PROMISED LAND. 

Lev. xx : 24. — I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Few countries are more admirably 
adapted for bees than this, with its dry climate, and its stunted but varied flora, 
consisting in large proportion of aromatic thymes, mints, and other labiate 
plants, as well as of crocuses in spring ; while the dry recesses of the limestone 
rocks everywhere afford shelter and protection for the combs. Hence the rocks are 
spoken of as the treasure houses of the bees. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 323. 

BLEMISHES IN PRIESTS. 

Lev. xxi : 16-24. — Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let 
him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a 
blemish, etc. 

Dr. John Kitto. — A similar regulation operated in most ancient nations. 
A general opinion prevailed that the presence of a priest who was defective in 
any member was to be avoided as ominous of evil. Such persons were seldom 
admitted to the priesthood, or allowed to remain in it. Candidates were 
examined with great care ; and if it happened that a priest, after consecration, 
suffered any bodily deprivation, he was expected to lay down his office. Several 
instances of this occur in the Roman history. Metellus, who lost his sight in 
preserving the Palladium from the flames which destroyed the temple of Vesta, 
was obliged to resign his priestly office, as was also M. Sergius when he lost his 
right hand in defence of his country. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Roberts. — The priesthood among the Hindoos is hereditary, but a deformed, 
person cannot perform a ceremony in the temple ; but he may prepare the 
flowers, fruits, oils and cakes for the offerings, and also sprinkle the premises 
with holy water. The child of a priest deformed at the birth will not be con- 



LEVITICUS xxvi. 193 

secrated. A priest having lost an eye or a tooth, or being deficient in any 
member or organ, or who has not a wife, cannot perform the ceremony called 
Teevasam, for the manes of departed friends. Neither will his incantations, or 
prayers, or magical ceremonies have any effect. — Orient. Illust.,p. 92. 

FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 

Lev. xxiii : 34. — Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh 
month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. 

Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, B. D. — The Feast of the Tabernacles is 
one of several institutions which have been held sacred by the Jews ever since 
their appointment, and which are solemnly and sacredly observed among them 
to this day, and for these observances it would be impossible to account on any 
principle but the evidence of the facts on which they were founded. — Introd., 
p. 67. 

Plutarch. — At harvest time the Jews observe one of their greatest and 
principal feasts ; they spread out tables with all kinds of fruits under tents 
formed of vine branches and ivy woven together, and the day before this they 
call the Feast of Tabernacles, and a few days later they celebrate another 
feast, not under a figure, but openly in the name of Bacchus. There is also a 
feast of carrying vine branches, and another of carrying wands wreathed with 
ivy. These they bear into the temple, but what they do with them we know 
not. — Sy?npos., lib. iv., qu. 6. 

THE SABBATH. 

Lev. xxv : 4. — But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for 
the Lord ; thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. 

Tacitus. — The Jews kept every seventh day a holiday; afterwards through 
the growth and allurements of laziness, every seventh year, too, was devoted to 
sloth. — Hist., 1. v., c. 4. 

PREDICTED JUDGMENTS. 

Lev. xxvi : 14-39. — But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these command- 
ments. . . I also will do this unto you ; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, etc. 

Rev. Thomas Scott, D. D. — This chapter is a kind of prophetic history of 
the Jewish nation, even to this present time, which could never have been 
written, except by inspiration of God. — Note in loco. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — How circumstantially were all these threatenings ful- 
filled in this disobedient and rebellious people ! Let a Deist read over this 
chapter, and compare it with the state of the Jews since the days of Vespasian, 
and then let him doubt the authenticity of this word if he can. — Note in loco. 

Your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 

Dr. Alexander Keith.— By the concurring testimony of all travellers, Judea 
13 



194 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

may now be called a field of ruins. Columns, the memorials of ancient mag- 
nificence, now covered with rubbish, and buried under ruins, may be found in 
all Syria. From Mount Tabor is beheld an immensity of plains, interspersed 
with hamlets, fortresses, and heaps of ruins. Of the celebrated cities Caper- 
naum, Bethsaida, Gadara, Tarichea and Chorazin, nothing remains but shapeless 
ruins. Some vestiges of Emmaus may still be seen. Cana is a very paltry 
village. The ruins of Tekoa present only the foundations of some considerable 
buildings. The city of Nain is now a hamlet. The ruins of the ancient Sap- 
phura announce the previous existence of a large city, and its name is still 
preserved in the appellation of a miserable village called Sephoury. Ludd, the 
ancient Lydda and Diospolis, appears like a place lately ravaged by fire and 
sword, and is one continued heap of rubbish and ruins. Ramla, the ancient 
Arimathea, is in almost as ruinous a state. Nothing but rubbish is to be found 
within its boundaries. In the adjacent country there are found at every step 
dry wells, cisterns fallen in, and vast vaulted reservoirs, which prove that in 
ancient times this town must have been upwards of a league and a half in cir- 
cumference. Caesarea can no longer excite the envy of a conqueror, and has 
long been abandoned to silent desolation. The city of Tiberias is now almost 
abandoned, and its subsistence precarious ; of the towns that bordered on its lake 
there are no traces left. Zabulon, once the rival of Tyre and Sidon, is a heap 
of ruins. A few shapeless stones, unworthy the attention of the traveller, mark 
the site of the Saffre. The ruins of Jericho, covering no less than a square mile, 
are surrounded with complete desolation, and there is not a tree of any descrip- 
tion, either of palm or of balsam, and scarcely any verdure or bushes to be seen 
about the site of this abandoned city. Bethel is not to be found. The ruins 
of Sarepta, and of several large cities in its vicinity, are now mere rubbish, and 
are only distinguishable as the sites of towns by heaps of dilapidated stones and 
fragments of columns. . . How marvelously are the predictions of their deso- 
lation verified, when in general nothing but ruined ruins form the most 
distinguished remnants of the cities of Israel, and when the multitude of its 
towns are almost all left, with many a vestige to testify of their number, but 
without a mark to tell their name. — Evid. from Proph., p. 93. 

DEVOTED 'IHING. 

Lev. xxvii : 28. — No devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, 
both man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every 
devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord. 

Roberts. — Among the Hindoos, whatever has been devoted to the gods can 
never be sold, redeemed, or applied to any other purpose. . . . When a child 
becomes sick, the parents forthwith inquire, "Have we given all the things 
which we had devoted to the gods? " The medical man also (when the disease 
baffles his skill) inquires, " Have you given all the things which you devoted to 
the gods? " — Orient. Must., p. 95. 



Numbers. 



CENSUS OF ISRAEL. 



Numbers i : 2, 45, 46. — Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel. . . . 
So all those that were numbered of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from 
twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel — were six hun- 
dred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — The increase of the Hebrews, in 430 years, from 
70 persons to 603,550 males and upwards, of twenty years of age, besides 
22,000 males of a month old and upwards among the Levites, has appeared to 
many incredible. The number of 600,000 men capable of bearing arms neces- 
sarily makes the whole number of people amount to 2,400,000. An anony- 
mous writer, in the Literarischen Auzeiger, has demonstrated that the Hebrews, 
in 430 years, might have increased from 70 persons to 977,280 males above 
twenty years old. He supposes that of those 70 persons who went down to 
Egypt, only 40 remained alive after a space of 20 years, each one of whom had 
two sons. In like manner, at the close of every succeeding period of 20 years, 
he supposes one-fourth part of those who were alive at the commencement of 
that period to have died, while the remaining three-fourths are doubled by 
natural increase. Hence arises the following geometrical progression. 

After twenty years, of the seventy there are forty living, each having two 
sons: 

Consequently = 80 

80 .... ^ = 60 = 120 

120 . . . . ^ = 90 = 180 

180 .... % = 135 = 270 

and so on. 

Thus the first term of the progression is 80 = a 

The denominator 4 = b 

The number of terms ^° = n 

Therefore the expression of the whole sum will be -=- — — ; or 



8 oXF-8oJoX6io 9 -8o _ r:;QA 



b-l 



— Pict. Bib. in loco. 



FARE IN EGYPT. 

Num. xi: 5.— We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and 
the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. 
Herodotus. — On the outside of the pyramid of Cheops were inscribed in 

(195) 



196 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Egyptian characters the various sums of money expended in the progress of the 
work, for the radishes, onions and garlic consumed by the artificers. — Herod., I. 
ii., 125. 

Pliny. — Ulpicum, generally known to the Greeks as Cyprian garlic, holds a 
high rank among the dishes of the rural population, more particularly in Africa; 
it is of a larger size than ordinary garlic. — Nat. Hist., 1. xix., c. 34. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — Fish and vegetables formed the chief food of 
the lower classes ; and among the vegetables especially affected, gourds, cucum- 
bers, onions, and garlic are distinctly apparent. According to Herodotus, some 
tribes of the Egyptians lived entirely on fish, which abounded in the Nile, the 
canals, and the lakes, especially in the Birket-el-Keroun, or Lake Mceris. The 
monuments represent the catching, salting and eating of this viand. — Hist. 
Illust. of the Old Test., p. 76. 

QUAILS. 

Num. xi : 31. — And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and 
let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey 
on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The quail migrates in vast flocks, 
and regularly crosses the Arabian desert, flying for the most part at night; and 
when the birds settle they are so utterly exhausted that they may be captured in 
any numbers by the hand. Being birds of weak flight, notwithstanding their 
migratory habits, they instinctively select the shortest sea passages, and avail 
themselves of any island as a halting-place. Thus in spring and autumn they 
are slaughtered in numbers on Malta and many of the Greek islands, which they 
quit in a day or two, very few being seen until the period of migration comes 
round again. They also fly with the wind, never facing it, like many other 
birds. The period when they were brought to the camp of Israel was in 
spring, when on their northward migration from Africa. According to their 
well-known instinct, they would follow up the coast of the Red Sea till they 
came to its bifurcati. by the Sinaitic Peninsula, and then, with a favoring 
wind, would cross at the narrow part, resting near the shore before proceeding. 
Accordingly we read that the wind brought them up from the Sea, and that, 
keeping close to the ground, they fell, thick as rain, about the camp in the 
month of April, according to our calculation. Thus the miracle consisted in 
the supply being brought to the tents of Israel by the special guidance of the 
'Xord, in exact harmony with the known habits of the bird. The Israelites 
"spread them" out, when they had taken them, before they Were sufficiently re- 
freshed to escape, "round about the camp," to dry them and prepare them for 
food, exactly as Herodotus tells us the Egyptians were -in the habit of doing with 
quails, drying them in the sun. (II. 77.) Again it was at even that they began 
to arrive, and by the morning the whole flock had settled. Thus throughout 
the Mediterranean the quails arrive at night, as the wood-cocks do on our own 
east coast, in a similar state of exhaustion. I have myself found the ground in 
Algeria, in the month of April, covered with quails for an extent of many acres 



NUMBERS XIII. 197 

at daybreak, where on the preceding afternoon there had not been one. They 
were so fatigued that they scarcely moved till almost trodden upon ; and, al- 
though hundreds were slaughtered, for two days they did not leave the district, 
till the wind veered, and they then as suddenly ventured northwards across the 
sea, leaving scarcely a straggler behind. The expression, "as it were two cubits 
high upon the face of the earth," probably refers to the height at which the quails 
fly above the ground. At all times their flight is very low, just skimming the sur- 
face of the ground, and especially when fatigued it keeps close, never towering 
like the Partridge or Sand-Grouse. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 231, 232. 

THE GRAVES OF LUST. 

Num. xi : 33-35. — And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the 
wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very 
great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah (the graves of lust) : 
because there they buried the people that lusted. And the people journeyed from Kibroth- 
hattaavah unto Hazeroth ; and abode at Hazeroth. 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — Here at Ain Hudherah are the remains of a 
large encampment, differing essentially in their arrangement from any others 
which I have seen. . . . The remains extend for miles around. . . . Just outside 
the camp were a number of stone heaps, which from their shape and position, 
could be nothing else but graves. The sight is a most commanding one, and 
admirably suited for the assembling of a large concourse of people. Arab tra- 
dition declares these curious remains to be " the relics of a large Pilgrim or 
Hajj caravan, who in remote ages pitched their tents at this spot on their way to 
Ain Hudherah, and who were soon afterward lost in the desert of the Tih." 
For various reasons I am inclined to believe that this legend is authentic, that it 
refers to the Israelites, and that we have in the scattered stones of Erweis el 
Ebeirig real traces of the Exodus. Hazeroth corresponds with "Ain Hudherah ' ' 
in the Semitic orthography of the name. . . . These considerations, the distance 
— exactly a day's journey — from Ain Hudherah, and those mysterious graves 
outside the camp, to my mind prove conclusively the identity of this spot with 
the scene of that awful plague by which the Lord punished the greed and dis- 
content of His people ; where " the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the 
people and the Lord smote the people with a vtry great plague. And he called 
the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people that 
lusted." . . . The length of time which has elapsed since the events of thi„ 
Exodus furnishes no argument against the probability of this conclusion, fee 
there are other monuments in the country in even better preservation, and of a 
date indisputably far anterior. — Desert of the Exodus, p. 212-214. 

ZOAN. 

Num. xiii : 22. — Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. 
Dr. John Kitto. — The great antiquity of Zoan is attested in this text, which 
states that it was built seven years after Hebron, which already existed in the 



198 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

time of Abraham : and it incidentally evinces how well acquainted with Egypt 
the writer was, that this reference to the date of the foundation of an Egyptian 
city should have been introduced. The locality is now covered with mounds 
of unusual height and extent, full of the fragments of broken pottery which such 
sites usually exhibit. These mounds extend for about a mile from north to 
south, and occupy nearly the same breadth. The area in which stood the sacred 
enclosure of the temple is about 1,500 feet by 1,250, surrounded by the mounds 
of fallen houses. Though in a very ruinous condition, the fragments of walls, 
columns, a gateway, and fallen obelisks, sufficiently attest the importance of 
the building to which they belonged. The obelisks, twelve in number, are all 
of the time of Rameses the Great (1355 b. c.) ; and the gateway also bears his 
name. More interest, however, attaches to the fact that the oval of Osirtasen 
III., who was king when Joseph died, has also been found, as this shows that 
the town must then have existed : it forms a valuable corroboration of the 
present text. The modern village of Zan (in which the ancient name of Zoan 
may be recognized) consists of a few huts, and a ruined kasr of modern date. 
— Pict. Bib. in loco. 

GRAPES OF ESCHOL. 

Num. xiii : 23. — And they came unto the brook of Eschol, and cut down from thence a branch 
with one cluster of grapes, and they bear it between two upon a staff. 

Strabo. — Mauritania is said to produce a vine the girth of which two men 
can scarcely compass, and bearing bunches of grapes about a cubit in size. — 
Strab., 1. xvii., c. 3. 

Dr. H. J. Van-Lennep. — The land of Judah is still celebrated for the size 
and excellence of its grapes, which, as a general rule, succeed best in similar 
hilly districts. There was situated the vale of Eschol, whence the spies sent by 
Moses procured the large cluster of grapes mentioned in Numbers ; and it is 
affirmed that even now clusters of grapes are found in that locality weighing no 
less than twelve pounds ; bunches weighing twenty pounds are often seen else- 
where. We ourselves have seen single grapes of the size of the largest damask 
plum, and have found clusters measuring eighteen inches in length. We have 
also counted more than seven hundred grapes on a single bunch. — Bible Lands, 
p. 112. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— This Eschol, or Grape Valley, a 
little to the south of Hebron, is still clad with vines, and the grapes are the 
finest and largest in Palestine. Clusters weighing ten or twelve pounds have 
been gathered. The spies doubtless bore the cluster between them on a staff, 
that the splendid grapes might not be crushed. With care and judicious thin- 
ning, it is well known that bunches weighing nearly twenty pounds can be 
produced. Not only are the bunches remarkable for their weight, but the indi- 
vidual grape attains a size rarely reached elsewhere. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, 

p. 404. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A.— Even in our own country (England) a bunch of 



NUMBERS XIX. 199 

grapes was produced at Welbeck, and sent as a present from the Duke of Rutland 
to the Marquis of Rockingham, which weighed nineteen pounds. It was 
conveyed to its destination — more than twenty miles distant — on a staff, by 
four laborers, two of whom bore it in rotation. — Physical History of Palestine, 
p. 330. 

AARON'S ROD. 

Num. xvii : 2. — Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according 
to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers 
twelve rods : write thou every man's name upon his rod. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — According to the monuments, the Egyptian nobles 
generally carried a staff from three to six feet long when they went out. One 
of them, preserved to our time, is of cherry wood ; but it appears that those of 
acacia wood were generally preferred. Egyptian priests, and other persons of 
rank, are represented as walking with sticks. Frequently the name of the 
owner was written on his staff, instances of which may be seen on the monu- 
ments at Thebes. — Ancient Egypts., III., 386-8. 

Num. xvii : 8. — And it came to pass that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of 
witness ; and behold the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded and brought forth 
buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The Almond Tree hastens to bud and blossom long 
before any other has begun to wake out of the repose of winter, and before it 
has put forth its own leaves. In the instance of Aaron's rod the rapidity was 
certainly miraculous ; but a rod was selected for the purpose from that tree 
which, in its natural development, is the most expeditious of all ; and not only 
do the blossoms appear on it suddenly, but the fruit sets at once, and appears 
even while the flowers are yet on the tree — buds, blossoms, and almonds together 
on the same branch, as on this rod of Moses. — The Land and the Book, p. 
495> 496. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The Almond is the earliest of all 
the trees of Palestine to put forth its blossoms, which we gathered at Bethany 
in January; hence its Hebrew name Shdked, i. t., hasten. Aaron's rod, that 
miraculously budded, was of this tree. It is probably in commemoration of 
this event that the Jews to the present day carry boughs of Almond blossom to 
their synagogues on great festival days.— Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 332. 

UNCLEANNESS FROM THE DEAD. 

Num. xix : 11-22.— He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
. . . When a man dieth in a tent ; all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall 
be unclean seven days. . . . And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with the sword in the 
open fields, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 

Dr. John Kitto.— For these minute and careful regulations there were many 
reasons: (1.) They would tend to lessen the spread of any infectious disease 
of which the person may have died. (2.) They would oblige the people to 
inter their dead soon, and not keep them embalmed in their houses for years, as 



200 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

did the Egyptians. (3.) They would ensure the timely burial of strangers. (4.) 
They would oblige them to bury all the slain, foes as well as friends, after a 
battle. (5.) They would lead them to take down the bodies of malefactors from 
the gibbet on the day of execution. (6.) They would oblige the people every- 
where to have their places of interment outside of their towns., a wise practice 
which some parts of Europe have yet to learn. Thus the Hebrew law, by the 
simple principle of assigning a defiling quality to a dead body, effected, with- 
out detailed legislation, many important objects, at some of which modern 
civilization is only beginning to arrive. Such legislation is entitled to respect 
and admiration. — Pict. Bid., in loco. 

MOUNT HOR. 

Num. xx : 23. — And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast of the 

land of Edom. 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — The position assigned to Mount Hor, namely, 
"by the coast of the land of Edom," the testimony of ancient writers, and 
constant tradition, all combine to identify that mountain with the lofty sum- 
mit now called Mount Harun. This rises so conspicuously above the heights 
which form the " coast," or border, of Edom as to deserve the name given to 
it in the Bible, of Ha Hor, or The mountain. On the summit is shown the 
•reputed tomb of Aaron. — Desert of the Exodus, p. 428. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — Mount Hor is one of the very few spots 
connected with the wanderings of the Israelites, which admits of no reasonable 
doubt. — Sinai and Pal., p. 87. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal., London. — Mount Hor is situated on the 
eastern side of the great valley of the Arabah, the highest and most conspicuous 
of the whole range of the sandstone mountains of Edom, having close beneath 
it on its eastern side — though strange to say the two are not visible to each 
other — the mysterious city of Petra. In the Onomasticon of Eusebius and 
Jerome it is, Or Mons — a mountain in which Aaron died, close to the city of 
Petra. Its height is about 4,800 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and 
about 1,700 feet above the city of Petra. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1087. 

Num. xx : 27, 28.— And Moses did as the Lord commanded : and they went up into Mount Hor 
in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put 
them upon Eleazar his son ; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount. 

Alexander Keith, D. D.— The tomb of Aaron, on the summit of Mount 
Hor, is one of the most conspicuous objects in the land of Edom, and, sur- 
rounded as it is by many an evidence of prophetic truth, still bears testimony 
to the death and burying-place of the first High Priest of Israel. Though 
situated in the midst of the land of the enemies of Israel ; and though for many 
ages possessed by the wild Arabs, neither of Israelitish nor of Christian faith, 
yet there, on the top of Mount Hor, where he died, is the tomb of Aaron, a 
memorial on the spot. — Demonstration of the Truth of the Christian Religion, 
p. 102. 1 



NUMBERS XXI. 201 

Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — The first thing which met our eyes when we 
stepped upon the small plateau, immediately below the summit, was a heap of 
ruins, and, beside the rock, a huge black caldron, used for boiling the sheep, 
which are there sacrificed to "the Prophet Aaron." A flight of steps cut in the 
rock leads up a steep precipice to the tomb itself, and about halfway up these 
steps is a large cistern or chamber covered in with arches, over which the staircase 
is built. The door of the tomb was locked at the time, but we contrived to look 
inside, and saw that the roof was decorated with ostrich shells, and similar orna- 
ments. — Desert of the Exodus, p. 365. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — Mount Hor is marked far and near by its double 
top, which rises like a huge castellated building from a lower base, and on one 
of these is the Mohammedan chapel erected out of the remains of some earlier 
and more sumptuous building, over the supposed grave of Aaron. There was 
nothing of interest within ; only the usual marks of Mussulman devotion, ragged 
shawls, ostrich eggs, and a few beads. These were in the upper chamber. 
From the fiat roof of the chapel we overlooked what must have been Aaron's 
last view — that view which was to him what Pisgah was to his brother. To us 
the northern end was partly lost in haze ; but we saw all the main points on 
which his eye must have rested. He looked over the valley of the Arabah, 
countersected by its hundred watercourses, and beyond, over the white moun- 
tains of the wilderness they had so long traversed ; and at the northern edge of 
it, there must have been visible the heights through which the Israelites had 
vainly attempted to force their way into the Promised Land. This was the 
Western view. Close around him on the East were the rugged mountains of 
Edom, and far along the horizon the wide downs of Mount Seir, through which 
the passage had been denied by the wild tribes of Esau who hunted over their 
long slopes. A dreary moment, and a dreary scene — such at any rate it must 
have seemed to the aged priest. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 87. 

FIERY SERPENTS. 

Num. xxi : 6. — And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit tne people, and 

much people of Israel died. 

Herodotus. — In the age preceding the invasion of Darius, the Neuri were 
compelled to change their habitations from the multitude of serpents which 
infested them. Besides what their own soil produced, these came in far greater 
numbers from the deserts above them. — Herod., 1. iv., v. 105. 

Strabo. — In the country of the Sabsei, in Arabia, are snakes of a dark red 
color, a span in length, which spring up as high as a man's waist, and whose 
bite is incurable. — Strabo, 1. xvi., c. 4. 

Rev. W. L. Gage. — The discovery by Burckhardt, of venomous reptiles near 
the northern portion of the Gulf of Akabah, seems not only to corroborate the 
striking veracity of the sacred narrative, but to fix the place where this evil befell 
the wandering Israelites. — Studies in Bible Lands, p. 104. 



202 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

HESHBON. 

Num. xxi : 25, 26. — And Israel dwelt in the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the 
villages thereof. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites. 

Rev. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — Heshbon stood on the western border of the 
high plain and on the boundary-line between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. 
The ruins oiHesban, twenty miles east of the Jordan, on the parallel of the 
northern end of the Dead Sea, mark the site, as they bear the name, of the 
ancient Heshbon. The ruins stand on a low hill, rising out of the great undu- 
lating plateau. They are more than a mile in circuit; but not a building 
remains entire. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1056. 

CURSING THE ENEMY. 

Num. xxii : 6. — Come now, therefore, curse me this people. 

Plutarch. — When Crassus was going to attack the Parthians, Ateius, one of 
the Tribunes, wishing to stop him, ran before the gate of the city, and placed 
*here a censer, with fire in it. At the approach of Crassus he sprinkled incense 
on the fire, offered libations, and uttered the most horrid imprecations, invoking 
at the same time certain dreadful and strange gods. The Romans say these 
mysterious and ancient imprecations have such power, that the object of them 
never escapes the effect, and, they add, that the person who uses them is sure to 
be unhappy ; so that they are seldom employed, and never but upon a great 
occasion. — Crass., c. 16. 

Idem. — All the priests and priestesses at Athens were commanded to denounce 
an execration against Alcibiades, which was done by them all except Meno.— 
Aleib., c. 22. 

Roberts. — The Orientals, in their wars, have always their magicians with 
them, to curse their enemies, and to mutter incantations for their destruction. 
In our late war with the Burmese, the generals had several magicians, who were 
much engaged in cursing our troops ; but, as they did not succeed, a number of 
witches were brought for the same purpose. — Orient. Must., p. 112. 

ISOLATION OF ISRAEL. 

Num. xxiii : 9. — Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 
The Compiler. — It was the purpose of God to keep the seed of Abraham, 
during their minority, or the period of their training and growth into a nation, 
a community by themselyes ; they were to "dwell alone," that they might be 
preserved as far as possible from imbibing the idolatrous notions, or following the 
corrupt practices of the nations about them. Now, it would be difficult to find 
a country, good and pleasant, on the face of the earth, more secluded from all 
others, and therefore more suitable for the Divine purpose, than Canaan. This 
land was literally shut out, on all sides, from the rest of the world. To the 
east lay the vast Assyrian desert; on the west was the long and almost harborless 
coast of the Mediterranean; along the whole southern frontier stretched "the 
great and terrible Wilderness of Paran; " while on the north it was protected 



NUMBERS XXXII. 203 

by the stupendous ramparts of Lebanon and Hermon, which left but a narrow 
gate-way open, the Valley of Ccele-Syria, which lay between them. Thus in 
this land "the Vine of God's own planting" was "hedged round about," by 
sea. and desert and mountain, that neither " the boar of the wood," nor " the 
beast of the field ' ' should harm it. — Present Conflict of Science with the 
Christian Religion, p. 618. 

OBLATION OF JEWELS. 

Num. xxxi : 50. — We have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord, what every man hath 
gotten, of jewels of gold, chains and bracelets, rings, ear-rings, and tablets, to make an 
atonement for our souls before the Lord. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — Numerous specimens of Egyptian rings have been 
discovered, most of them made of gold, very massive, and containing either 
a scarabseus or an engraved stone. The number of rings worn by the Egyptians 
was truly remarkable. — And. Egypts., Vol. II., p. 337. 

Layard. — The arms of the Assyrian kings were encircled by armlets, and 
the wrists by bracelets, all equally remarkable for the taste and beauty of the 
design and workmanship. In the centre of the bracelets were stars and rosettes, 
which were probably inlaid with precious stones. — Nineveh, Vol. II., 323. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The Arabians wear lumps of gold about their arms and 
necks, interlaced with bright sparkling stones. — Diod. Sic, III., 45. 

Roberts. — There is not a man in a thousand among the Hindoos who does 
not wear an ear-ring or a finger-ring ; for without such an ornament a person 
would be classed among the most unfortunate of his race. Some time ago, a 
large sacrifice was made, for the purpose of removing the cholera morbus, when 
vast numbers came together with their oblations. The people seemed to take 
the greatest pleasure in presenting their ear-rings, finger-rings, bracelets and 
other ornaments, because they were dearer to them than money, and consequently 
were believed to be more efficacious in appeasing the gods. When people arf 
sick they vow to give a valuable jewel to their god on being restored. — Orient 
Illust.,p. 104. 

GILEAD. 

Num. xxxii: 1-5.— Now the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, had a very great 
multitude of cattle : and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, 
behold, the place was a place for cattle ; — wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy 
sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. 

Prof. Horatio B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — Gilead (or Galaad) was a 
mountainous region lying east of the Jordan ; bounded on the north by Bashan, 
on the east by the Arabian plateau, and on the south by Moab and Amnion. 
One of the most conspicuous peaks in the mountain range still retains the 
ancient name, being called, Jebel Jil'ad, or Mount Gilead. It is about seven 
miles south of the Jabbok, and commands a magnificent view over the whole 
Jordan Valley, and the mountains of Judah and Ephraim. The rich pasture 
land of Gilead presents a striking contrast to the nakedness of western 
Palestine. Except among the hills of Galilee and along the heights of Carmel, 



20^ TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

there is nothing to be compared with it as " a place for cattle." The abundant 
pastures of Gilead, with its shady forests, and copious streams, attracted the 
attention of Reuben and Gad, who had a very great multitude of cattle, and 
was allotted to them. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 924-926. 

Idem.— The Prussian Consul, Dr. John Wetzstein, mentions a striking fact in 
illustration of the fertility of the country assigned to Reuben, Gad, and the 
half-tribe of Manasseh, and of its adaptation to the wants of a nomadic and 
pastoral people such as many of these Hebrews were. He says that the 
provinces there of Kanetra and Golan are the best watered and richest for 
pasturage not only of Persea but of all Syria ; so that the wandering tribes of 
nomads alone feed there more than 300,000 camels six months in the year, while, 
as ascertained from the bureau of tax registration at Damascus, forty-two 
other Bedouin tribes range there during the entire year.— Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 252. 

CITIES OF REFUGE. 

Num. xxxv : 10-12. — When ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan, then ye shall 
appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you ; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth 
any person at unawares. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger ; that 
the man slayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment. 
Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M. A. — It was, and even still is, a common 
practice, among nations, of patriarchal habits, that the nearest of kin should, 
as a matter of duty, avenge the death of a murdered relative. The early im- 
pressions and practice on this subject may be gathered from writings of a 
different though a very early age, and of different countries. Compensation for 
murder is allowed by the Koran, and he who transgresses after this by killing 
the murderer shall suffer a grievous punishment. Among the Bedouins and 
other Arab tribes, should the offer of blood-money be refused, the Thar, or law 
of blood, comes into operation, and any person within the fifth degree of blood 
from the homicide may be legally killed by any one within the same degree of 
consanguinity to the victim. The right to blood-revenge is never lost, except 
as annulled by compensation : it descends to the latest generation. Similar 
customs, with local distinctions, are found in Persia, Abyssinia, among the 
Druses and Circassians, — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 316. 

Austen H*. Layard, M. P. — One of the most remarkable laws in force among 
the wandering Arabs, and one probably of the highest antiquity, is the law of 
blood, called the "Thar," prescribing the degrees of consanguinity within 
which it is lawful to revenge a homicide. If a man commit a homicide, the 
cadi endeavors to prevail upon the family of the victim to accept a compensation 
for the blood in money or in kind, the amount being regulated according to 
custom in different tribes. Should the offer of " blood-money " be refused, the 
Thar comes into operation, and any person within the "khomse," or the fifth 
degree of blood of the homicide, may be legally killed by any one within the 
same degree of consanguinity to the victim. This law is enforced between 
tribes remote from one another, as well as between families, and to the blood- 



NUMBERS XXXV. 205 

revenge may be attributed many of the bitter feuds which exist among the Arab 
clans. It affects, in many respects, their social condition, and has a marked 
influence upon their habits, and even upon their manners. Thus an Arab will 
never tell his name, especially if it be an uncommon one, to a stranger ; nor men- 
tion that of his father, or of his tribe, if his own name be ascertained, lest there 
should be Thar between them. Even children are taught to observe this custom 
that they may not fall victims to the blood-revenge. In most encampments are 
found refugees, sometimes whole families, who have left their tribe on account 
of a homicide for which they are amenable. In case, after a murder, persons 
within the Thar take to flight, three days and four hours are by immemorial 
custom allowed to the fugitives before they can be pursued. Frequently they 
never return to their friends, but remain with those who give them protection, 
and become incorporated into the tribe by which they are adopted. Frequently 
the homicide himself will wander from tent to tent over the Desert, or even 
rove through the towns and villages on its borders, with a chain round his neck 
and in rags, begging contributions from the charitable to enable him to pay the 
apportioned blood-money. I have frequently met such unfortunate persons who 
have spent years in collecting a small sum. — Nineveh a?id Babylon, p. 260, 
261. 

Plato. — If any one kills involuntarily a free-born person — it is requisite for 
him to withdraw himself from the sufferer through all the seasons of the year, 
and to cause a void in all his own places through the whole of his native land. 
— If he is not willing to be an exile, and to complete the stated time, let the 
nearest relative of the deceased prosecute the murderer on a charge of blood ; 
and let his punishment be doubled if found guilty. — If he return contrary to the 
law, let the guardians of the law punish him with death. — Plato, de leg., 1. 
ix., c. 8. 

Tacitus. — The right of asylum was possessed by many Greek and Roman 
towns, especially Ephesus ; this right in process of time became much abused, 
and was curtailed by order of the Emperor Tiberius. — See Tac. Ann., iii., 
60, 63. 

Idem.— The consuls appointed to inquire into the claims of several cities to 
the privilege of sanctuary reported — That they had found the temple of Escu- 
lapius, at Pergamos, to be a genuine sanctuary. The rest claimed upon 
originals from the darkness of antiquity altogether obscure. — Ann., 1. iii., c. 63. 



Deuteronomy. 



ARNON AND AROER. 



Deuteronomy ii : 36. — From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river Arnon, and from the 
city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us ; the Lord 
our God delivered all unto us. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal., Sydn. — There can be no doubt that the 
Wady el-Mojeb of the present day is the Arnon. It has been visited and 
described by Burckhardt, Irby, and Seetzen. The ravine through which it 
flows is still the "locum vallis in praerupta demersse satis horribilem et pericu- 
losum " which it was in the days of Jerome. The Roman Road from Rabba to 
Dhiban crosses it at about two hours' distance from the former. On the south 
edge of the ravine are some ruins called Mehatet el-Haj, and on the north edge, 
directly opposite, those still bearing the name Amir (Aroer). — Smith's Diet, of 

the Bible, p. 164. 

EDREL 

Deut. iii : 1. — And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle 

at Edrei. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — Soon after leaving Busr, the •towers of 
Edri came in sight, extending along the summit of a projecting ledge of 
rocks in front, and running some distance into the interior of the Lejah on 
the right. Crossing a deep ravine, and ascending the rugged ridge of rocks by 
a winding path like a goat-track, we came suddenly on the ruins of this an- 
cient city. The situation is most remarkable : without a single spring of living 
water ; without river or stream ; without access, except over rocks and through 
defiles all but impassable ; without tree or garden. In selecting the site, every- 
thing seems to have been sacrificed to security and strength. Shortly after my 
arrival, I went up to the terraced roof of a house to obtain a general view of the 
ruins. Their aspect was far from inviting ; it was wild and savage in the ex- 
treme. The huge masses of shattered masonry could scarcely be distinguished 
from the rocks that encircle them ; and all, ruins and rocks alike, are black, as 
if scathed by lightning. The houses are low, massive, gloomy, and manifestly 
of the highest antiquity. Though the ruins are some three miles in circuit, the 
place does not contain more than five hundred inhabitants. It still bears the 
name Edr* a. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 94, 95. 

CITIES OF BASHAN. 

Deut. iii : 3, 4. — So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and 
'all his people : and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his 
(206) 



DEUTERONOMY III. 207 

cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, three-score cities, all the 
region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — Often when reading the passage (the above), 
I used to think that some strange statistical mystery hung over it ; for how could 
a province measuring not more than thirty miles by twenty support such a num- 
ber of fortified cities, especially when the greater part of it was a wilderness of 
rocks? But mysterious, incredible as this seemed, on the spot, with my own 
eyes, / have seen that it is literally true. The cities are there to this day. 
Some of them retain the ancient names recorded in the Bible. The boundaries 
of Argob are as clearly denned by the hand of nature as those of our own island 
home. These ancient cities of Bashan contain probably the very oldest speci- 
mens of domestic architecture now existing in the world. — Giant Cities of 
Bashan, p. 13. 

Idem. — As we ascended the hills, the rock fields of the Lejah were spread out 
on the right ; and there, too, the ancient cities were thickly planted. Not less 
than thirty of the three-score cities of Argob were in view at one time on that 
day ; their black houses and ruins half concealed by the black rocks amid which 
they are built, and their massive towers rising up here and there, like the 
"keeps" of old Norman fortresses. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 28. 

Idem. — The Bible name of this province, Argob, " The Stony," is strikingly 
descriptive of its physical features. Around Nejran, as far as I could see west- 
ward and northward, was one vast wilderness of rocks ; here piled up in shape- 
less, jagged masses ; there spread out in flat, rugged fields, intersected by yawn- 
ing fissures and chasms. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 92. 

Deut. iii : 5. — All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled 

towns a great many. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — Many people might have thought, and few 
still believe, that there was a large amount of Eastern exaggeration in the 
language of Moses when describing the conquest of this country three thousand 
years ago. No man who has traversed Bashan, or who has climbed the hill of 
Salcah, will ever again venture to bring such a charge against the sacred his- 
' torian. The walled cities, with their ponderous gates of stone, are there now 
as they were when the Israelites invaded the land. The great numbers of un- 
walled towns are there too, standing testimonies to the truth and accuracy of 
Moses, and monumental protests against the poetical interpretations of modern 
rationalists. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 79. 

Mr. Cyril Graham. — When we find one after another, great stone cities, 
walled and unwalled, with stone gates, and so crowded together that it becomes 
almost a matter of wonder how all the people could have lived in so small a 
space ; when we see houses built of such huge and massive stones that no force 
which can be brought against them in that country could ever batter them 
down ; when we find rooms in these houses so large and lofty that many of 
them would be considered fine rooms in a palace in Europe ; and, lastly, when 
we find some of these towns bearing the very names which cities in that very 



208 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

country bore, before the Israelites came out of Egypt, I think we cannot help 
feeling the strongest conviction that we have before us the cities of the Rephaim 
of which we read in the book of Deuteronomy. — Quoted in Giant Cities of 
Bashan, p. 85. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — On one of the southern peaks of the mountain 
range stands the town of Hebran. Here are many objects of interest. The 
ruins of a beautiful temple, built in a. d. 155, and of several other public edi- 
fices, are strewn over the summit and rugged sides of the hill. But the simple, 
massive, primeval houses were to us objects of greater attraction. Many of them 
are perfect, and in them the modern inhabitants find ample and comfortable 
accommodation. The stone doors appeared even more massive than those of 
Kerioth ; and we found the walls of the houses in some instances more than 
seven feet thick. Hebran must have been one of the most ancient cities of 
Bashan. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 88. 

Idem. — The monuments designed by the genius and reared by the wealth of 
Imperial Rome are fast mouldering to ruin in this land ; temples, palaces, tombs, 
fortresses, are all shattered, or prostrate in the dust ; but the simple, massive 
houses of the Rephaim are in many cases perfect as if only completed yesterday. 
It is worthy of note here, as tending to prove the truth of my statements, and 
to illustrate the words of the sacred writers, that the towns of Bashan were con- 
sidered ancient even in the days of the Roman historian, Ammianus Mareellinus, 
who says regarding this country: "Fortresses and strong castles have been 
erected by the ancient inhabitants among the retired mountains and forests. 
Here in the midst of numerous towns are some great cities, such as Bostra and 
Gerasa, encompassed by massive walls." — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 85. 

Deul. iii : 13. — And the rest of Gilead, and all of Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I 
unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called 
the land f giants. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — Now the houses of Kerioth and other towns in 
Bashan appear to be just such dwellings as a race of giants would build. The 
walls, the roofs, but especially the ponderous gates, doors and bars, are in every 
way characteristic of a period when architecture was in its infancy, when giants 
were masons, and when strength and security were the grand requisites. I 
measured a door in Kerioth : it was nine feet high, and four and a half feet 
wide, and ten inches thick — one solid slab of stone. I saw the folding gates 
of another town in the mountains still larger and heavier. Time produces little 
effect on such buildings as these. The heavy stone slabs of the roofs resting on 
the massive walls make the structure as firm as if built of solid masonry ; and 
the black basalt used is almost hard as iron. There can scarcely be a doubt, 
therefore, that these are the very cities erected and inhabited by the Rephaim, 
the aboriginal occupants of Bashan ; and the language of Ritter appears to be 
true: "These buildings remain as eternal witnesses of the conquest of Bashan 
by Jehovah." — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 84. 



DEUTERONOMY V. 209 

FISH IDOLS. 

Deut. iv : 18. — The likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The worship of fish was prevalent 
among many nations of antiquity, and such idolatry is expressly prohibited in 
Deuteronomy. Among the Hindoos, Vishnu is the fish pilot; and nations wide 
apart, as the Tartars and the ancient Britons, had their fish gods — the one the 
Nataghi, the other the Brithyll of the Kelts and Belgae. In Egypt many species 
of fishes were objects of veneration, as we are told by Herodotus. Cuvier has 
noticed no less than ten distinct species depicted on the walls of the sepulchral 
caves of Thebes, and the mummies of several kinds are found in great numbers 
stored up in the temples of Egypt.— Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 293. 

MORAL LAW. 

Deut. v : 5. — Thou shalt have none other gods before me. 

Sophocles. — There is in truth one only God, who made the heaven and the 
wide earth, and the blue depths of the sea, and the winds.- — Frag, apud Grot. 

Menander. — The Lord and Father of all things, by whom all things were 
made, is alone to be worshipped as the inventor and creator of such excellent 
works. — Apud Justin, de Monarch Dei. 

Cleanthes. — Most glorious of the immortals, by whatever name thou art ad- 
dressed, everlasting and Almighty Jove, the author of all nature, ruling all 
things by thy law. — H. injov. 

Cicero. — That same Jupiter, who is by the poets styled the father of the 
gods and men, is by our ancestors called the Best, the Greatest. — De N. D. t 
ii., 25. 

Deut. v : 8. — Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, etc. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Moses set up no image; for he taught that God was not 
like any human being. — Fragm., 1. 40. 

Strabo. — Moses, the Egyptian priest, declared and taught that the Egyp- 
tians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments in representing the Deity 
under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle of the field ; and that the Greeks 
also were in error in making images of their gods after the human form. For 
God, said he, may be this one thing which encompasses us all, land and sea, 
which we call Heaven, or the Universe, or the Nature of things. Who, then, 
of any understanding would venture to form an image of this Deity, resembling 
anything with which we are conversant? On the contrary we ought not to carve 
any images, but to set apart some sacred ground, and a shrine worthy of the 
Deity, and to worship Him without any similitude. — Strati., lib. xvi., c. 2. 

Plutarch. — Numa forbade the Romans to represent the Deity in the form either 
of man or beast. Nor was there among them, formerly, any image or statue of 
the Divine Being. During the first 170 years they built temples, indeed, and 
other sacred domes, but placed in them no figure of any kind, being persuaded 
that it is impossible to represent things divine by that which is perishable, and 
that we can have no conception of God but by the understanding. — Numa., c. 8. 
14 



2l0 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Tacitus. — The Egyptians offer divine worship to several brute animals, to 
images and works of art. The Jews know but one deity, to be conceived and 
adored by the mind alone. They hold as profane and unhallowed those who 
are accustomed to fashion their gods after the likeness of men, out of perishable 
materials. — Hist., lib. v., c. 5. 

Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of 

them that hate me. 

Theognis. — O that it might please the gods, that the fathers' infatuation 
should not in after time be a woe to the children ; and that the children should 
not pay the transgression of their sires. — Theog., v. 732. 

Epictetus. — Not only my children, but my children's children will bear the 
punishment of this disobedience. — Epict., lib. iii., c. 34. 

Statius. — The weeping sons of Thebes atone 

For royal crimes and mischiefs not their own. — Theb., iii., 206. 

Deut. v : 12. — Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as, etc. 

Hesiod. — The seventh day is sacred. — Apud Enseb. prcep. evan., 1. 13. 

Plato. — The gods pitying the laborious race of man, have ordained for it 
remissions from labor, the return of feast days, in honor of the gods. — De Leg., 
II., 1. 

Plutarch. — The Hebrews solemnize the Sabbath with mutual feasting. — 
Sympos., lib. iv., qu. 5. 

Ovid. — The seventh day, held sacred by the Jew. — De art. amand., i., 76. 

Tacitus. — It is said that the Jews chose to rest every seventh day, because on 
that day their wanderings ended. — Hist., lib. v., c. 4. 

Juvenal. — Some whose lot it is to have a father who reveres Sabbaths, 
worshipping nothing but clouds, the divinity of heaven : their father is to blame 
for this, to whom each seventh day was a day of sloth, and kept aloof from all 
share of life's daily duties. — Sat., xiv., v. 96. 

Deut. v : 16. — Honor thy father and thy mother, etc. 

Pythagoras. — Honor your parents and kinsmen. — Aur. Carm., v. 4. 

Plato. — It is just for a person who owes the first and greatest of debts, to 
pay those that are of the longest standing, and to think that the things that he 
has acquired and holds, belong all to those who begot him and brought him 
up, for supplying what is required for their service to the utmost of his power ; 
beginning from his substance ; and in the second place from his body ; and 
thirdly, from his soul ; by paying off the debts due for their care of him, and 
in favor of those who gave the pangs of labour as a loan to the young, and by 
returning what has been due a long time to those who, in their old age, are in 
want. It is requisite, likewise, through the whole period of life, for a person to 
hold pre-eminently a kind language towards his parents. — De Leg., lib. iv., c. 8. 

Aristotle. — Children ought to assist their parents, most of all in nourishing 
them, being, as it were, in their debt. They should also give honor to their 
parents as to the gods. — Eth., ix., 2. 



DEUTERONOMY V. 211 

Demosthenes. — To nothing are we more inviolably bound than to a just and 
cheerful discharge of that debt in which both nature and the laws engage as to 
our parents. — Philip. 4. 

Menander. — It is right to honor parents even as the gods. — Ap. Stob., 79. 

Deut. v : 17. — Thou shalt not kill. 

Plato. — Whosoever shall designedly and unjustly kill with his hand any one 
soever of his tribes-men, let him in the first place be debarred from legal rites ; 
let him be amenable to any one who is willing to avenge the dead. Let him 
who is convicted pay the penalty of death, and let him not be buried in the 
country of the murdered person. — De Leg., IX., n. 

Diodorus Siculus. — He who wilfully killed a freeman, or even a bondslave, 
was condemned by the laws of Egypt to suffer death. — Diod. Sic, lib. i., c. 77. 

Deut. v: 18. — Neither shalt thou commit adultery. 

Aristotle. — The law enjoins that the duties of a temperate man should be 
done, such as not to commit adultery. — Eth., V., 1. 

Diodorus Siculus. — -By the laws of Egypt, a man guilty of adultery was to 
have a thousand lashes, and the woman her nose cut off. — Diod. Sic, lib. i., 
c. 6. 

Quintilian. — The law justifies a man in killing an adulterer with the adult- 
ress. — Quint., VII., 1. 

Deut. v: 19. — Neither shalt thou steal. 

Euripides. — The deity hates violence, and orders all men to obtain what may 
be acquired, not through plunder. For the heaven is common to all mortals, 
and the earth ; in which it behoves us, dwelling in our houses, not to have 
other men's goods, nor to seize them by force. — Helen., v. 903. 

Lex XII. Tab. — The law made a thief to be the slave of him from whom he 
stole, but condemned a nocturnal thief to death. — Apud Gell., lib. xx., c. 1. 

Deut. v : 20. — Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor. 

Demosthenes. — A false accuser, my countrymen ! is a monster, a dangerous 
monster, querulous, and industrious in seeking pretence of complaint. — De 
Corona. 

Diodorus Siculus. — In Egypt, false accusers were to suffer the same punish- 
ment which those whom they accused would have undergone, if they had been 
convicted. — Diod. Sic, L, 77. 

Plautus. — Those who commence villanous suits at law upon false testimony, 
and those who in court upon false oath deny a debt, their names, written down, 
are returned to Jove. Each day does he learn who here is calling for vengeance. 
— Rud. Prolog. 

Deut. v: 21. — Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neigh- 
bor's house, his field, or his servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that 
is thy neighbor's. 

Herodotus. — Glaucus, wishing to appropriate to his own use a sum of money 



212 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

which had been entrusted to his care, consulted the oracle whether he could be 
absolved from returning it. The priestess answered in the negative, upon which 
Glaucus entreated the deity to forgive him ; but the priestess told him that the 
intention and the action were alike criminal. — Herod., lib. vi., c. 86. 

Philemon. — He is not a just man who does injury to no one, but he who 
having the power to do injury does it not ; nor he who refrains from little 
thefts, but he who, when he might seize and retain great things without risk, 
perseveres in his integrity ; nor he who merely observes this conduct, but who, 
being endued with an honest and pure mind, desires not to appear just only, 
but to be just. — Frag, apud Stob. 

Epictetus. — No man's wife or child, or silver or gold, is to have any charms 
for you, but your own. — Epict., lib. iii., c. 7. 

Juvenal. — He who meditates within his breast a crime that finds not vent in 
words, has all the guilt of the act. — Sat., XIII., v. 209. 

Menander. — Covet not, Pamphilus, 

Even a needleful of thread, for God, 

Who's always near thee, always sees thy deeds. 

Apud Clem. Alex. Strom. 
(See Exod. xx: 1-17.) 

DOOR INSCRIPTIONS. 

Deut. vi : 9. — And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — According to the monuments, the name of the owner 
of a house among the Egyptians was not unfrequently written upon the lintels of 
the doors. Besides the owner's name they sometimes wrote a lucky sentence 
over the entrance of the house for a favorable omen, and the lintels and imposts 
of the doors in the royal mansions were often covered with hieroglyphics, 
containing the ovals and titles of the monarch. — Ancient Egyptians. 

Dr. John Kitto. — It is at this day customary in Mohammedan Asia for 
extracts from the Koran, and moral sentences, to be wrought in stucco over 
doors and gates, and as ornamental scrolls to the interior of apartments. — Pict. 
Bible. 

HEBREW EXCLUSIVENESS. 

Deut. vii : 3. — Neither shalt thou make marriages with them : thy daughter thou shalt not give 
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take to thy son. 

Tacitus. — The Jews are inflexible in their faith and adherence one to another, 
but towards the whole human race besides they retain deadly and implacable 
hatred. With all others they refuse to eat, with all others to lodge. — Hist., 1. 
v., c. 5. 

EGYPTIAN DISEASES.' 

Deut. vii : 15. — And the Lord will take from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil dis- 
eases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee. 

Dr. Mason Good, F. R. S., F. R. S. L. — The Egyptian and Syrian climates, 
but especially the rainless atmosphere of the former, are very prolific in skin 



DEUTERONOMY VIII. 213 

diseases, including in an exaggerated form, some which are common in the 
cooler regions of western Europe. The heat and drought acting for long 
periods upon the skin, and the exposure of a large surface of the latter to their 
influence, combine to predispose it to such affections. — Study of Medicine, Vol. 
IV., p. 445. 

Rosenmueller. — Pliny calls Egypt the mother of such diseases as lichenes, 
elephantiasis, the plague, etc. To these diseases seem to be referred the vaiious 
kinds of ulcers, which were said to be sent by their angry goddess Isis. Even 
now Egypt has various peculiar diseases. — Note in loco. 

HORNETS. 

Deut. vii : 20. — Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that 
are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. 

Joseph Roberts, M. R. A. S. — The people in England may deem this a puny 
way of punishing men ; but they should recollect that the natives of the East 
wear scarcely any clothes, having, generally speaking, only a piece of cloth round 
their loins. They are, therefore, much more exposed than we are to the stings 
of insects. The sting of the hornet and wasp of those regions is much more 
poisonous than in Europe, and the insect is larger in size. I have heard of sev- 
eral who have died from receiving a single sting ; and not many days ago, as a 
woman was going to the well to draw water, a hornet stung her in the cheek, 
and she died the next day. The Hindoos often curse each other by saying, — 
" May all around thee be stung by the hornet ! " — meaning the person and his 
relations. The god Siva is described as having destroyed many giants by 
hornets. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 108. 

THE PROMISED LAND. 

Deut. viii : 7. — For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, 
of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Strange that while springs are so 
scarce in the west, and fed only by winter torrents, here, even where wood is 
absent, on these highlands of Moab it is still "a land of brooks of water, of 
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." — Land of Israel, 

P> 545- 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — Along the banks of the Sea of Galilee, as we have 
already seen, the depth of its situation produced a tropical vegetation unknown 
in the hills above ; and this vegetation was increased by the beautiful springs.," 
which, characteristic of the whole Valley of the Jordan, are unusually numerous 
and copious along the western shore of this lake, scattering verdure and fertility 
along their short course. — No less than four springs pour forth their almost full- 
grown rivers through the plain of Gennesareth. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 366. 

Idem. — Palestine is well distinguished not merely as a land of wheat and 
barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates, of oil-olive and honey, but 
emphatically as " a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depthg 
that spring out of plains and mountains." — Sinai and Palestine 3 p. 123. 



214 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Deut. viii : 8. — A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates ; a land 

of oil-olive, and honey. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The return of wheat varies ex- 
ceedingly, and from the slovenly agriculture, the neglect of rotation of crops, 
and the almost entire absence of manure, is much less than it might be, or than 
it was in former times. Thirty-fold the seed is considered a good return. Our 
Lord speaks, in the Parable of the sower, of wheat in good ground producing a 
hundred-fold. We have often counted sixty grains in an ear, and even a 
hundred is sometimes reached ; and when we remember that several ears may 
spring from a single seed, we may see that a hundred-fold under favorable 
circumstances would be no excessive produce. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 488. 

Idem. — The Land of Promise was beyond all others renowned for its Vines, 
for their number, productiveness, and the quality of their wine. There is scarcely 
any region in the world more admirably adapted for wine culture than Palestine, 
with the exception only of its maritime plains and the Jordan Valley. It is the 
true climate of the Vine. The rocky hill-sides, with their light gravelly soil 
and sunny exposures, the heat of summer, and the rapid drainage of the 
winter rains, all combine to render it peculiarly a land of Vines. — Nat. Hist, 
of Bible, p. 403. 

Idem. — The Fig is one of the native fruit-trees of the Promised Land, and is 
found wild or cultivated in every part of it. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 350. 

Idem. — The Olive Tree is abundant, not only in the heritage of Asher, but 
in every part of the Holy Land it is at this day the one characteristic tree of 
the country. In fact, a cursory observer has remarked, that it was the only tree 
he saw there. The most extensive olive yards are on the borders of the 
Phenician plain. But they are scarcely less important in the country of Eph- 
raim: and all the valleys from the plain of Esdraelon to Benjamin, the 
patrimony of Manasseh and Ephraim, are clad with olives to this day. The vale 
of Shechem is one noble Olive Grove. The plain of Moreh beyond it is 
studded with them. They form the riches of Bethlehem, and cover the lower 
slopes of the valleys around Hebron. The plains of Gilead, and all the lower 
slopes, as well as the more fertile portions of Bashan, form a long series of Olive 
groves, neglected, indeed, but still ready to yield their fatness in return for the 
most trifling culture: and they are the wealth of the towns of Philistia and 
Sharon. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 374. 

Deut. viii : 9. — A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — Long belts of sandstone run along the 
western slopes of Lebanon, which is in places largely impregnated with iron. 
Some strata towards the southern end are said to yield as much as ninety per 
cent, of pure iron. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1623. 

Rev. George E. Post, M. D., Tripoli, Syria. — Iron of a superior quality is 
mined and worked at the present day near the village of Duma, in Mount 
Lebanon. It is especially valuable for shoeing beasts of burden, and is greatly 
sought for throughout Northern Syria. It is probable that the merchants of 



DEUTERONOMY XIX. 215 

Dan, who had possessions in the extreme north of Palestine in the neighborhood 
of Caesarea Philippi, derived from this source the "bright iron," mentioned 
by EzekieL — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1144. 

THE WILDERNESS. 

Deut. viii: 15. — Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery 
serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This description answers, to this day, with remarkable 
precision to these desert regions, and particularly to that part, about the head 
of the Gulf of Akaba, where the Israelites now were. Scorpions abound in 
all the desert, and are particularly common here, and they inflict a wound 
scarcely less bumifig than the serpents of the same region. — Pict. Bible, Nu?n. 
xxi : 6. 

Herodotus. — I went once to a certain place in Arabia, almost exactly 
opposite the city of Buto, to make inquiries concerning the winged serpents. 
On my arrival I saw the back-bones and ribs of serpents in such numbers as it 
is impossible to describe : of the ribs there were a multitude of heaps, some 
great, some small, some middle-sized. The place where the bones lie is at the 
entrance of a narrow gorge between steep mountains, which there open upon a 
spacious plain, communicating with the great plain of Egypt. — Euterpe, c. 75. 

Idem. — The Arabians say that the whole world would swarm with these 
serpents, if they were not kept in check. . . . Now with respect to the vipers 
and the winged snakes of Arabia, if they increased as fast as their nature would 
allow, impossible were it for man to maintain himself upon the earth. — Thai., 
c. 108-9. 

BREEDING HORSES. 

Deut. xvii : 16. — But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to 
Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A.— In illustration of the extensive possession 
of horses by the early kings of Egypt, it will be sufficient to adduce a passage 
from Diodorus, who says that "the monarchs before Sesostris maintained, along 
the, banks of the Nile, between Memphis and Thebes, two hundred stables, in 
each of which were kept a hundred horses." Herodotus also notices that, 
prior to the reign of Sesostris, horses and carriages were very abundant in 
Egypt, but that subsequently they became comparatively uncommon, since the 
intersection of the whole country by canals rendered it unsuitable for their 
employment. They were still, no doubt, bred and employed, and even ex- 
ported to a certain extent. — Hist. Illust. of O. T., p. 79. 

LANDMARKS. 

Deut. xix: 14. — Thou shalt not remove thy neighbors' landmark, which they of old time have 
set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth 
thee. 

Dionysius Halicarnasseus. — Numa commanded every one to place stones 



216 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

at the boundaries of his property, and every year, on a day appointed, to per- 
form sacred rites in honor of the tutelary deities who preside over boundaries. 
Any one who might dare to destroy or remove these landmarks was counted 
guilty of sacrilege, and might be slain with impunity. — Dion. Halic, 1. ii. 
Horace. — The sacred landmark strives in vain 
Your impious avarice to restrain ; 
You break into your neighbor's grounds, 
And overleap your client's bounds. — Hor., 1. ii., carm. 18. 
W. R. Cooper, Esqr., Sec. of Soci. of Bib. Archaeology. — Among the interest- 
ing Assyrian inscriptions lately discovered are those which, dating from 1200 
b. c. to 600 b. c, are called "boundary stones." These were set up to mark 
the angles which circumscribe the limits of fields of various land-owners. Upon 
them were generally inscribed the names of the parties, the value and limits of 
their properties, and dedications to different deities, whose emblems were in- 
scribed upon the summit of the stone. Thus, as in many instances in the 
Bible, the same pillar partook of the nature of altar, deed, and milestone, and 
was reverenced accordingly. — Faith and Free Thought, p. 241. 

FALSE WITNESSES. 

Deut. xix : 18, 19. — And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness 
be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother ; then shall ye do unto him, 
as he had thought to have done unto his brother. 

Diodorus Siculus. — False accusers were, by the laws of Egypt, to suffer the 
same punishment as those whom they falsely accused would have undergone, if 
they had been convicted of the offence. — Diod. Sic. y 1. i., c. 77. 

DESTRUCTION OF FRUIT-TREES. 

Deut. xx : 19.— When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, 
thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them, for thou mayest eat 
'of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ 
them in the siege. 

Diodorus Siculus. — There are laws in India which conduce much to the 
prevention of famine. Amongst other people, through devastations in time of 
war, the land lies untilled; but amongst the Indians husbandmen are never 
touched, though armies meet and engage under their very eyes. The husband- 
man is regarded as a servant of the common good, and is on that account 
sacred. Neither do they burn their enemies' country, or cut down their trees 
or plants. — Diod. Sic, 1. ii., c. 36. 

BIRDS ON THE NEST. 

Deut. xxii : 6. — If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, 
whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, 
thou shalt not take the dam with the young. 

Phocylides. — Let no one take a bird's nest with all its occupants, but let the 
mother go free, that she may again produce young. — Fhocyl., carm. v., 79. 



DEUTERONOMY XXV. 217 

ABOMINABLE OFFERINGS. 

Deut. xxiii : 1 8. — Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house 
of the Lord thy God for any vow : for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy 
God. 

Herodotus. — The Babylonians have one custom in the highest degree abom- 
inable. Every woman is obliged, once in her life, to attend at the Temple of 
Venus. The money given to them is applied to sacred uses, and must not be 
refused, however small it may be. — Herod., 1. i., c. 199. 

Strabo. — The temple of Venus at Corinth was so rich, that it had more than 
a thousand women consecrated to the service of the goddess, courtesans, whom 
both men and women had dedicated as offerings. — Strabo, 1. viii., c. 6. 

Lucian. — Such of the ladies as refuse to consecrate their hair (at the annual 
orgies in honor of Adonis), undergo the penalty of being obliged to offer them- 
selve for hire in public for one day. Of the profits, an oblation is made to 
Venus. — Lucian, De Dea Syr., c. 6. 

RESTORATION OF PLEDGES. 

Deut. xxiv: 12, 13. — And if the man be poor thou shalt not sleep with his pledge : in any case 
thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his 
own raiment, and bless thee : and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — During the day, the poor, while at work, can and do 
dispense with their 'aba, or outside garment, but at night it is greatly needed, 
even in the summer. The people in this country never sleep without being 
covered, even in the daytime ; and in this experience has made them wise, for 
it is dangerous to health. This furnishes a good reason why this sort of pledge 
should be restored before night ; and I could wish that this law of Moses were 
still in force. — The Land and the Book, I., p. 500. 

PUNISHMENT BY STRIPES. 

Deut. xxv : 2.— And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall 
cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson.— Men and boys were laid flat upon the ground, and fre- 
quently held by the hands and feet while the chastisement was administered.— 
Ancient Egyptians, II., 40-42. 

Deut. xxv: 3. — Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed. 

Dr. John Kitto.— The importance of this restriction will be felt when it is 
known that in the East an offender is sometimes beaten to death, or so severely 
as to be lamed for life. Even the Romans sometimes lashed criminals to death, 
there being no limitation to the number of blows. Moses more wisely fixed 
the maximum at a moderate point, and left the rest to be determined by the 
circumstances of the case and the discretion of the judges. This is exactly the 
plan followed in the modern criminal code of Europe with respect to most 
crimes not capital. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 



218 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

TREADING OUT THE CORN. 

Deut. xxv : 4. — Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. 
• Rosellini. — As represented on the monuments, they make a great heap of 
ears in the midst of the threshing-floor, and cause them to be trodden out by- 
six oxen, which are kept in constant motion by a man who goes behind with a 
"whip. — In Pict. Bib. 

Champollion. — In the subterranean apartment at Elkab (Eilethyas), which 
belongs to the reign of Rameses Meiamum, among other things, I saw there 
the treading out, or the threshing of the sheaves of grain by oxen, and over the 
engraving may be read, in almost entirely phonetic characters, the song which 
the overseer sings while threshing : 

Tread ye out for yourselves, 
Tread ye out for yourselves, 

O oxen ! 
Tread ye out for yourselves, 
Tread ye out for yourselves, 

The straws ; 
For men, who are your masters, 

The grain. — In Pict. Bib, 

FALSE WEIGHTS. 

Deut. xxv : 13. — Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. 
Rev. Joseph Roberts. — As in former times, so now, much of the business in 
the East is transacted by travelling merchants. The pedlar comes to your 
door, and vociferates the names of his wares ; and as soon as he catches your 
eye, begins to exhibit his very cheap but valuable articles. Have you agreed as 
to the price? he then produces the Bag of "di vera weights;" and after fumb- 
ling some time in it, he draws forth the weight by which he has to sell. But, 
should he have to purchase anything of you, he will select a heavier weight. 
The man who is not cheated by this trader, and his " bag of divers weights," must 
be blessed with more keenness than most of his fellows. — Oriental Illust., p. 120. 

THE CURSE OF REMOVING THE LANDMARK. 

Deut. xxvii : 17. — Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark: and all the people shall 

say, Amen. 

Inscription of Merodach Baladan III. (b. c. 1340). — This land, for good 
have I given it like the treasure of heaven ; as a land of acquisition have I settled 
it, as the result of his labours. ... If a leader, or a citizen shall injure or 
destroy the boundary stone here placed . . . may the gods Anu, Bel, Hea, 
Ninip and Gula, the Lords of this land, and all the gods whose memorials are 
made known on this tablet, violently make his name desolate ; with unspeakable 
curse may they curse him ; with utter desolation may they desolate him ; may 
they gather his posterity together for evil and not for good ; until the day of 
the departure of his life may he come to ruin, while the gods Shamas and 



DEUTERONOMY XXVIII. 219 

Marduk rend him asunder; and may his name be trodden down. — Records of 
the Past, Vol. IX., p. 31-36. 

THE CALAMITIES THAT WOULD FOLLOW DISOBEDIENCE. 

Deut. xxviii : 23, 24. — And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that 
is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust : 
from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — On emerging from the Olive Groves of 
Gaza, the desert was before us — bare, white, and monotonous, without a solitary 
tree, or "the shadow of a great rock," or a single patch of verdure. As we 
rode on we had overhead the bright sky and blazing sun; and beneath, the flinty 
soil, reflecting burning rays that scorched the weeds and stunted camel-thorn, 
and made them crackle like charred sticks under our horses' feet. As the day 
advanced, the sirocco came upon us, blowing across the great " Wilderness of 
Wandering." At first it was but a faint breath, hot and parching, as if coming 
from a furnace. It increased slowly and steadily. Then a thick haze, of a 
dull yellow or brass color, spreading along the southern horizon, and advanced, 
rising and expanding, until it covered the whole face of the sky, leaving the 
sun, a red globe of fire, in the midst. We now knew and felt that it was the 
fierce Simoon. In a few moments, fine impalpable sand began to drift in our 
faces, entering every pore. Nothing could exclude it. It blew in our eyes, 
mouths, and nostrils, and penetrated our very clothes, causing the skin to 
contract, the lips to crack, and the eyes to burn. Respiration became difficult. 
We sometimes gasped for breath ; and then the hot wind and hotter sand rushed 
into our mouths like a stream of liquid fire. We tried to urge on our horses ; 
but though chafing against curb and rein only an hour before, they were now 
almost insensible to whip and spur. We look and longed for shelter from that 
pitiless storm, and for water to slake our burning thirst; but there was none. 
The plain extended on every side, smooth as a lake, to the circle of yellow haze 
that bounded it. No friendly house was there; no rock or bank; no murmur- 
ing stream or solitary well. It seemed to us as if the prophetic curse pronounced 
by the Almighty on a sinful and apostate nation was now being fulfilled. We 
could see, at least, in the whole face of nature, in earth and sky and storm, how 
terrible and how graphic that curse was : — "Thy heaven that is over thy head shall 
be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make 
the rain of the land powder and dust : from heaven shall it come down upon 
thee." — Giant Cities of Bas/ian, p. 210. 

Prof. E. Loomis, LL. D. — On the deserts of Africa and Arabia there some- 
times prevails a wind extremely dry and intensely hot, which raises clouds of 
sand, and transports it to a great distance. These winds are known by the name 
of Simoon, Harmattan, etc., according to their locality. Plants are withered 
by this wind ; men and animals suffer intensely from the heat and dryness of 
the air ; and entire caravans have been buried in the drifting sand. This dust 
is sometimes transported across the Mediterranean into Spain, Sicily and Italy, 



220 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES, 

where the wind which brings it is known by the name of Sirocco. In Sicily, 
during its continuance, the thermometer sometimes rises to a hundred and ten 
degrees in the shade. — Treatise on Meteorology, p. 88. 

Deut. xxviii : 28. — The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment 

of heart. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — In the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans this was 
the case, as it appears from history : but in that by Titus and the Romans, and 
in the subsequent conduct of the. miserable relics of the Jews, their infatuation 
was so evident, that every one who reads of their conduct must be convinced, 
they were given up to judicial blindness and madness, or they never could have 
been so bent upon their own destruction. While, by their obstinate resistance 
to the Roman power, without the least prospect of escaping, they ensured their 
own miseries; by their intestine rage, they became the executioners of the 
wrath of God upon themselves, almost saved their enemies the trouble of 
destroying them, and absolutely put it out of their power to preserve them. — 
Note in loco. 

Deut. xxviii : 29. — And thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall 

save thee. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — The unjust and cruel exactions and oppressions, 
accompanied by every token of contempt and abhorrence, with which the Jews 
have been treated, in almost every nation, and during every age, since the times 
of Christ, can scarcely be conceived, except by those who are conversant in 
their history; but it is impossible, within the limits of this exposition, ""illy to 
elucidate so compendious a prophecy ; and it must suffice to say, that no people 
on earth have been so long and so generally insulted, oppressed, and crushed, 
as they have been, according to the testimony both of their own writers and 
of others. — Note in loco. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — Only oppressed and spoiled evermore : and 
what frequent seizures have been made of their effects in almost all countries ? 
how often have they been fined and fleeced by almost all governments ? how 
often have they been forced to redeem their lives with what is almost as dear as 
their lives, their treasures? Instances are innumerable. — Dissertations on the 
Prophecies, p. 93. 

Sir Walter Scott. — They were a race which, during these dark ages, was 
alike detested by the credulous and prejudiced vulgar, and persecuted by the 
greedy and rapacious nobility. Except perhaps the flying fish, there was no 
race existing on the earth, in the air or the waters, who were the objects of such un- 
remitting, general, and relentless persecution as the Jews of this period. Upon 
the slightest and most unreasonable pretences, as well as "upon accusations the 
most absurd and groundless, their persons and property were exposed to every 
turn of popular fury; for Norman, Saxon, Dane, and Briton, however adverse 
the races were to each other, contended which would look with greatest detes- 
tation upon a people whom it was accounted a point of religion to hate, to re- 
vile, to despise, to plunder, and to persecute. — Jvanhoe, Vol. I., p. 83, 120. 



DEUTERONOMY XXVIII. 221 

Deut. xxviii : 37. — And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among 
all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee. 

Bishop Simon Patrick, D. D. — The name of Jew has long been a proverbial 
mark of detestation and contempt, among all the nations whither they have been 
driven, and is so to this day j so that Christians, Mohammedans, and Pagans, 
join in it. " You use me like a Jew" — " None but a Jew would have done 
this M — " I would not have done so to a Jew," — are expressions everywhere en- 
countered. — Note in loco. 

An Appeal of the Jews to the Justice of Kings and Nations. — It seems 
as if our nation were allowed to survive the destruction of their country, only 
to see the most odious and calumnious imputations laid to their charge, to stand 
as the constant object of the grossest and most shocking injustice, to be as a 
mark for the insulting finger of scorn, and as a sport to the most inveterate 
hatred. — Trans, of Parisian Sanhedrim, p. 64. 

Deut. xxviii : 49, 50. — The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the 
earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation 
of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. 

Rev. George Stanley Faber, B. D. — Remarkable, though perfectly familiar 
to every student of history, has been the accomplishment of this prediction also. 
With the several languages of their immediate neighbors, the Jews were not un- 
acquainted ; for the Hebrews, the Phenician, the Syriac, the Chaldee, and the 
Arabic, are all dialects of one and the same primitive tongue. But the Latin 
which was spoken by the Romans, and the various barbaric western languages 
which were spoken by their auxiliaries, were utterly unknown to the Jews as a 
nation. From far distant Italy came this people of a proverbially fierce coun- 
tenance: and the strong fortifications of Jerusalem, in which the besieged ob- 
stinately placed their trust, and which excited even the admiration of Titus him- 
self, were unable to defend them in the day of trouble. — Diffic. of Infidelity, p. 67. 

Josephus. — When Vespasian entered Gadara, he slew all, man by man, the 
Romans showing mercy to no age, out of hatred to the nation, and remembrance 
of their former injuries. — The like slaughter was made at Gamala, for no- 
body escaped besides two women, and they escaped by concealing themselves 
from the rage of the Romans. For they did not so much as spare young chil- 
dren, but every one at that time snatching up many cast them down from the 
citadel.— Jewish Wars, B. III., c. 7, § 1, and B. IV., c. 1, § 10. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — At the capture of Jerusalem, the Roman soldiers put 
all indiscriminately to death, and ceased not till they became faint and weary 
and overpowered with the work of destruction. — Evid. from Prophecy, p. 61. 

Deut. xxviii : 53, 54. — And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and 
of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, 
wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee. So that the man that is tender among you, and 
very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and 
toward the remnant of his children, which he shall leave. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — In the last siege of Jerusalem by the 



222 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Romans there was a most terrible famine in the city, and Josephus hath given so 
melancholy an account of it, that we cannot read it without shuddering. He 
saith particularly that " women snatched the food out of the very mouths of their 
husbands, and sons of their fathers, and (what is most miserable) mothers of 
their infants;" and in another place he saith, that "in every house, if there 
appeared any semblance of food, a battle ensued, and the dearest friends and re- 
lations fought with one another, snatching away the miserable provisions of life." 
So literally were the words of Moses fulfilled, — " the man's eye shall be evil to- 
ward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward his children, 
because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith 
thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates ; " and in like manner " the 
woman's eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her 
son, and toward her daughter." — Dissertations on the Prophecies, p. 88. 

Deut. xxviii : 56, 57. — The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not have adven- 
tured to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall 
be evil toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children 
which she shall bear : for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and 
straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — This prediction was fulfilled in the last 
siege of Jerusalem by Titus; and we read in Josephus (J. W., B. VI., c. 3, § 4) 
particularly of a noble woman's killing and eating her own sucking child. 
Moses saith, "the tender and delicate woman among you, who would not 
adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground, for delicateness and ten- 
derness ;" and there cannot.be a more natural and lively description of a 
woman, who was, according to Josephus, illustrious for her family and riches. 
Moses saith, "She shall eat them for want of all things; " and according to 
Josephus, she had been plundered of all her substance and provisions by the 
tyrants and soldiers. Moses saith, that she should do it " secretly," and accord- 
ing to Josephus, when she had boiled and eaten half, she covered up the rest, and 
kept it for another time. So clearly and minutely hath this prophecy been fulfilled ; 
and one would have thought that such distress and horror had almost transcended 
imagination, and much less that any person could certainly have foreseen and 
foretold it. — Dissertations on the Prophecies, p. 89. 

Deut. xxviii : 62. — And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven 

for multitude. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — Now not to mention any other of the 
calamities and slaughters which the Jews have undergone, there was in the last 
siege of Jerusalem by Titus an infinite multitude, saith Josephus, who perished 
by famine ; and he computes that during the whole siege the number of those 
who were destroyed by that, and by the war, amounted to 1,100,000, the people 
being assembled from all parts to celebrate the passover ; and the same author 
has given us an account of 1,240,490 destroyed in Jerusalem and other parts of 
Judea, besides 99,200 made prisoners, as Basnage has reckoned them up from 
that historian's account. Indeed, there is not a nation upon earth that hath 



DEUTERONOMY XXVIII. 223 

been exposed to so many massacres and persecutions. Their history abounds 

with them. — Disserts, on Prop/is., p. 90. 

Deut. xxviii : 63. — And ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 

Rev. George Stanley Faber, B. D. — Instead of being merely conquered and 
subjugated, the general fate of other nations attacked by the Romans it was the 
harder lot of the Jews to be torn from their native country, and, on pain of 

death, to be prohibited from setting foot upon its soil. Difficulties of 

Infidelity, p. 69. 

Tertullian.— A public edict of the emperor Adrian rendered it a capital 
crime for a Jew to set foot in Jerusalem, and prohibited them from viewing it 
even at a distance. — Tert. Ap., c. 21. 

Deut. xxviii : 64.— And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the 

earth even unto the other. 

Rev. George Stanley Faber, B. D. — Where is the region in which the dis- 
persed children of Israel are not to be found? Plucked violently from their 
own land, they meet us alike in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. — Difficulties 
of Infidelity, p. 69. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — There is not a country on the face of the earth 
where the Jews are unknown. They are found alike in Europe, Asia, Africa 
and America. They are citizens of the world, without a country. Neither 
mountains, nor rivers, nor deserts, nor oceans — which are the bounda- 
ries of other nations — have terminated their wanderings. They abound in 
Poland, in Holland, in Russia, and in Turkey. In Germany, Spain, Italy, 
France and Britain, they are more thinly scattered. In Persia, China, and 
India — on the east and on the west of the Ganges — " they are few in number 
among the heathen." They have trod the snows of Siberia, and the sands of 
the burning desert ; and the European traveller hears of their existence in the 
regions which he cannot reach, even in the very interior of Africa, south of 
Timbuctoo. From Mosco to Lisbon, from Japan to Britain, from Borneo to 
Archangel, from Hindoostan to Honduras, no inhabitant of any nation upon 
the earth would be known in all the intervening regions but a Jew alone. — 
Evidence from Prophecy, p. 69. 

Deut. xxviii: 65-67. — And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole 
of thy foot have rest : but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eves, 
and sorrow of mind : and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and 
night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life : in the morning thou shalt say, Would God is 
were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine 
heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 

Rev. George Stanley Faber, B. D. — For the exact accomplishment of this 
prediction we may confidently appeal to simple matter of fact. The description 
could not have been more vivid (or more accurate) had it been written in the 
present day, instead of many ages before the predicted dispersion of the houst 
of Israel. — Difficulties of Infidelity, p. 69. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — The history of the Jews throughout the whol 



224 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

world, and in every age since their dispersion, verifies the most minute predic- 
tions concerning them, and to a recital of facts too well authenticated to admit 
of dispute, or too notorious for contradiction, may be added a description of 
them all in the very terms of the prophecy. In the words of Basnage, the 
elaborate historian of the Jews, " Kings have often employed the severity of their 
edicts and the hands of the executioner to destroy them — the seditious multitude 
has performed massacres and executions infinitely more tragical than the princes. 
Both kings and people, heathens, Christians, and Mohammedans, who are 
opposite in so many things, have united in the design of ruining this nation, and 
have no! been able to effect it. The Bush of Moses, surrounded with flames, 
has always burnt without consuming. The Jews have been driven from all 
places of the world, which has only served to disperse them in all parts of the 
universe. They have, from age to age, run through misery and persecution, 
and torrents of their own blood." (B. VI., c. i.) Their banishment from Judea 
was only the prelude to their expulsion from city to city, and from kingdom to 
kingdom. Their dispersion over the globe is an irrefragable evidence of this, 
and many records remain that amply corroborate the fact. Not only did the 
first and second centuries of the Christian era see them twice rooted out of their 
own land, but each succeeding century has teemed with new calamities to that 
once chosen but now long-rejected race. The history of their sufferings is a 
continued tale of horror. 

Revolt is natural to the oppressed ; and their frequent seditions were pro- 
ductive of renewed privations and distresses. Emperors, kings, and califs all 
united in subjecting them to the same " iron yoke." Constantine, after having 
suppressed a revolt which they had raised, and having commanded their ears to 
be cut off, dispersed them as fugitives and vagabonds into different countries, 
whither they carried, in terror to their kindred, the mark of their suffering and 
infamy. In the fifth century they were expelled from Alexandria, which had 
long been one of their safest places of resort. Justinian, from whose principles 
of legislation a wiser and more humane policy ought to have emanated, yielded 
to none of his predecessors in hostility and severity against them. He abolished 
their synagogues — prohibited them even from entering into caves for the 
exercise of their worship — rendered their testimony inadmissible, and deprived 
them of the natural right of bequeathing their property; and when such oppres- 
sive enactments led to insurrectionary movements among the Jews, their 
property was confiscated, many of them were beheaded, and so bloody an 
execution of them prevailed, that, as is expressly related, " all the Jews of that 
country trembled : " a trembling heart was given them. (Basnage, B. VI., c. 21.) 

In the reign of the tyrant Phocas, a general sedition broke out among the 
Jews in Syria. They and their enemies fought with equal desperation. They 
obtained the mastery in Antioch ; but a momentary victory only led to a deeper 
humiliation, and to the infliction of more aggravated cruelties than before. 
They were soon subdued and taken captive ; many of them were maimed, 
others executed, and all the survivors were banished from the city. 



DEUTERONOMY XXVIII. 225 

Gregory the Great afforded them a temporary respite from oppression, which 
only rendered their spoliation more complete, and their suffering more acute, 
under the cruel persecutions of Heraclius. That emperor, unable to satiate his 
hatred against them by inflicting a variety of punishments on those who resided 
within his own dominions, and by finally expelling them from the empire, 
exerted so effectually against them his influence in other countries, that they 
suffered under a general and simultaneous persecution from Asia to the farthest 
extremities of Europe. (Bas., B. VI., c. 21, sec. 17.) In Spain, conversion, 
imprisonment, or banishment were their only alternatives. In France, a 
similar fate awaited them. They fled from country to country, seeking in vain 
any rest for the sole of their foot. Even the wide-extended plains of Asia 
afforded them no resting-place, but have often been spotted with their blood, as 
well as the hills and valleys of Europe. 

Mahomet, whose imposture has been the law and the faith of such countless 
millions, has, from the precepts of the Koran, infused into the minds of his 
followers a spirit of rancor and enmity towards the despised and misbelieving 
Jews. He set an early example of persecution against them, which the Moham-r 
medans have not yet ceased to imitate. In the third year of the Hegira, he 
besieged the castles which they possessed in the Hegiasa, compelled those who 
had fled to them for refuge and defence to an unconditional surrender, banished 
them the country, and parted their property among his Mussulmans. He dis- 
sipated a second time their recombined strength, massacred many of them, and 
imposed upon the remnant a permanent tribute. 

The church of Rome ever ranked and treated the Jews as heretics. The 
canons of different councils pronounced excommunication against those who 
should favor or uphold them against Christians — enjoined all Christians neither 
to eat nor to hold any commerce with them — prohibited them from bearing 
public offices or having Christian slaves — appointed them to be distinguished by 
a mark — decreed that their children should be taken from them, and brought 
up in monasteries ; and, what is equally descriptive of the low estimation in 
which they were held, and of the miseries to which they were subjected, there 
was often a necessity, even for those who otherwise oppressed them, to ordain 
that' it was not lawful to take the life of a Jew without any cause. (Dupin's 
Ecc. Hist.) 

Hallam's account of the Jews during the middle ages is short, but significant. 
" They were everywhere the objects of popular insult and oppression, frequently 
of a general massacre. A time of festivity to others was often the season of 
mockery and persecution to them. It was the custom at Toulouse to smite them 
on the face every Easter. At Beziers they were attacked with stones from Palm 
Sunday to Easter, an anniversary of insult and cruelty generally productive of 
bloodshed, and to which the populace were regularly instigated by a sermon 
from the Bishop." (Hallam's History of the Middle Ages, Vol. I., 2, 33.) 

It was the policy of the kings of France to employ them as a sponge to suck 
their subjects' money, which they might afterward express with less odium than 
15 



226 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

direct taxation would incur. It is almost incredible to what a length extortion 
of money from the Jews was carried. Philip Augustus released all Christians 
in his dominions from their debts to the Jews, reserving a fifth part to himself. 
He afterwards expelled the whole nation from France. St. Louis twice banished 
and twice recalled them ; and Charles VI. finally expelled them from France. 
From that country, according to Mezeray, they were seven times banished. 
They were expelled from Spain; and, by the lowest computation, 170,000 fam- 
ilies departed from that kingdom. (Bas., B. VII., c. 21.) "At Verdun, 
Treves, Mentz, Spires, Worms, many thousands of them were pillaged and mas- 
sacred. A remnant was saved by a feigned and transient conversion ; but the 
greater part of them barricaded their houses, and precipitated themselves, their 
families, and their wealth into the rivers or the flames. These massacres and 
depredations on the Jews were renewed at each crusade." (Gibbon's Hist., 
Vol. VI., p. 97.) 

In England, also, they suffered great cruelty and oppression at the same 
period. During the crusades, the whole nation united in the persecution of 
them. In a single instance, at York, fifteen hundred Jews, including women 
and children, were refused all quarter — could not purchase their lives at any 
price — and, frantic with despair, perished by a mutual slaughter. Each master 
was the murderer of his family, when death became their only deliverance. So 
despised and hated were they, that the barons, when contending with Henry 
III., to ingratiate themselves with the populace, ordered seven hundred Jews to 
be slaughtered at once, their houses to be plundered, and their synagogue to be 
burned. Richard, John, and Henry III. often extorted money from them; and 
the last, by most unscrupulous and unsparing measures, usually defrayed his 
extraordinary expenses with their spoils, and impoverished some of the richest 
among them. His extortions at last became so enormous, and his oppressions 
so grievous, that, in the words of the historian, he reduced the miserable 
wretches to desire leave to depart the kingdom ; but even self-banishment was 
denied them. Edward I. completed their misery, seized on all their property, 
and banished them the kingdom. Above 15,000 Jews were rendered destitute 
of any residence, were despoiled to the utmost, and reduced to ruin. Nearly 
four centuries elapsed before the return to Britain of this abused race. — 
Evidence from Prophecy, p. 70-74. 

Deut. xxviii : 68. — And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof 
I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again : and there ye shall be sold unto your 
enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you. 

Josepkus. — Titus appointed Fronto to decide the fate of those taken alive 
. . . and of the young men he chose out the tallest and most beautiful, and 
reserved them for the triumph ; and as for the rest of the multitude that were 
above seventeen years old, he put them into bonds, and sent them to the Egyp- 
tian mines.— Jewish Wars, B. VI., c. 9, § 2. 

St. Jerome. — After their last overthrow by Adrian many thousands of the 
Jews were sold ; and those who could not be sold, were transported into Egypt, 



DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 227 

and perished by shipwreck or famine, or were massacred by the inhabitants. — 
ffieron. in Zachariam, c. n. 

Deut. xxix : 22, 24. — So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, 
and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that 
land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it; . . . even all nations shall say, 
Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land ? What meaneth the heat of this great 
anger ? 

Rev. George Stanley Faber, B. D. — It is universally taught and believed, 
that the Jews labor under the special curse of God. Their troubles are not 
viewed as a matter of ordinary occurrence, which may reasonably deserve and 
attract a little attention : but they are considered as something out of the com- 
mon course of nature ; and they are contemplated, as an awful indication of the 
Divine displeasure. According to the prophecy, as a simple fact, this opinion 
always has been entertained. — Diff. of In/id., p. 67. 

Volney. — I wandered over the country — I enumerated the kingdoms of 
Damascus and Idumea, of Jerusalem and Samaria. This Syria, said I to my- 
self, now almost depopulated, then contained a hundred flourishing cities, and 
abounded with towns, villages and hamlets. What are become of so many pro? 
ductions of the hand of man ? What are become of these ages of abundance 
and of life ? — Great God ! from whence proceed such melancholy revolutions ? 
For what cause is the fortune of these countries so strikingly changed ? Why 
are so many cities destroyed ? Why is not that ancient population reproduced 
and perpetuated? — Ruins of Empires, p. 7, 8. 

Dr. Alex. Keith. — Such are the prophecies, and such are the facts respecting 
the Jews ; — and from premises like these the feeblest logician may draw a moral 
demonstration. — Evi.from Prophecy, p. 79. 

Bishop Thos. Newton, D. D. — Here are instances of prophecies, prophecies 
delivered above three thousand years ago, and yet as we see fulfilling in the 
world at this very time : and what stronger proof can we desire of the Divine 
legation of Moses? How these instances may affect others I know not ; but 
for myself I must acknowledge, they not only convince, but amaze and astonish 
me beyond expression. — Disserts, on Prophs., p. 96. 

THE PARENT EAGLE. 

Deut. xxxii : 1 1, 12. — As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad 
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings : so the Lord alone did lead him. 

Sir Humphrey Davy. — I once saw a very interesting sight above one of the 
crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going on the 20th of August in the pursuit of black 
game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the 
manoeuvres of flight. They began by rising from the top of the mountain in 
the eye of the sun ; it was about mid-day, and bright for this climate. They 
at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them ; they paused on 
their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, and then took a second 
and larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of 



228 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



flight so as to make a gradually extending spiral. The young ones still slowly 
followed, apparently flying better as they mounted ; and they continued this 
kind of sublime exercise, always rising, till they became mere points in the air, 
and the young ones were lost and afterwards their parents to our aching sight. 
— Salmonia, 99. 

HONEY OUT OF THE ROCK. 

Deut. xxxii : 13. — And he made him to suck honey out of the rock. 
Dr. W. M. Thomson. — In a gigantic cliff of Wady Kurn immense swarms 




MOSES VIEWING THE PROMISED LAND. 



of bees have made their home. The people of M'alia, several years ago, let a 
man down the face of the rock by ropes. He was entirely protected from the 
assaults of the bees, and extracted a large amount of honey ; but he was so terri- 
fied by the prodigious swarms of bees that he could not be induced to repeat 
the exploit. — The Land and the Book, I., p. 460. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The innumerable fissures and clefts 
of the limestone rocks, which everywhere flank the valleys, afford in their recesses 
secure shelter for any number of swarms, and many of the Bedouin, particularly 



DEUTERONOMY XXXIV. 229 

in the wilderness of Judea, obtain their subsistence by Bee-hunting, bringing 
into Jerusalem jars of that wild honey on which John the Baptist fed in the 
wilderness, and which Jonathan long before had unwittingly tasted, when the 
comb had dropped on the ground from the hollow of the tree in which it was 
suspended. The visitor to the Wady Kurn, when he sees the busy multitudes 
of bees about its clefts, cannot but recall to mind the promise: "With honey 
out of the strong rock would I have satisfied tb.ee." There is no epithet of the 
Land of Promise more true to the letter, even to the present day, than this, that 
it was " a land flowing with milk and honey." — The Land of Israel, p. 88. 

THE VIEW FROM PISGAH. 

Deut. xxxiv : 1—4. — And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, 
to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho: and the Lord showed him all the land of 
Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtaii, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land 
of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city 
of palm-trees, unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I svvare unto 
Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed : I have caused thee 
to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — On these brows overlooking the 
mouth of the Jordan, over against Jericho, every condition is met both for the 
Pisgah of Balaam and of Moses. Here we halted and gazed upon a prospect 
on which it has been permitted to few European eyes to feast. The day was 
clear, and revealed to us (whether or not we were standing on the exact spot) 
at least the very same landscape as that on which " Moses, the servant of the 
Lord," closed his mortal eye. The altitude of this brow cannot be less than 
4,500 feet, so completely does it overlook the heights of Hebron and of central 
Judea. To the eastward, as we turned round, the ridge seemed gently to slope 
for two or three miles, when a few small, ruin-clad tells, or hillocks, broke the 
monotony of the outline ; and then, sweeping forth, rolled in one vast unbroken 
expanse, the goodly Belka — one boundless plain, stretching far into Arabia, till 
lost in the horizon — one waving ocean of corn and grass, of which the Arabs 
may well boast. 

As the eye turned southwards towards the line of the ridge on which we were 
clustered, the peak of Jebel Shihan just stood out behind Jebel Attarus, which 
opened to reveal to us the situation of Kerak, though not its walls. Beyond and 
behind these sharply rose Mount Hor and Seir, and the rosy granite peaks of 
Arabia faded away into the distance towards Akabah. Still turning westwards, 
in front of us, two or three lines of terraces reduced the height of the plateau as 
it descended to the Dead Sea, the western outline of which we could trace, in 
its full extent, from Usdum to Feshkhah. It lay like a long strip of molten 
metal, with the sun mirrored on its surface, waving and undulating in its further 
edge, unseen in its eastern limits, as though poured from some deep cavern 
beneath our feet. There, almost in the centre of the line, a break in the ridge, 
and a green spot below, marked Engedi, the nest once of the Kenite, now of 
the wild goat. — The fortress of Masada and jagged Shukif rose above the 



230 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

mountain-line, but still as far below us, and lower, too, than the ridge of 
Hebron, which we could trace, as it lifted gradually from the southwest, as far 
as Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The buildings of Jerusalem we could not see, 
though all the familiar points in the neighborhood were at once identified. 
There was the mount of Olives, with the church at its top, the gap in the hills 
leading up from Jericho, and the rounded heights of Benjamin on its other side. 
Still turning northward, the eye was riveted by the deep Ghor, with the rich 
green islets of Ain Sultan and Ain Duk — twin oases, nestling, as it were, 
under the wall of Quarantania. There, closer still, beneath us, had Israel's last 
camp extended, in front of the green fringe which peeped forth from under the 
terraces in our foreground. The dark sinuous bed of the Jordan, clearly defined 
near its mouth, was soon lost in dim haze. Then looking over it, the eye rested 
on Gerizim's rounded top ; and, further still, opened the plain of Esdraelon, 
the shoulder of Carmel, or some other intervening height, just showing to the 
right of Gerizim, while the faint and distant bluish haze beyond it told us that 
there was the sea, " the utmost sea." It seemed as if but a whiff were needed 
to brush off the haze and reveal it clearly. Northwards, again, rose the distinct 
outline of unmistakable Tabor, aided by which we could identify Gilboa aad 
Jebel Duhy. Snowy Hermon's top was mantled with cloud, and Lebanon's 
highest range must have been exactly shut behind it ; but in front, due north 
of us, stretched in long line the dark forests of Ajlun, bold and undulating, with 
the steep sides of mountains here and there whitened by cliffs, terminating in 
Mount Gilead, behind Es Salt. To the northeast, the vast Hauran stretched 
beyond, filling in the horizon line to the Belka, between which and the Hauran 
(or Bashan) there seems to be no natural line of separation. The tall range of 
Jebel Hauran, behind Bozrah, was distinctly visible. 

We did indeed congratulate each other on the privilege of having gazed 
on this superb panorama, which will live in memory's eye. "And the Lord 
showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of 
Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and 
the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto 
Zoar. ' ' — Land of Israel, 5 40-5 43 . 



Joshua. 



THE OVERFLOW OF JORDAN. 

Joshua iii : 15. — Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — I visited the scene of this miracle (Israel's 
dry-shod march across Jordan) on the 1st of April, and found barley harvest 
about Jericho already ended. I also found the river full to the brim, and saw 



JOSHUA VI. 231 

evidence in abundance that it had overflowed its banks very recently. Harvest 
in the vale of the Lower Jordan comes on about the middle of March. The 
Jordan does not depend upon tributaries for its steady supply of water, but is 
almost wholly formed and fed by certain great fountains, which arise far north, 
around the base of snowy Hermon, and in this fact we find an explanation of 
the overflow of the river so late in the season as March. These immense 
fountains do not feel the effects of the early winter rains at all. It requires the 
heavy and long-continued storms of mid-winter before they are moved in the 
least; and it is not until toward the close of winter, when the melting snows of 
Hermon and Lebanon, with the heavy rains of the season, have penetrated 
through the mighty masses of these mountains, and filled to overflowing their 
hidden chambers and vast reservoirs, that the streams gush, forth in their full 
volume. The Huleh — marsh and lake — is filled, and then Gennesaret rises, 
and pours its accumulated waters into the swelling Jordan about the first of 
March. Thus it comes to pass that it does actually " overflow all its banks 
during all the time of harvest ; " nor does it soon subside, as other short rivers 
do, when the rains cease. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II. , p. 453-455. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, A. M. — It was in the month of April I visited this "holy 
place" on the Jordan (the Pilgrims' bathing-place). It was already the time 
of harvest, for the people of Jericho were reaping their little fields upon the plain. 
And we are told that "Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest." 
The fact is still true, though Palestine is changed. The heavy rains of early 
spring falling on the northern mountains, and the winter snows melting on the 
sides of Hermon, send a thousand tributaries to the sacred river. It rises to the 
top of the lower banks, and when I was there, the ruddy, swollen waters had 
flowed over and covered portions of the verdant meadows on each side. — Giant 
Cities of Bashan, p. 112. 

STONE KNIVES. 

Josh, v: 2. — At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives (knives of flints), 
and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. 

Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M. A. — The knives of the Egyptians, and 
of other nations in early times, were probably only of hard stone, and the use 
of the stone or "flint knife" was sometimes retained for sacred purposes after 
the introduction of iron and steel. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1572. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D.— It is well known that in the Sinaitic 
Peninsula stone or flint knives have often been discovered on opening ancient 
places of sepulture. The Abyssinian tribes at the present day use flint knives in 
performing circumcision. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1573. 

THE CURSE OF JERICHO. 

Josh, vi : 26. — And Joshua adjured them, at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the 
Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho : he shall lay the foundation thereof in 
his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. 

Rosenmuller. — This curse, according to I Kings xvi : 34, was fulfilled in 



232 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

one Hiel, who lost his eldest son, Abiram, when he laid the foundation, and his 
youngest son, Segub, when he built the gate. — Note in loco. 

Dr. John Kitto. — In the ancient history of other nations, we meet with 
many instances of prohibitions to rebuild a city destroyed in war, with impre- ( 
cations against those who should attempt it. Strabo states that it was believed 
that Troy had not been rebuilt on its former site from the dread of a curse which 
Agamemnon was supposed to have pronounced against him that should do so. 
This, he adds, was an ancient custom; and, as a further instance, mentions that 
Croesus, after he had destroyed Sidene, uttered a curse against him who should 
rebuild its walls. The Romans, also, after the destruction of Carthage, by Scipio 
Africanus, pronounced a curse upon him who should presume to rebuild that city. 
— Pict. Bib. in loco. 

GERIZIM AND EBAL. 

Josh, viii : 33-35. — And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this 
side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the cove- 
nant of the Lord, as well the stranger as he that was born among them ; half of them over 
against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal ; as Moses the servant of 
the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward 
he read ali the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written 
in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua 
read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the 
strangers that were conversant among them. 

Lieut. S. Anderson, R. E. — This spot, the site of the ancient Shechem, the 
city of refuge, is unrivalled in Palestine for beauty and luxuriance. There 
are two mountains parallel to each other, almost meeting at their bases, but one 
mile and a half apart at their summits. They enclose a beautiful little valley 
between them, not more than 100 yards wide at the narrowest part, and widen- 
ing out in both directions. The town of Nablus is situated at the narrowest 
part of the vale. The mountain on the north is Ebal, that on the south Gerizim, 
and the vale lies east and west. An excursion was made to the summit of Mount 
Ebal, 1,200 feet above the vale. Just below the summit, there is a break in the 
regular slope of the hill, and a small but steep valley comes up from the vale 
below almost to the summit, forming a vast natural amphitheatre, in height 
equal to that of the mountain. Immediately opposite to this the steep slope of 
Mount Gerizim is similarly broken by a valley forming a second natural amphi- 
theatre of equal beauty and grandeur. In these two lateral valleys were assem- 
bled the twelve tribes of Israel, under Joshua, six tribes on Gerizim and six 
tribes on Ebal. The Levites and the ark were in the strip of the vale, and the 
blessings and cursings were read before the whole congregation. Nothing is 
wanting in the natural beauty of the site to add to the solemnity and impressive- 
ness of such a scene. — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 361. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The acoustic properties of this 
valley (Shechem) are interesting, the more so that several times they are 
incidentally brought to our notice in Holy Writ, as on the occasion, when 
Jonathan "went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, 




(233) 



234 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem; " and 
when at a far more eventful period, we read that all Israel were gathered 
together there, " half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over 
against Mount Ebal," when Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and 
cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law . . . before all 
the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the strangers 
that were conversant among them." This very statement has been made the 
ground for a recent objection against the veracity of the narrative. Yet it is 
impossible to conceive a. spot more admirably adapted for the purpose than this 
one, in the very centre of the newly acquired land, nor one which could more 
exactly fulfil all the required conditions. Let us imagine the chiefs and the 
priests gathered in the centre of the valley, the tribes stretching out as they 
stood in compact masses, the men of war and heads of families, half on the 
north and half on the south, crowding the slopes on either side, the mixed 
multitude, the women and the children, extending along in front till they spread 
into the plain beyond, but still in sight : and there is no difficulty, much less 
impossibility, in the problem. A single voice might be heard by many 
thousands, shut in and conveyed up and down by the enclosing hills. In the 
early morning we could not only see from Gerizim a man driving his ass down 
a path on Mount Ebal, but could hear every word he uttered as he urged it on; 
and in order to test t-he matter more certainly, on a subsequent occasion two of 
our party stationed themselves on opposite sides of the valley, and with perfect 
ease recited the commandments antiphonally. — The Land of Israel, p. 151. 

GIBEON. 

Josh, x : 2. — They feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, 
and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty men. 

Mr. George Grove, Crystal Palace. — The traveller who pursues the northern 
camel-road from Jerusalem, turning off to the left at Tuleil el-Ful (Gibeah) on 
that branch of it which leads westward to Jaffa, finds himself, after crossing one 
or two stony and barren ridges, in a district of a more open character. This 
is the central plateau of the country, the "land of Benjamin," and these 
round hills are the Gibeahs, Gebas, Gibeons, and Ramahs, whose names occur 
so frequently in the records of this district. Retaining its ancient name almost 
intact, El-Jib (Gibeon) stands on the northernmost of a couple of these 
mamelons, just at the place where the road to the sea parts into two branches, 
the one by the lower level of the Wady Suleiman, the other by the heights of 
the Bethhorons to Lydda and Joppa. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 916. 

Dean Stanley, D. D.— The village of El-Jib, both by its name and situa- 
tion, is incontestably identified with the ancient Gibeon. — Sinai and Palestine, 
p. 212. 

Rev. \V. M. Thomson, D. D.— El-Jib, the Gibeon of the Bible, is situated 
on an isolated and rocky hill of moderate elevation, with plains, valleys, and 
higher mountains all around it. Remains of ancient buildings, tombs, and 



JOSHUA X. 235 

quarries indicate a large and important city, though it is now a miserable 
hamlet. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 545. 

BATTLE OF BETH-HORON. 

Josh, x: 10, 11. — And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great 
slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote 
them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah. And it came to pass, as they fled before Israel, and 
were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven 
upon them unto Azekah, and they died : they were more which died with hailstones than 
they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. 

Mr. George Grove, Crystal Palace. — There is no room for doubt that the 
two Beth-horons still survive in the modern villages of Beit'ur et-Tahta and 
Beit'ur el-T6ka, which were first noticed by Dr. Clarke, and have been since 
visited by Dr. Robinson, Mr. Stanley, and others. Besides the similarity of 
the name, and the fact that the two places are still designated as " upper " and 
"lower," all the requirements of the narrative are fulfilled in this identification. 
The road is still the direct one from the site which must have been Gibeon 
(El-Jib), and from Michmash (Mukhmas) to the Philistine Plain on the one 
hand, and Antipatris on the other. On the mountain which lies to the south- 
ward of the nether village is still preserved the name (Yalo) and the site of 
Ajalon, so closely connected with the proudest memories of Beth-horon ; and 
the long descent between the two remains unaltered from what it was on that 
great day, "which was like no day before or after it." From Gibeon to the 
Upper Beth-horon is a distance of about four miles of broken ascent and descent. 
The ascent, however, predominates, and this, therefore, appears to be the "going 
up" to Beth-horon, which formed the first stage of Joshua's pursuit. With 
the upper village the descent commences; the road rough and difficult even for 
the mountain paths of Palestine. This rough descent from the upper to the 
lower Beit'ur is the "going down" to Beth-horon of the Bible narrative. 
Standing on the high ground of the upper village, and overlooking the wild 
scene, we may feel assured that it was over this rough path that the Canaanites 
fled to their native lowlands. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 292. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — The fugitives had outstripped the pursuers, they had 
crossed the high ridge of Beth-horon the Upper; they were in full flight down 
the descent to Beth-horon the Nether; when, as afterwards in the fight of Barak 
against Sisera, one of the fearful tempests which from time to time sweep over 
the hills of Palestine, burst upon the disordered army, and "they were more 
which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the 
sword. " — Sinai and Palestine, p. 206. 

Diodorus Siculus. — When the Persians were on their way to Delphi to spoil 
the temple, there arose a sudden and incredible tempest of wind and hail, with 
dreadful thunder and lightning, by which great rocks were rent to pieces and 
cast upon the heads of the Persians, destroying them by heaps. Those who 
survived took to flight, terrified by this portent from the immortal gods. — Diod. 
Sic. } 1. xi.., c. 1. 



236 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Dr. Halley. — Two remarkable falls of hail happened in April and May, 
1697. The latter was the most extraordinary. It occurred in Hertfordshire 
(England) after a storm of thunder and lightning. Several persons were killed 
by the hail, their bodies being beaten black and blue. Vast oaks were split by 
it, and fields of rye cut down as with a scythe. The stones measured from 
ten to fourteen inches in circumference. Their figures were various, some 
angular, some oval, some flat. — Philosophical Transactions, No. 229. 

Dr. Neil. — A remarkable hail- fall occurred during a thunder-storm in the 
Orkneys, July 24th, 181 8. Mingled with ordinary hail were enormous masses 
of ice, some as large as the egg of a goose, whereby animals were killed, and 
several persons wounded. — Edin. Philos. Trans., Vol. IX. 

Commodore Porter. — It was in the summer of 183 1, at Constantinople. — • 
We had got perhaps a mile and a half on our way down the Bosphorus, when a 
cloud rising in the west gave indications of an approaching rain. In a few 
minutes we discovered something falling from the heavens with a heavy splash, 
and of a whitish appearance. 1 could not conceive what it was, but observing 
some gulls near, I supposed it to be them darting for fish ; but soon after dis- 
covered that they were large balls of ice falling. Immediately we heard a sound 
like rumbling thunder, or ten thousand carriages rolling furiously over the pave- 
ment. The whole Bosphorus was in a foam, as though heaven's artillery had 
been discharged upon us and our frail machine. Our fate seemed inevitable ; 
our umbrellas were raised to protect us, the lumps of ice stripped them into 
ribbands. We fortunately had a bullock's hide in the boat, under which we 
crawled and saved ourselves from further injury. One of the three oarsmen had 
his hand literally smashed ; another much injured in the shoulder ; and all more 
or less injured. A smaller kaick accompanied, with my two servants. They 
were both disabled, and are now in bed with their wounds ; the kaick was ter- 
ribly bruised. It was the most awful and terrific scene that I ever witnessed, 
and God forbid that I should ever be exposed to such another. Balls of ice as 
large as my two fists fell into the boat ; and some of them came with such vio- 
lence as certainly to have broken an arm or leg, had they struck us in those 
parts. One of them struck the blade of an oar and split it. The scene lasted 
may be five minutes, but it was five minutes of the most awful feeling that I 
ever experienced. When it passed over, we found the surrounding hills covered 
with masses of ice, I cannot call it hail ; the trees stripped of their leaves and 
limbs, and everything looking desolate. Two boatmen were killed in the upper 
part of the village of Buyukaere ; and I have heard of broken bones in abund- 
ance. Many of the thick brick tiles with which my roof is covered are smashed 
to atoms, and my house was inundated by the rain that succeeded this visitation. 
It is impossible to convey an idea of what it was. — Quoted in Pict. Bib. 

Plutarch. — When the business (between Timoleon and the Carthagenians) 
came to a decision by the sword, where art is no less requisite than strength, 
all of a sudden there broke out dreadful thunders from the mountains, mingled 
with long trails of lightning ; after which the black clouds, descending from the 



TOSHUA X. 



237 



tops of the hills, fell upon the two armies in a storm of wind, rain, and hail. 
The tempest was on the backs of the Greeks, but beat upon the faces of the 
Barbarians, and almost blinded them with the stormy showers and the fire con- 
tinually streaming from the clouds. — Plut., Timol., c. 28. 

Livy. — We are told that the Gauls, when plundering Delphi, were destroyed 
by a storm. A like storm now discomfited the Thracians when they were 
approaching the summit of the mountain Donuca. They were not only over- 
whelmed by a deluge of rain, followed by prodigious thick showers of hail, and 
accompanied with tremendous noises in the sky, peals of thunder, and flashes 
of lightning which dazzled their sight ; but the thunderbolts also fell so thick 
on all sides that they seemed to be aimed at their bodies, and not only the sol- 
diers, but their officers also were struck by them and fell. They fled therefore 

precipitately. — Livy, 1. xl., c. 
58. 

Prof. E. Loomis, LL. D. — 
The size of hailstones varies 
from one-tenth of an inch or 
less in diameter to more than 
four inches. On the 13th of 
August, 1 85 1, about 1 p. m., 
hailstones fell in New Hamp- 
shire weighing eighteen ounces. 
The stones were somewhat por- 
ous and of irregular shape, and 
their largest circumference ex- 
ceeded fifteen inches. A few 
years since, hailstones weighing 
sixteen ounces fell in the city 
of Pittsburgh, and hailstones 
weighing over half a pound 
have fallen in several places of the United States. On the 7th of May, 1822, 
there fell at Bonn, in Germany, hailstones weighing from twelve to thirteen 
ounces, and stones weighing half a pound have repeatedly fallen in France and 
Italy. On the 22d of May, 1851, in the southern part of India, many hailstones 
fell about the size of oranges. — Treatise on Meteorology, p. 129, 130. 

TRAMPLING ON THE VANQUISHED. 

Vsh. x : 24. — Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings. And they came near, 
and put their feet upon the necks of them. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — This was anciently a common form of ex- 
pressing triumph over a fallen adversary. When the Persian king Sapor took 
captive the Roman emperor Valerian, he, for some time, used to put his feet 
upon his neck when he mounted his horse ; and after long captivity, caused 
him to be flayed. The custom is indeed recorded even on the rocks of the 




TRAMPLING ON THE CONQUERED. 



238 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

East. One very striking instance appears at Besitoon, in the ancient Media, 
where the sculptured face of the rock represents a conquering monarch standing 
with one foot upon the body of a conquered king, whose hands are uplifted in 
supplication. Another sculptured rock in the same neighborhood represents 
a crowned figure with one foot upon the head and the other between the shoul- 
ders of a prostrate king. The same custom is frequently indicated in the 
sculptures of Egypt. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Quintus Curtius. — Dioxippus, having thrown his enemy Horratas to the 
ground, drew his sword, and standing over him, placed his foot upon his neck. 
— Q. Curt., lib. ix., c. 7. 

Gibbon. — We are told that Valerian, in chains, but invested with the im- 
perial purple, was exposed to the multitude, a constant spectacle of fallen 
greatness ; and that whenever the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, he 
placed his foot on the neck of the Roman emperor. — Decline and Fall, chap. x. 

Roberts. — This, in the East, is a favorite way of triumphing over a fallen 
foe. In the history of the battles of the gods or giants, particular mention is 
made of the closing scene — how the conquerors went and trampled on their 
enemies. — Orient. Illust., p. 135. 

EGLON AND LACHISH. 

Josh, x : 34. — And from Lachish Joshua passed unto Eglon, and all Israel with him ; and they 
encamped against it, and fought against it : and they took it on that day. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — " From Lachish Joshua passed on to Eglon," 
and so did we. We were now in the track of the great conqueror, treading the very 
soil which he trod more. 1 ,111 thirty centuries ago, and visiting the sites of those 
royal cities which he wrested from the Canaanite kings. As we read the brief 
narrative of his marches and his victories, we are struck with the minute accuracy 
of his topography. The distance from Lachish to Eglon is just about two miles ; 
and it was thus easy for the Israelites, after the capture of the former, to 
march on the latter, and " take it the same day." — Giant Cities of Bashan, 
p. 213. 

CHARIOTS OF WAR. 

1 

Josh, xi : 4. — And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the 
sand that is upon the seashore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — The military power of the northern races, the 
Hittites and their allies, is represented in Joshua as consisting especially in the 
multitude of their chariots. This agrees with the Egyptian accounts, which 
similarly make the chariots of the Sheta their main force. — Historical Illustra- 
tions of the Old Testament, p. 101. 

TAANACH AND MEGIDDO. ' 

Josh, xvii : II. — And Manasseh had . . . Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo 

and her towns. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — Taanach is almost always named in com- 



JOSHUA XXIV. 239 

pany with Megiddo, and they were evidently the chief towns of that fine rich 
district which forms the western portion of the great plain of Esdraelon. There 
they are still to be found. The identification of Ta'annuk with Taanach may be 
taken as one of the surest in the whole Sacred Topography. It was known to 
Eusebius, who mentions it twice in the Onomastieon, as " a very large village," 
standing between three and four Roman miles from Legio — the ancient 
Megiddo. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3150. 

THE HORNET. 

Josh, xxiv: 12. — And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even 
the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword nor with thy bow. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Instances are on record in profane 
history where hornets have multiplied to such a degree as to become a pest to 
the inhabitants. The furious attack of a swarm of hornets drives cattle or 
horses to madness, and has even caused the death of the animals. From the 
terror they inspire, their attacks may be spoken of in a metaphorical sense, like 
the Greek and Latin ALstnis, or Gadfly, to signify the panic and alarm with 
which the approach of the hosts of Israel would inspire the Canaanites. In the 
Holy Land we found four species, all very common, but none of them identical 
with our hornet. When any of our horses had accidentally trodden on a nest, 
it was necessary to retreat with all speed, for the attack of the enraged insects at 
once caused a stampede throughout the camp. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 322. 



Judges. 



CAPTIVES DISABLED. 

Judges i: 6, 7. — But Adoni-bezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off 
his thumbs and great toes. And Adoni-bezek said, Three-score and ten kings, having their 
thumbs and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table ; as I have done, so God 
hath requited me. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — This form of mutilation was not 
arbitrary, but chosen in order to render those who suffered it unfit for warlike 
service ; henceforth they could neither wield the bow, nor stand firm in battle, 
nor escape by flight.— Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 32. 

^Elian. — The Athenians, at the instigation of Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, made 
a decree that all the inhabitants of the island of Egina should have the thumb 
cut off from the right hand, so that ever after they might be disabled from 
holding a spear, yet might handle an oar. — Var. Hist., 1. ii., c. 9. 

Suetonius. — A Roman nobleman, who had cut off' the thumbs of his two 
sons, to prevent them from being called to a military life, was, by order of 
Augustus, publicly sold, both he and his property. — Vita August., c. 24. 



240 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



Athen^eus. — It is said of some of the Parthian kings that at table they 
threw food to their famished vassals, who would catch it up like dogs, and like 
dogs were beaten till blood flowed from them. — Deipnosophistce, lib. iv., p. 152. 

ASHTAROTH. 

Jud. ii: 12. — And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the 
land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, 
and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The worship of Ashtoreth by the Cana- 
anitish nations generally (Jud. ii : 11-13,) accords with a hieroglyphic inscrip- 
tion of Rameses II., which mentions Asterte as a Hittite divinity. — Hist. Illust. 
of O. T.,p. 101. 

OX-GOAD. 

Jud. iii: 31. — And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six 
hundred men with an ox-goad : and he also delivered Israel. 

Homer. — Lycurgus put to flight Bacchus and his votaries, driving them from 

the sacred grove of Nyss'a with an ox-goad. — 

vi., v. 135. 

Rev. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A.— "The 

husbandman," says Mr. Buckingham (in his 

Travels), "was holding the plough with one 

hand, by a handle like that of a walking crutch, 

., while he bore in the other a 




>3W 



COUNTING THE HANDS CUT OFF. 



goad of seven or eight feet in 
length, armed with a sharp 
point of iron at one end, and 
at the other with a plate of 
the same metal, shaped like 
a caulking-chisel, for cleaning 
the earth from the plough- 
share." And Maundrel, who 
gives nearly the same description, says, "May we not conjecture that it was 
with such a goad as one of these that Shamgar made that prodigious slaughter 
related of him? I am confident that whoever should see one of these instru- 
ments would judge it to be a weapon no less fit, perhaps fitter, than a sword 
for such execution." — Pictorial Bible, note in loco. 

BARAK'S VICTORY OVER SISERA. 

Jud. iv: 13-15. — And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of 
iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of 
Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath deliv- 
ered Sisera into thine hand : is not the Lord gone out before thee ? So Barak went down from 
Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his 
chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak ; so that Sisera lighted 
down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D.— The means we have at present for 




■Ci 



JUDGES V. 243 

illustrating the local scene of Barak's victory over Sisera impart a new interest 
to the narrative, and furnish a remarkable testimony to its accuracy. Though 
the song of Deborah and Barak was written thousands of years ago, so many of 
the places mentioned in it have survived to our time and been identified, 
that this battle-field lies now mapped out before us on the face of the country 
almost as distinctly as if we were reading the account of a contemporary event. 
Dr. Thomson, who has had his home for a quarter of a century almost in sight 
of Tabor, at the foot of which the battle was fought, has given a living picture 
of the movements of the hostile armies, and of the localities referred to, showing 
that nearly all these still exist and bear their ancient names, and occur precisely 
in the order that the events of the narrative presuppose. The passage is too long 
for citation {Land and the Book, Vol. II., 1 41-144), but will be found to illus- 
trate strikingly the topographical accuracy of Scripture. Stanley has given a 
similar description {Sin. and Pal, p. 331). — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 245. 

WHITE ASSES. 

Jud. v: 10. — Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the 

way. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — White asses were an especial mark 
of rank and dignity. Thus Deborah addresses the Judges as "ye that ride on 
white asses; " and white asses are still in high esteem. Bagdad is celebrated 
for its breed of white asses, which are considered more fleet than others ; and 
they are to be seen also in Damascus, where they command fancy prices, but 
are tender, and do not flourish near the coast. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 39. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — The higher estimation in which white asses are 
held is indicated by the superior style of their furniture and decorations ; and 
in passing through the streets, the traveller will not fail to notice the con- 
spicuous appearance which they make in the line of asses which stand waiting 
to be hired. — Pictorial Bible, in loco. 

RIVER KISHON. 

Jud. v : 21. — The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. 

Mr, George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — The modern name of Kishion is Nahr 

Mitkutta, and drains the waters of the plain of Esdraelon. Its course is in a 

direction nearly due northwest along the lower part of the plain nearest the foot 

of the Samarian hills, and close beneath the very cliffs of Carmel, breaking 

through the hills which separate the plain of Esdraelon from the maritime plain of 

Acre, by a very narrow pass beneath the eminence of Horothieh, which is believed 

still to retain a trace of the name " Harosheth of the Gentiles." Of the 

identity of the Kishion with the present Nahr Mukutta, there can be no question. 

The existence of the sites of Taanach and Megiddo along its course, and the 

complete agreement of the circumstances noticed with the requirements of the 

story of Elijah, are sufficient to satisfy us that the two are one and the same. — 

Smith's Diet. , p. 1 5 70. 
16 



244 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

EMBROIDERED GARMENTS. 

Jud. v : 30. — Have they not sped ? Have they not divided the prey ; to every man a damsel or 
two ; to Sisera a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors of needlework, of divers colors 
of needlework on both sides, meet for the neck of them that take the spoil ? 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — Garments embroidered with the needle were 
worn, not by females only, but by men, for whom they were often wrought by 
the hands of their wives. — Testimony of the Heathen, p. 157. 
^Eschylus. — This tissue, view it ; 

The texture is thine own, the rich embroidery; 
Thine are these figures, by thy curious hand 
Imaged in gold. — Choeph., V., 229. 
Theocritus. — Hercules . . . arrayed 

In no rich vest, whose floating folds displayed 

The needle's art, — in plain unprincely robe, 

He ranged the wide inhospitable globe. — Idyl, XXIV. 

THE MIDIANITES. 

Jud. vi : 2. — And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel : and because of the Midianites 
the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong- 
holds. 

Rev. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — When Baldwin I. presented himself with 
some troops before Askelon, the citizens were afraid to come out to give him 
battle. On this, finding it would be no advantage to remain there, he ranged 
about the plains between the mountains and the sea, and found villages whose 
inhabitants, having left their houses, had retired with their wives and children, 
their flocks and herds into subterraneous caves. — Pictorial Bible, in loco. 

Jud. vi : 3,4. — And so it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the 
Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them : and they encamped 
against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no 
sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 

Rev. Henrv J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — In the days of the Hebrew Judges, b. 
c. 1256, the Midianites, and the Children of the East, came up and destroyed 
the increase of the earth. The same is now done every year by the Bedavvy 
Arabs, under the impotent government of Constantinople ; and the remnants 
of the people are compelled, as of old, to live in dens which are in the moun- 
tains, and in caves, and in strongholds. — Bible Lands, p. 239. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — The Bedouin Arabs come up from their deserts 
in the spring, and perhaps remain through the summer in the territories of those 
cultivators, who are so unfortunate as to lie at their mercy. If there is not an 
established understanding between the nomades and the cultivators, as to the 
proportion which the latter are to pay for exemption, the Bedouins encamp and 
pasture their cattle in the cultivated grounds, after securing such corn and other 
vegetable products as they may happen to require for their own use during the 
remainder of the year. The Bedouins also, when thus oppressing the cultivator, 



JUDGES VII. 245 

seize all the cattle that are brought abroad, and add them to their own flocks 
and herds ; and as it is impossible and useless to keep them continually in 
confinement, the inhabitants soon become deprived of all their cattle, like the 
Israelites. — Pictorial Bible, p. 34. 

Jud. vi : 5. — They and their camels were without number. 
Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — The present inhabitants of the same 
regions appear to value the camel quite as highly as their ancestors, for its num- 
bers are not diminished. To give one illustration out of many. Thevenot 
speaks of a man by the name of Ali Bey, who, when he died, owned no less 
than "fourscore thousand camels, and about as many asses." — Bible Lands, 
p. 240. 

MEN LAPPING. 

Jud. vii : 6. — And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were 
three hundred men : but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 

Rev. J. Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — These men, instead of kneeling down to 
take a long draught, or successive draughts, from the water, employed their 
hand as the dog employs its tongue — that is, forming it into a hollow spoon, 
and dipping water with it from the stream. We have often seen it done, and 
the comparison to the lapping of a dog spontaneously occurred to our mind. 
When travelling with small caravans, we have had opportunities of seeing both 
processes. On coming to water a person who wishes to drink cannot stop the 
whole party to wait for him; and therefore, if on foot, any delay would oblige 
him to unusual exertion in order to overtake his party; therefore he drinks in 
the manner we have described. — Pictorial Bible, in loco. 

TEE SPY. 

Jud. vii: 9, 10. — And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get 
thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thy hand. But if thou fear to go down, 
go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host. 

Homer. — Is there, said he, a chief so greatly brave, 
His life to hazard and his country save? 
Lives there a man who singly dares to go 
To yonder camp, or seize some straggling foe? 
Or, favored by the night, approach so near 
Their speech, their counsels, and designs to hear? 

I, Nestor, feel such courage; and myself 
"Will enter Ilium's host, encamped so nigh: 
But shall adventure with a livelier hope, 
And be embolden' d much, some valiant friend 
Advent' ring with me; for a friend may spy 
Advantage ere myself, and may advise 
Its happiest uses overseen by me. — 
He ceased, and willing to partake his toils 
Arose no few. — Iliad, lib. x. 



246 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THE PASS-WORD. 

Jud. vii : 18. — The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus, before engaging the army of the Assyrians, gave out the 
word, which was this — Jove our helper and leader. — Cyropcedia, lib. iii., c. 3. 

Idem. — Having addressed the soldiers, the word was then given — Jupiter the 
preserver, and Hercules the conductor. — Anabasis, lib. vi., c. 5. 

HEADS OF THE CONQUERED. 

Jud. vii : 25. — And they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side 

Jordan. 
Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — It was almost an universal custom to take off the 
heads of opposing chiefs and bring them to the victorious general. Such was 
the custom among the Romans: thus Pompey's head was brought to Caesar, and 
that of Cicero to Mark Anthony, not to mention other instances. Barbarous 
oriental conquerors have built monuments with the heads of their conquered ene~ 
mies; and at present, the heads of conquered chiefs and commanders are trans- 
mitted to Constantinople from the most distant parts of the Turkish empire, to 
be laid at the feet of the Sultan, and then to decorate his palace gates. — Pictorial 
Bible, in loco. 

CAMEL ORNAMENTS. 

Jud. viii : 21. — And Gideon arose and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments 

that were on their camels' necks. 
Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — In the antique sculptures camels are 
often represented with bells. Collars and bands of dyed wool, adorned with 
tassels and embroidered with shells and beads, often hang about the neck and 
head of favorite animals, while a showy ornament, with a looking-glass for a 
centre-piece, covers the entire forehead. They are also decked with long strings 
of little brass bells suspended from the saddle, or fastened to the head, legs, and 
even the tail. This is their holiday attire, and thus are they represented on the 
slabs of the palaces of Nineveh, when brought as articles of tribute to the Assyrian 
kings. The favorite camels of Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian, who were 
slain by the hand of Gideon, were ornamented in a similar but much more costly 
manner. — Bible Lands, p. 241. 

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 

Jud. viii : 26. — And the weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested was a thousand and 
seven hundred shekels of gold ; besides ornaments, and collai-s, and purple raiment that was 
on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus commanded some of the most considerable Persians to 
assist in hastening on the carriages. Throwing off their purple robes, they ran, 
as if it had been for a prize, down a very steep hill in their costly vests and 
embroidered drawers ; some even with chains about their necks, and bracelets 
round their wrists, and, leaping into the dirt with these, they lifted up the 
carriages and brought them out. — Anabasis t 1. i., c. 5. 



JUDGES XI. 247 

Strabo. — The Gauls wear golden collars round their necks, and bracelets on 
their arms and wrists, and those who are of any dignity have garments dyed 
and worked with gold. — Strab., 1. iv., c. 4. 

DEATH BY THE HAND OF A WOMAN. 

Jud. ix : 53, 54. — And a certain woman cast a piece of a mill-stone upon Abimelech's head, and 
all to break his skull. Then he called hastily unto the young man his armor-bearer, and said 
unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. 
And his young man thrust him through, and he died. 

Seneca. — O dishonorable fate ! A woman is reported to have caused the 
death of Hercules. — Here. CEtaeus., V., 11 77. 
Sophocles. — At last I fall, 

Like a poor coward, by a woman's hand, 
Unarmed and unassisted. — Trachin., V., 1064. 
Strabo. — The Argives did not admit Pyrrhus within the city; he fell before 
the walls, an old woman having let a tile drop from a house upon his head. — 
Strab., 1. viii., c. 6. 

ASHTAROTH, OR ASTARTE. 

Jud. x: 6. — And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served 
Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, etc. 

Lucian. — In Phoenicia there is an ancient temple, now in the possession of 
the Sidonians. By their report it belonged to Astarte, which Astarte, I 
believe, was the same as with the Greeks is Silene, or the Moon. — De Dea Syr., 
c. 4. 

Cicero. — The fourth Venus was a Syrian, born of Tyro, who is called 
Astarte. — De Nat. Deor., 1. iii., c. 23. 

JEPHTHA'S VOW. 

Jud. xi : 30, 31. — And Jephtha vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without 
fail deliver the children of Amnion into mine hands, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh 
forth of the door of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of 
Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering. 

Dr. John Kitto. — It was usual amongst most ancient nations, at the com- 
mencement of a war or battle, to vow to some particular god that, if the 
undertaking were successful, large sacrifices should burn upon his altar, or 
temples be erected in his honor. We have instances of this as well in the 
histories of Greece and Rome, as in those of oriental nations. — Pictorial Bible, 
in loco. 

Plutarch. — Hecale vowed, when Theseus went to battle, to offer sacrifices 
to Jupiter if he returned safe. — T/ies., c. 14. 

Livv. — O Pythian Apollo, under thy guidance, and inspired by thy divinity, 
I am now proceeding to destroy the city of Veii, and I devote to thee a tenth 
part of the spoils thereof. — Liv., 1. v., c. 21. 

Jud. xi : 33-35. — Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. 
And Jephtha came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him 



248 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

with timbrels and with dances : and she was his only child ; beside her he had neither son 
nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Ala^, 
my daughter ! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me : 
for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back. 

Cicero. — Agamemnon, when he had vowed to Diana the loveliest thing that 
should be born that year in his kingdom, sacrificed Iphegenia, than whom, 
indeed, nothing lovelier was born that year. Better that the promise should 
not be performed than that a horrible crime should be committed. — Cm. di 
off., 1. iii., c. 25. 

THE KID PREPARED. 

Jud. xiii : 15. — And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee let us detain thee, until 
we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Whenever, in the wilder parts of 
Palestine, the traveller halts at an Arab camp, or pays his visit to a village 
sheikh, he is pressed to stay until the kid can be killed and made ready, and 
he has an opportunity of seeing in front of the tent the kid caught and pre- 
pared for the cooking, which is carried on by the women out of sight in the 
inner compartment. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 91. 

SAMSON'S EXPLOITS. 

Jud. xiv : 5, 6. — Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and, be- 
hold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, 
and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — Timnath still exists on the plain, and to reach 
it from Zorah you must descend through wild rocky gorges, just where one would 
expect to find a lion in those days, when wild beasts were far more common 
than at present. Nor is it more remarkable that lions should be met with in 
such places than that fierce leopards should now maintain their position in the 
thickly-settled parts of Lebanon, and even in these very mountains, within a 
few hundred rods of large villages. Yet such I know is the fact. — There were 
then vineyards belonging to Timnath, as there now are in all these hamlets 
along the base of the hills and upon the mountain sides. These vineyards are 
very often far out from the villages, climbing up rough wadies and wild cliffs, 
in one of which Samson encountered the young lion. — The Land and the Book, 
Vol. II., 361. 

Jud. xiv : 8. — And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass 
of the lion : and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — We must not suppose that the car- 
cass was a putrid and corrupt mass, for in the dry season the heat will speedily 
render a carcass in that climate a mere mummy, without any offensive smell 
until it is moistened, and the ants speedily clear away all the softer parts of the 
body, if any are left by the vultures, so that merely the skeleton and hide would 
remain. Even in this country (England), wrens and sparrows have been known 
to make their nest in the body of an exposed crow or hawk. — Nat. Hist, of the 
Bible, p. 324. 



JUDGES XV. 24-9 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — The word for bees is the Arabic for hornets K 
and these we know are very fond of flesh, and devour it with the greatest avidity. 
I have myself seen a swarm of hornets build their comb in the skull of a dead 
camel. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II,, p. 362. 

Herodotus. — The Amathusians took the head of Onesilus, and carrying it 
back in triumph, fixed it over their gates. Some time afterwards, when the 
inside of the head was decayed, a swarm of bees settling in it, filled it with 
honey. — Herod., 1. v., c. 14. 

Jud. xiv : 12. — And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you. 
Rev. Frederic W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — We know that all ancient na- 
tions, and especially Orientals, have been fond of riddles. We find traces of 
the custom among the Arabs, and indeed several Arabic books of riddles exist. 
Riddles were generally proposed in verse, like the celebrated riddle of Samson. 
Other ancient riddles in verse are that of the Sphinx, and that which is said to 
have caused the death of Homer by his mortification at being unable to solve 
it. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, 2732. 

Jud. xiv : 13, 14. — And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle that we may hear it. And he 
said unto them : Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. 

Darmetas. — Say, where the round of Heav'n, which all contains, 
To three short ells on earth our sight restrains? 
Tell that, and rise a Phcebus for thy pains. 
Menalcas. — Nay, tell me first, in what new region springs 

A flower that bears inscribed the names of kings? 
And thou shalt gain a present as divine 
As Phcebus' self \ for Phyllis shall be thine. 

— Virg., Ec. III., v. 104. 

Jud. xv : 4, 5. — And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and 
turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. And when he had set 
the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both 
the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives. 

Ovid. — I must teach the reason why the she-foxes were let loose, having their 
tails burning with firebrands fastened to them. A boy having once caught a 
fox, wrapped her in stubble and hay, and set fire to her : she escaped from his 
hands as he was applying the fire ; wherever she flew she set the fields in a blaze, 
at that time covered with the harvests : the breeze gave strength to the all-con- 
suming flames. The occurrence has long passed away, but the recollection of 
it remains. — Fasti., 1. iv., v. 681. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — It is probable that (in the sacred history) by 
" foxes "jackals are intended, and these are even now extremely numerous. I 
have had more than one race after them, and over the very theatre of Samson's 
exploit. When encamped out on the plain, with a part of Ibrahim Pasha's 
army, in 1834, we were serenaded all night long by troops of these hideous 
howlers. But if we must limit Samson to. the ordinary meaning of fox, even 



250 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

these are to be found here. I started up and chased one when I passed over 
that part of the plain where Timnah is believed to have been situated. It must 
be admitted, however, that the number seems not only large in view of the diffi- 
culty of capturing them, but also far too great for the purpose intended. The 
object was to set fire to the dry corn which covered the plains of the Philistines. 
Now a spark would seem sufficient to accomplish this. During the summer 
months the whole country is one sea of dead-ripe grain, dry as tinder. There 
is neither break, nor hedge, nor fence, nor any cause of interruption. Once in 
a blaze, it would create a wind for itself, even if it were calm to begin with ; 
and it would seem that a less number could have answered all the purposes of 
Samson ; but to this it is obvious to remark that he meditated no limited re- 
venge. — As to the difficulty of capturing so many foxes, we must remember that 
Samson was judge or governor of Israel at that time. He no more caught these 
creatures himself than Solomon built the Temple with his own hands ; and if 
we take two or three other facts into account, it will not appear incredible that 
the governor of a nation could gather such a number of foxes when he had 
occasion for them. The first is, that in those days this country was infested 
with all sorts of wild animals to an extent which seems to us almost incredible. 
This is evident from almost numberless incidental allusions in the Bible. The 
second fact is, that, not having firearms, the ancients were much more skilful 
than the moderns in the use of snares, nets, and pits for capturing wild animals. 
— The Land and the Book, Vol. II. , p. 340, 341. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — We had around us at Beth-shemesh the 
native country of Samson, and from its ruins we could see the scenes of some 
of the leading events of his strange life. — We lingered long amid the ruins of 
Beth-shemesh, reading and pondering these and other incidents of sacred 
history, which the places round us naturally suggested. The sun went down 
into the waters of the Mediterranean in a halo of glory. The purple shadows 
of the wild glens gradually waxed deeper and darker ; and the jagged outlines 
of hills and mountains were drawn in bold relief upon the blue sky. The 
bright stars came out one by one. Still we lingered, reluctant to turn away 
forever from a spot so strangely interesting. A long, low, plaintive wail sud- 
denly broke the deep silence of the mountains over us. Another, like an echo, 
answered it from the valley. Then another, and another, louder, and clearer, 
and nearer, until mountain, glen, and distant plain resounded with a ceaseless 
howl of jackals. They seem to be as numerous yet as they were in Samson's 
days. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 220, 221. 

Jud. xvi : 1, 3. — Then went Samson to Gaza : And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at mid- 
night, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two post's, and went away with them, 
bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is 
before Hebron. 

Rev. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — Gaza was the capital of the most southern 
of the Philistine principalities, and is situated about thirteen miles west south- 
west of Ascalon forty-five miles southwest by west from Jerusalem, and between 



JUDGES XVI. 251 

two and three miles from the sea. It is always mentioned as an important place 
in the Old Testament. Alexander the Great, after destroying Tyre, laid siege to 
Gaza, which was at that time occupied by a Persian garrison, and took it after 
a siege of two months. It was afterwards destroyed (b. c. 98) by Alexander 
Jannaeus, the king of the Jews. Jerome says, that the town existing in his day 
was nearer to the sea than the old town. — Pictorial Bible, in loco. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — The city of Gaza is built partly on an oblong 
hill, partly in the valleys north and south of it. There are now neither walls 
nor forts, but the places of certain gates belonging to ancient walls are pointed 
out. The only one that interests me is that which bears the name of Samson, 
from the tradition that it was from that place he carried off the gate, bars and 
all. It is on the east side of the hill-part of the city, looking toward Hebron ; 
and near it is a mazar, or willy, to his honor. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., 

P- 334- 

Mr. William Hutton. — Thomas Topham, a man whose feats of strength 
might have figured beside those of Homer's heroes, was born in London, about 
A. d. 1 7 10. Though his stature was not remarkable, being a trifle under six 
feet in height, yet he was endowed by nature with muscular powers so extraor- 
dinary as to exceed anything of the kind on record. On the 28th of May, 
1 741, in Bath Street, London, he lifted a weight of 1,836 pounds, in the pres- 
ence of thousands of spectators assembled to witness his feats. Coming up to 
a toll gate, on a journey, he alighted from his horse, and heaved the animal 
over the gate, and set him down on the other side. On another occasion, he 
broke a rope fastened to the floor, that would sustain twenty hundred weight. 
He took Mr. Chambers, Vicar of All-Saints, who weighed twenty-seven stone, 
and raised him with one hand. One night, perceiving a watchman asleep in his 
box, he raised them both from the ground, and carrying the load with the 
greatest ease, at length dropped the wooden tenement with its inhabitant over 
the wall of Tindall's burying-ground : the consternation of the watchman, on 
awaking from his nap, may be more easily conceived than described. On board 
of a West Indiaman, lying in the river, he was presented with a cocoanut, which, 
to the no small astonishment of the crew, he cracked between his fingers and 
thumb close to the ear of one of the sailors, with the same ease as an ordinary 
person would crush an egg-shell. Topham, however, was not endued with for- 
titude of mind equal to his strength of body. A faithless woman embittered 
the concluding portion of his life, as it did that of his prototype of old. 
Unable to endure the reflections occasioned by his wife's inconstancy, Topham 
at length embraced the desperate resolution of putting an end to his life, in the 
Sower of his age. — Biographical Sketches of Eccentric Characters, p. 344-352. 
Jud. xvi : 21. — And Samson did grind in the prison-house. 

Terence. — I'll have you beat to mummy, and then thrown 
In prison, Sirrah ! upon this condition, 
That when I take you out again, I swear 
To grind there in your stead. — Andria, Act I., sc. 2. 



252 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — I saw the operation of grinding at the mill going on 
in several places during our ramble about Gaza, and we heard its ringing sound 
until a late hour last night. This city has no mill-stream near it ; there are no 
wind nor steam mills, and hence the primitive apparatus is found in every house. 
Nor can it be mere fancy that these modern Philistines bear a close resemblance 
to their proud, vindictive and licentious ancestors. — The Land and the Book, 
Vol. II., 338, 339. 

Jud. xvi: 23. — Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacri- 
fice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice ; for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our 
enemy into our hand. 

Berosus. — Dagon, the fish-god, rose from the waters of the Red Sea, as one 
of the great benefactors of men. — Cory's Fragments, p. 22, 23. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Dagon had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the 
body resembled a fish. — Syncel. Chron., 28; and Euseb. Chron., 58. 

Joseph Bonomi, F. R. S. L. — Among a great variety of marine animals (on 
the w^-ls of Khorsabad) the Assyrian combination of the man, bull, and 
eagle, is seen walking with stately gait ; and on the same slab the divinity of 
the Philistines, half man, half fish, the Dagon of Scripture, is accompanying the 
expedition and encouraging the men in their arduous task. — Nineveh and its 
Palaces, p. 149. 

Jud. xvi : 29, 30. — And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house 
stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his 
left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines; and he bowed himself with all his 
might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. 

Plutarch. — Cleomenes, a man of gigantic strength and size, entered a 
school-room at Rome, where he struck the pillar that supported the roof with 
his fist, and broke it asunder, so that the roof fell in, and destroyed the children. 
Pint. Pom., c. ^8. 

Tacitus. — One Atilius had undertaken to erect an amphitheatre at Fidenae, 
there to exhibit a combat of gladiators. It fell, and the spectators were crushed 
and buried under the ruins. Fifty thousand persons were destroyed or maimed 
by the fall of this building. — Tac. Ann., 1. iv., c. 62. 

SLINGERS. 

Jud. 20: 16. — Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed ; every 
one could sling stonesat a hair breadth, and not jr.iss. 

Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — The invention of fire-arms has not 
superseded the old weapons of antiquity, and it is almost as common now to see 
a shepherd armed with a sling as it was in David's time. This is particularly true 
of the Bedawin or Arabs of the desert. Young lads wile away their time by 
throwing pebbles with their slings at marks which they set up, and we can, 
from personal observation, testify to the extreme accuracy of their aim. — 
Bible Lands, p. 188. 



JUDGES XX. 253 

RIMMON. 

Jud. xx : 45. — And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — Rimmon is described as in the " wilder- 
ness," that is, the uncultivated country which lies on the east of the central 
highlands of Benjamin, on which Gibeah was situated — between them and the 
Jordan valley. Here the name is still found attached to a village perched on 
the summit of a conical chalky hill, visible in all directions, and commanding 
the whole country. The hill is steep and naked, the white limestone every- 
where protruding, and the houses clinging to its sides, and forming as it were 
huge steps. On the south side it rises to a height of several hundred feet from 
the great ravjneof the Wady Mutyah; while on the west side it is almost equally 
isolated by a cross valley of great depth. In position it is three miles east of 
Bethel, and seven northeast of Gibeah. Thus in every particular of name, 
character, and situation it agrees with the requirements of the Rock Rimmon. 
— Smith's Diet, of Bible, 2733. 



Ruth. 



SALUTATIONS. 

Ruth ii : 4. — And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord 
be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — The plain was all astir with bands of reapers, 
men and women; and close behind them the gleaners, mostly young girls, 
reminding one of the faithful Ruth. The great proprietors were there too, 
moving about, like Boaz, from field to field among their laborers, clad in their 
scarlet cloaks. As we passed each group Selim saluted them with an Vila 
makum — "The Lord be with you;" and they returned the invariable response, 
" The Lord bless thee." Not only are the manners and customs unchanged in 
this land, but the very words of salutation are what they were three thousand 
years ago. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 197. 

THE OVERSEER. 

Ruth ii : 5. — Then said Boaz unto his servant, that was set over the reapers, Whose damsfl is 

this? 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — This officer, "the servant," was well known in 
the ancient harvest. In the Egyptian sculptures he is often seen, as he is 
described by Homer, "leaning upon his staff, and enjoying mute the or<7ei 
of the field."— Pict. Bib. in loco. 



254 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



THE THRESHING-FLOOR. 

Ruth iii : 2, 7. — And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, 
he winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing-floor. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, 
and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn. 

Dr. Robinson. — The fine grassy slope on which we were encamped (in the 
neighborhood of Hebron), besides the cemetery on the north, was occupied on 
the south by threshing-floors, where the various processes of threshing, or rather 
treading out the grain, were continually going on. The wheat harvest, here in 
the mountains, had not yet arrived ; but they were threshing barley, 'Adas or 
len tiles, and also vetches, called by the Arabs Kersenna, which are raised chiefly 
for camels. The various parcels had apparently lain here for several days ; the 
people would come with their cattle and work for three or four hours, and 
then go away. Some had three animals, some four, and once I saw two young 
cattle and a donkey driven round together. In several of the floors they were 
now winnowing the grain, by tossing it up against the wind. Here we 




ANCIENT EGYPTIAN THRESHING-FLOOR. 

needed no guard around our tent. The owners of the crops came every night 
and slept upon their threshing-floors ; and this we found to be universal in all 
the regions of Gaza. We were in the midst of scenes precisely like those of the 
Book of Ruth, where Boaz winnowed barley in his threshing-floor, and laid 
himself down at night to guard the heap of com.— Journal, May 24. 

Ruth iii : 7. — And she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. 
Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A.— Servants in the East often sleep in this manner, 
as to position. They frequently sleep in the same apartment or tent with their 
master ; and when they do so, invariably lie at his feet,"in the position described ; 
and if on a journey, or otherwise, when the weather is cold, the servant has not 
sufficient covering of his own, usage allows him to avail himself of the covering 
at the foot of his master's bed. The writer has himself known servants take 
this liberty, during a journey, as a matter of course. — Pictorial Bible , in loco. 



First Book of Samuel. 



GOD THE SOVEREIGN DISPOSER. 

I Samuel ii : 6, 7. — The Lord killeth, and maketh alive : He bringeth down to the grave, and 
bringeth up. The Lord maketh p >or, and mai.-th rich : He bringeth low, and lifteth up. 

Hesiod. — With ease the will of Jove, who wills the right, 
Confounds the mighty, gives the feeble might ; 
With ease draws forth th' obscure to open day, 
With ease bids envied grandeur waste away. 

— Opera et Dies, v. 5. 

I Sam. iii: 13. — For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which 
he knoweth ; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. 

Homer. — Ye fathers, hear ! from you alone proceed 

The ills ye mourn ; your own the guilty deed. 
Ye gave your sons, your lawless sons, the rein, 
Oft warned by Mentor and myself in vain. 

— Odyss., 1. xxiv., v. 455. 

TOKENS OF GRIEF. 

I Sam. iv : 12. — And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shilo the same 
day with his clodio 1 :nt, and with earth upon his head. 

Virgil. — Latinus tears his garments as he goes, 

Both for his public and his private woes : 
VJ'ithjilth his venerable beard besmears, 
And sordid dust deforms his silver hairs. 

— ALneid, 1. xii., v. 609. 

Homer. — A sudden horror shot through all the chief, 
And wrapp'd his senses in a cloud of grief. 
Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread 
The scorching ashes o'er his graceful head: 
His purple garme its, and his golden hairs, 
Those he deforms with dust, and these with tears. 

— Odyss., 1. xviii., v. 22. 

ASHDOD. 

I Sam. v: I.— And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer unto 

Ashdod. 

Rev. William Latham Bevan, M. A. — Ashdod, one of the five confederate 
cities of the Philistines, was situated about thirty miles from the southern frontier 

(255) 



256 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



of Palestine, three from the Mediterranean Sea, and nearly midway between 
Gaza and Joppa. It stood on an elevation overlooking the plain, and the 
natural advantages of its position were improved by fortifications of great 
strength. For this reason it was probably selected as one of the seats of the 
national worship of Dagon. It is now an insignificant village, with no 
memorials of its ancient importance, but is still called Esdud. — Smith's Diet. 
of Bible, p. 171. 

DAGON, THE FISH-GOD. 

I Sam. v: 4. — And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen 
upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord ; and the head of Dagon and both the 
palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump {margin, the fishy part) 
of Dagon was left to him. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — In common his- 
tory, Dagon, the Philistine idol, is spoken of 
under the names Derceto, or Derketo, or Dercetis. 
— Pictorial Bible, in loco. 

Lucian. — Of Derketo I saw in Phenicia a 
drawing, in which she is represented in a curious 
form, for in the upper half she is a woman, but 
from the waist to the lower extremities runs into 
the tail of a fish. A fish is held sacred in Hier- 
apolis, and is never eaten — a custom which seems 
to have been introduced in honor of Derketo. — 
De Dea Syria, c. 14. 

Diodorus Siculus. — At Ascalon, in Syria, is a 
deep lake abounding with fish, near to which is a 
temple dedicated to a famous goddess, who by 
the Syrians is called Dercetis. She has the face 
of a woman, but the rest of the image is the 
figure of a fish. — Diod Sic., 1. ii., c. 1. 

Prof. H. B. 
Dagon, i. e., / 
most famous of 




Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— 
he fish, had many temples, the 
which were those of Gaza and 
Ashdod. He was represented with the face and 
hands of a man and the body of a fish. Thus we 
dagon. read, that when the ark of the Lord had been 

brought as a trophy into the temple of Dagon at Ashdod, " In the morning the 
head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold ; 
only the stump (Hebrew, only the fishy part) of Dagon was left to him." We 
find from 1 Mac. x. 84, that the worship of Dagon remained in Philistia even 
down to the epoch of the Hasmoneans, who destroyed the temple of Ashdod. 
— Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 293. 

Austen H. La yard, M. P. — On the northern side of the chamber were two 
doorways leading into separate apartments. Each entrance was formed by two 



FIRST SAMUEL VI. 



257 



colossal bas-reliefs of Dagon, or the fish-god. Unfortunately the upper part of 
all these figures had been destroyed, but as the lower remained from above the 
waist we can have no difficulty in restoring the whole, especially as the same 
image is seen entire on a fine Assyrian cylinder of agate in my possession. It 
combined the human shape with that of the fish. The head of the fish formed 
a mitre above that of the man, whilst its scaly back and fan-like tail fell as a 
cloak behind, leaving the human limbs and feet exposed. The figure wore a 
fringed tunic, and bore the two sacred emblems, the basket and the cone. His 
worship appears to have extended over Syria, as well as Mesopotamia and 
Chaldea. — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 292, 295. 

EMERODS. 

I Sam. v : 6. — But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed 
them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. 

Herodotus. — On the Scythians, who plundered the temple of Venus, and 
indeed on all their posterity, the deity entailed a fatal punishment, namely, 
hemerhoids. Their condition may be seen by those who visit Scythia, where 
they are called Enareae. — Herod., 1. i., c. 105. 

MICE. 
I Sam. vi : 5. — Your mice that mar the land. 
Rev. Henrv J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — The short-tailed field-mouse, as he is 
called by naturalists, abounds throughout 
Western Asia. A perfectly trustworthy 
friend has informed us that in 1863, being 
on the farm {chiflik) of an acquaintance in 
Western Asia Minor, he saw about noon the 
depredations committed by an immense 
number of these mice, which passed over 
the ground like an army of young locusts. 
Fields of standing corn and barley disap- 
peared in an incredibly short space of time ; 
and as for vines and mulberry trees, they 
were gnawed at the roots and speedily prostrated. The annual produce of a 
farm of one hundred and fifty acres, which promised to be unusually large, was 
thus utterly consumed ; and the neighboring farms suffered equally. Such, 
in all probability, were the mice that marred the land of the Philistines. — 
Bible Lands, p. 287. 

CARTS. 

I Sam. vi : 7. — Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath 
come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart. 

Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M. A. — In the monuments of ancient Egypt 
representations are found of carts with two wheels, having four or six spokes, 
used for carrying produce, and of one for religious purposes having four wheels 




CART DRAWN BY OXEN. 



258 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

with eight spokes. A bas-relief of Nineveh represents a cart having two wheel* 
with eight spokes, drawn by oxen. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 392. 

PRESENTS. 

I Sam. ix : 7. — Then said Saul unto his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the 
man ? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring the man of God. 

Maundrel. — It is counted uncivil to visit in this country (the East) with- 
out an offering in hand. All great men expect it as a kind of tribute due to theit 
character and authority, and look upon themselves as affronted, and even de- 
frauded, when this compliment is omitted. Even in familiar visits among 
inferior people, you shall seldom have them come without bringing a flower, 
an orange, or some other such token of their respect to the person visited. — In 
Pict. Bib. in loco. 

KINGLY STATURE. 

I Sam. x : 23, 24. — And when Saul stood among the people, he was higher than any of the 
people from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom 
the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people. And all the people 
shouted and said, God save the king. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington, B. A. — In early times, when the welfare of a 
people depended much upon the military prowess of their king, and when 
physical strength and courage were more prized than other accomplishments, it 
was an essential qualification of a king that he should be of a handsome and 
commanding appearance; possessing, as Euripides says, "a beauty worthy of 
his royal state." — Test, of Heath., p. 178. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Antiquity is replete with exhibitions of this feeling. In 
the sculptures of Egypt and Persia, the king is usually distinguished by his size 
and stature from the persons with whom he is associated — not, of course, that 
the kings were always, or even generally, thus actually distinguished from their 
subjects ; but they were so represented, in conformity with the ideas of dignity 
as associated with colossal proportions. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 
Homer.— What cnief is that, with giant strength endued, 

Whose brawny shoulders, and whose swelling chest, 
And lofty stature, far exceed the rest ? 

Ajax the great, (the beauteous queen replied), 
Himself a host : the Grecian strength and pride. 

— Iliad, 1. iii., v. 166, etc. 
Herodotus. — Among the Ethiopians the supreme authority is given to him 
who excels all his fellow- citizens in size and proportionate strength. — Herod., 
1. iii., c. 20. 

Plutarch. — Theophrastus tells us the Ephori fined Archidamus for marrying 
a little woman; " She will bring us," said they, "a race of kinglings instead 
of kings." — AgesiL, c. 2. 



FIRST SAMUEL XIII. 259 

DESTRUCTION OF THE RIGHT EYE. 

I Sam. xi: 2. — And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a 
covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all 
Israel. 

Josephus. — Nahash also reduced their cities into slavery, and that not only 
by subduing them for the present, which he did by force and violence; but 
weakened them by subtilty and cunning, that they might not be able after- 
ward to get clear of the slavery they were under to him; for he put out the 
right eyes of those that either delivered themselves to him upon terms, or 
were taken by him in war: and this he did that when their left eyes were 
covered by their shields, they might be wholly useless in war. — Antiquities, 
B. IL, c 5, § i. 

GIBEAH AND MICHMASH. 

I Sam. xiii : 2. — Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel : whereof two thousand were 
with Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah 
of Jonathan. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — Gibeah still bears its ancient title — 
Jeba, and is situated on the south side of the Wady Suweinit; and Michmash 
is still called Mukh??ias. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 915. 

I Sam. xiii : 5, 6. — And the Philistines came up and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Beth- 
aven. And when the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were dis- 
tressed), then the people did hide themselves in caves and in thickets, and in rocks, and in 
high places and in pits. 

Prof. H. B, Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Just across another wady, with 
many old caves and tombs, rises the indisputable Michmash, preserving its 
identity of name in the Arabic Mukhmas, once a fortress, now a squalid village. 
We did not visit it this time, but on a subsequent occasion explored its neigh- 
borhood, with the caves in which Saul's army hid themselves after the 
Philistines had driven them out of the citadel, and the ravine up which the 
king returned from Gilgal to Gibeah (1 Sam. xiii : 6). The ruins are, if 
possible, more desolate, but more massive, than those of Ai or of Beth-el, and 
the city seems, by the fragments of columns, as well as by two large rock- 
hewn cisterns, to have continued to a later date. — Land of Israel, p. 169. 

SACRIFICE ON THE EVE OF BATTLE. 

I Sam. xiii: 12. — Therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and 
I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself, therefore, and offered a burnt- 
offering. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington, B. A. — Sacrifices in the prospect of a battle 
were common among all nations. — Testim. of Heath., p. 180. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus being about to carry war into the territory of the Arme- 
nians, presently made a sacrifice for his intended march. It happened that the 
17 



260 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

sacrifice for his design against the Armenians turned out happily, so he 
immediately set forward as if for a hunt. — Cyrop., 1. ii., c. 4. 

Idem. — Xenophon, being in danger from the governor of Byzantium, sacri- 
ficed, in order to know whether the gods would allow him to carry the army 
over to Seuthes. — Anabasis, 1. vii., c. 2. 

POMEGRANATE TREE. 

1 Sam. xiv : 2. — And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree 

which is in Migron. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — There are some pomegranate bushes in this neighbor- 
hood (Hebron) which may even be called trees by way of courtesy ; but in 
reality these large and delicious " apples " grow on a stout thorny bush. There 
are several kinds of them in this country. — Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 392. 

THE PASSAGE OF MICHMASH. 

I Sam. xiv : 4, 5. — And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the 
Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other 
side : and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. The fore front of 
the one was situated northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against 
Gibeah. 

Dr. Robinson. — We left Jeba (Gibeah) for Mukhmas. The descent into the 
valley was steeper and longer than any of the preceding. The path led down 
obliquely, and we reached the bottom in half an hour. It is called Wady es- 
Suweinit. It begins in the neighborhood of Beitin and el-Beireh ; and as it 
breaks through the ridge below these places, its sides form precipitous walls. 
Oii'the right, about a quarter of an acre below where we crossed, it again breaks 
off, and passes between high perpendicular precipices, which (our guide said) 
continue a great way down and increase in grandeur. This steep precipitous 
valley is probably " the passage of Michmash " mentioned in Scripture (1 Sam. 
xiii : 23). In the valley, just at the left of where we crossed, were two hills, of a 
conical, or rather spherical form, having steep rocky sides, with small Wadys 
running up between each, so as almost to isolate them. One of them is on the 
side towards Jeba, and the other towards Mukhmas. These would seem to be 
the two rocks mentioned in connection with Jonathan's adventure. They are not 
indeed so " sharp " as the language of Scripture would seem to imply; but they 
are the only rocks of the kind in this vicinity. The northern one is connected 
towards the west with an eminence still more distinctly isolated. This valley 
appears to have been, at a later time, the dividing line between Benjamin and 
Ephraim. — Biblical Researches in Palestine, Vol. II ., p. 116. 

PANIC. 

1 Sam. xiv: 15, 16. — And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the 
people : the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked ; so it was a 
very great trembling. And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, 
the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another. 



FIRST SAMUEL XIV. 261 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — There are numerous instances in the ancient 
historians and poets of armies seized with sudden terror, without any assignable 
cause. These panic fears were attributed to the influence of an unfriendly deity. 
Homer makes Phoebus the cause of such perturbations ; and he also represents 
Jove as striking terror into the Grecian hosts by thunderings and prodigies. — 
Test, of Heath. , p. 1 8 1 . 

Pindar. — By heaven-sent terrors, even the sons of the gods are put to flight. 
Nei7iean, IX. , v. 64. 

Herodotus. — The most conspicuous things are those which are singled out as 
objects of divine displeasure. From the same principle it is that a mighty army 
is sometimes overthrown by one that is contemptible, for the Deity in his anger 
sends his terrors among them, and makes them perish in a manner unworthy of 
their former glory. — Herodt., 1. vii., c. 10. 

Homer. — Thus joyful Troy maintain'd the watch of night, 
While fear, pale comrade of inglorious flight, 
And heaven-bred horror, on the Grecian part, 
Sat on each face, and sadden'd every heart. — Iliad, 1. ix., v. 1. 

DROPPING HONEY. 

I Sam. xiv : 26. — And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped : 
but no man put his hand to his mouth ; for the people feared the oath. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts, M. R. A. S. — Bees in the East are not, as in England, 
kept in hives ; they are all in a wild state. The forests literally flow with 
honey ; large combs may be seen hanging on the trees as you pass along, full of 
honey. Hence this article is cheap and plentiful, and is much used by the 
Vedahs to preserve the flesh of animals which they catch in the chase. — Oriental 
Illustrations, p. 163. 

PATERNAL STERNESS. 

I Sam. xiv : 43, 44. — Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan 
told him and said, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, 
and lo I must die. And Saul answered, God do so and more also : for thou shalt surely die, 
Jonathan. 

Livy. — Titus Manlius, having accepted the challenge of Geminius, in disobe- 
dience to the commands of his father, who had ordered that no person should 
fight with any of the enemy, except at his post, slew his antagonist, and brought 
the spoils, and laid them at his father's feet. The consul, turning from him, 
ordered an assembly to be called, and having reproved him for his insubordi- 
nation, passed sentence of death upon him. — See Livy, lib. viii., c. 7. 

Plutarch. — Brutus suffered not pity in the least to smooth his stern and 
angry countenance, regarding his sons as they suffered with a threatening aspect, 
till they were extended on the ground and their heads cut off with the axe. — r 
Publico la, c. 6. 



262 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

OBEDIENCE BETTER THAN SACRIFICE. 

I Sam. xv : 22. — And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in sacrifices and burnt- 
offerings, as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to 
hearken than the fat of rams. 

Plautus. — Those wicked wretches, who take it into their heads that they can 
pacify Jove with gifts and sacrifices, lose both their cost and labor, nothing of 
this kind being acceptable to him from the perjured and false-hearted. — Rudens, 

Prolog. 

HEWING AGAG. 

I Sam. xv : 33. — And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. 
Khorsabad Sculpture. — One of Botta's plates of these sculptures offers both 
a proof and an illustration of the terrible deed recorded in this verse. In it, 
three individuals, each armed with a hatchet, are busy hacking at the limbs of 
a figure, from which they have already separated the arms of their devoted 
victim. — Bot., plate 140. 

THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC. 

I Sam. xvi : 23. — And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David 
took a harp, and played with his hand : so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil 
spirit departed from him. 

Aulus Gellius. — It has been credited by many, and has been handed down 
to memory, that when the pains of sciatica are most severe, they will be 
assuaged by the soft notes of a flute-player. Democritus says that the melody 
of flutes is a remedy for many human complaints. So great is the sympathy 
betwixt the minds and bodies of men, and betwixt the maladies and remedies 
of mind and body. — Nodes Atticce, II., 13. 

Quintilian. — Music of that kind, which is founded on rational principles, is 
of the greatest efficacy in raising or soothing the passions. — QuintiL, 1. i., 
c. 10. 

Rev. Henry Hayman, B. D. — Music, which soothed Saul for a time, has 
entered largely into the milder modern treatment of lunacy. — Smith's Did. of 
the Bible, p. 1866. 

DAVID'S COMBAT WITH GOLIATH. ■ 

I Sam. xvii : 1-3. — Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered 
together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekeh, 
in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by 
the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines 
stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side ; and 
there was a valley between them. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, A. M. — The morning sun had already bathed in 
ruddy light the mountain tops round Beit Nettif, and thrown their shadows far 
out across Philistia's plain, when mounting our horses we began the steep 
descent, through terraced vineyards and olive groves, to " the Valley of Elah." 
& long reach of the valley lay at our feet. It is about a quarter of a mile wide, 



FIRST SAMUEL XVII. 



263 



with rich, alluvial bottom, and sides rising steeply, but not precipitously, to the 
height of five hundred feet or more. Through the centre winds a torrent bed, 
now dry, but thickly covered with smooth, white stones, and fringed with shrubs. 
On reaching the valley we turned to the right and rode about a mile down 
it through corn fields. Then we saw on the left bank above us the gray ruins 
of Shochoh, and we knew that we now stood on the battle-field of David and 
Goliath. We saw the position of the two armies at a single glance. The 
Philistines were ranged along the side of the ridge at Shochoh, and Israel occu- 




WARRIOR AND ARMOR-BEARER — xMODERN EGYPT. 



pied the declivity opposite. Between them lay the valley, — then called Elak, 
from its terebinth trees ; and now Sumpt, from its acacias. Down that left bank 
came Goliath, his brazen armor glittering in the sun-beams; down the opposite 
bank came David with his sling and staff. Reaching the torrent bed, he 
selected "five smooth stones," and put them in his scrip. — Giant Cities of 
Bashan, p. 222. 

I Sam. xvii : 4. — And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named 
Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 

Herodotus. — Near this" place (Tegea), as I was sinking a well, I found a 



264 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

coffin seven cubits long. I never believed that men were formerly of larger 
dimensions than at present ; but when I opened it, I discovered a body equal in 
length to the coffin. I correctly measured it, and placed it again where I had 
found it. — Herodt., lib. i., c. 68. 

Idem. — Artachsees, who was the tallest of the Persians, wanted but four 
finger., of five royal cubits, and was also remarkable for his great strength Of 
voice. — Herodt., lib. vii., c. 117. 

Pliny. — The tallest man that has been seen in our time was one Gabbaras by 
nane, who was brought from Arabia by the Emperor Claudius; his height was 
nine feet and as many inches. — Nat. Hist., lib. vii., c. 16. 

Josephus. — Artabanus also, not long afterward, sent (to Tiberius Caesar) his 
son Darius as an hostage with many presents, among which there was a man 
seven cubits tall, a Jew he was by birth, and his name was Eleazar, who for his 
tallness was called a giant. — Antiquities, B. XVIII., c. 4, § 4. 

Plott. — A man named John Middleton was born at Hale, near Warrington, 
Lancashire, England, in the reign of James I., whose hand, from the carpus to 
the end of the middle finger, was 1 7 inches, his palm 8^ inches broad, and 
his whole height 9 feet 3 inches. — In Conip. Comt. 

I Sam. xvr : 5-7. — And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a 
coat of mail ; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had 
greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of 
his spear was like a weaver's beam ; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of 
iron, and one bearing a shield went before him. 

Homer gives the following description of his heroes: 

With generous ardour press' d, 
In arms terrific their huge limbs they dress'd ; 
A two-edged falchion, Thrasymed the brave, 
And ample buckler, to Tydides gave ; 
Then in a leathern helm he cased his head, 
Shor* of its crest, and w:*h no plume o'erspread. 

— Iliad, 1. x., v. 254. 
Stern Telamon behind his ample shield, 
As from a brazen tower, o'erlooked the field. 
Huge was its orb, with seven thick folds o'ercast, 
Of tough bull hides, of solid brass the last 

— Iliad, 1. vii., v. 219. 
Far o'er the plains, in dreadful order bright, 
The brazen arms reflect a beamy light : 
Full in the blazing van great Hector shined, 
Like man commissioned to confound mankind. 
Before him flaming, his enormous shield, 
Like the broad sun, illumined all the field. 

— Iliad y 1. xiii., v. 800. 



FIRST SAMUEL XVII. 265 

A train of heroes follow'd through the field, 
Who bore by turns great Ajax' seven-fold shield, 
Whene'er he breathed, remissive of his might, 
Tired with th' incessant slaughters of the fight. 

— Iliad, 1. xiii., v. 709. 
A spear the Hero bore of wondrous strength, 
Eleven cubits was the lance's length ; 
The steely point with golden ringlets join'd, 
Before him brandished, at each motion shined. 

— Iliad, 1. vi., v. 319. 
I Sam. xvii : 8-IO. — And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, 
Why are ye come out to set your battle in array ? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to 
Saul ? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with 
me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants ; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, 
then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of 
Israel this day ; give me a man that we may fight together. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington, B. A. — Numerous instances of similar con- 
tests, in which the fate of an army or nation was made to depend upon the issue 
of a single combat, are recorded in ancient history. It may be sufficient to refer 
to that of Paris and Hector. — Test, of Heath., p. 186. 

Livy. — Let us, in the name of the gods (said the Albans to Tullus Hostilius), 
pursue some method whereby, without great loss, without much blood of either 
nation, it may be decided which shall have dominion over the other. The 
Horatii and Curiatii were accordingly appointed to fight in the presence of both 
armies, and the Curiatii being vanquished the Albans submitted to the Romans. 
^—Livy, 1. i., c. 23. 

Idem. — A Gaul of a stature remarkably large advanced on the bridge then 
unoccupied, and with a loud voice cried out, Let the bravest man that Rome car. 
produce come forth here to battle that the event of a combat between us two 
may determine which of the nations is to be held superior in war. — Livy, lib. 
vii., c. 10. 

I Sam. xvii: 11, 32, 42. — When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they 
were dismayed and greatly afraid. And David said unto Saul, Let no man's heart fail 
because of him ; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And when the Philistine 
looked about, and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a 
fair countenance. 
Statius. — Argolic Capaneus uprose, 

Fierce to descry, more fierce to be descried ; 

And, while upon his arm the gloves he tied, 

Cut out of new bull hides, and cased with lead, 

As hard as they, exultingly he said : 

Stands there a man amongst your num'rous crew, 

Here let him issue forth in public view ! 

He said, and ceased. Fear held them mute, they gaze 

In stupid wonder, and in wild amaze. 



266 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

At length, Alcidamas, from 'midst the train 
Of naked Spartans, springs forth on the plain. 
Him Capaneus derides with threat' ning hands, 
And, pitying, a more equal foe demands : 
E'en forc'd to combat, his proud soul rebels, 
And his late languid neck with fury swells. 
(Such space of limbs the chief of Argos shows, 
And staring bones as Tityos might disclose. 
The Spartan (for his strength exceeds his years), 
In look a boy, in act a man appears. 

— Thebais, 1. vi., v. 731. 

I Sam. xvii ; 44. — And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto 
the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. 

Livy. — The Praetor Martius said, — To fishes, and birds, and beasts of prey 
inhabiting the earth, to these thy flesh be food. — Livy, lib. xxv., c. 12. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — The rodomontade of Goliath is still (in the East) 
the favorite way of terrifying an enemy. "Begone, or I will give thy flesh to 
the jackals! " "The crows shall soon have thy carcass." "Yes, the teeth of 
the dogs s'lall soon have hold of thee." "The eagles are ready." — Oriental 
Illustrations, p. 165. 

I Sam. xvii : 48, 49. — And it came to pass that when the Philistine arose, and came and drew 
nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And 
David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone and slang it, and smote the Philistine 
in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead ; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 

Strabo. — When the forces of the Epeii and the yEtolians were drawn up in 
qrray against each other, there advanced in front, and engaged in single combat, 
according to the ancient custom of the Greeks, Pyraechmes, an yEtolian, and 
Degmenus, an Epeian : the latter was armed with a bow, and thought to vanquish 
easily from a distance a heavy -armed soldier; the former, when he perceived the 
stratagem of his adversary, provided himself with a sling, and a scrip filled with 
stones. This kind of sling happened also to have been lately invented by the 
^Etolians. As a sling reaches its object at a greater distance than a bow, Deg- 
menus fell, and the ^Etolian took possession of the country, and ejected the 
Epeii. - — Strabo, 1. viii., c. 3. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The people of the Balearic islands throw stones with 
their slings with as much violence as if they were shot out of an engine: with 
these they break in pieces their enemies' shields, helmets, and all their defensive 
armor. They are such exact marksmen that they never miss their aim. This 
skill they attain by habitual practice from their childhood. — Diod. Sic, 1. v., 
c.i. 

Idem. — The people of ^Egium, Patrae, and Dymas were exercised from their 
childhood in throwing with a sling into the sea the round pebbles which gener- 
ally cover the shores; and by this means they acquire such a degree of dexterity, 
as to cast weapons of that sort to a greater distance, with surer aim, and more 



FIRST SAMUEL XVIII. 267 

powerful effect than even the Balearian slingers. Being accustomed to drive 
their bullets through circular marks of small circumference, placed at a great 
distance, they not only hit the enemy's head, but any part of the face that they 
aim at. — Diod. Sic., 1. xxxviii., c. 29. 

Lucan. — Sure aiming, from his Balearic thong, 

Bold Ligdamus a ponderous bullet slung; 

Through liquid air the ball shrill whistling flies, 

And cuts its way through hapless Tyrrhen's eyes. 

Th' astonished youth stands struck with sudden night, 

While bursting start the bleeding orbs of sight. 

— Pharsalia, 1. iii., v. 709. 

I Sam. xvii : 54. — And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem ; but 

he put his armor in his tent. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington, B. A. — Heads were always regarded as the best 
trophies of victory, not only in the East, but among the rude nations of the 
North and the West. Sometimes the skulls were preserved as the tokens of a 
warrior's prowess, as scalps are now by the Indians; they were even made into 
drinking-cups and other vessels, and used by the victors at their feasts. — Test, 
of Heath., p. 189. 

Livy. — Cornelius Cossus, having slain Tolummius, cut off his head, and car- 
ried it about on the point of his spear, as a trophy of the victory. — Livy, 1. iv., 
c. 19. 

Idem. — The Gallic horsemen came in sight, carrying the heads of the slain, 
some hanging before their horses' breasts, others on the points of their spears, 
and expressing their triumph in songs according to their custom. — Livy, 1. x., 
c. 26. 

I Sam. xviii : 6, 7. — And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the 
slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dan- 
cing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music. And the 
women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, and 
David his ten thousands. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — On both these slabs were represented the Assy- 
rian army returning from its victorious campaign, and bringing to the king the 
captives and the spoil. . . . The Assyrian generals were welcomed by bands of 
men and women, dancing, singing, and playing on instruments of music. We 
find from various passages in the Scriptures, that the instruments of music chiefly 
used on such triumphant occasions were the harp, the tabor, and the pipe, pre- 
cisely those represented in the bas-reliefs. . . . The musicians were accompanied by 
six women, and nine boys and girls of different ages, singing and clapping their 
hands to the measure. — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 388. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — When a great man is expected, the people of the 
village always send the tabrets and pipes to meet him. — Oriental Illustrations, 
p. 166. 



268 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

CONSECRATED ARMS. 

I Sam. xxi : 9. — And the priests said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest 
f in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod : if thou wilt 
take that take it : for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like 
that, give it me. 

Dr. John Kitto.— It was a custom among the ancients to dedicate to the gods 
some conspicuous part of the enemy's spoils; a relic of which is preserved in the 
European custom of depositing in churches standards captured in war. — Pict. 
Bib. in loco. 

Homer. — If mine the glory to despoil the foe, 

On Phoebus' temple I'll his arms bestow. — Iliad, VII., 81. 
Quintilian. — It is a question whether the man who makes use of weapons 
that are consecrated in the temple, in order to oppose the invaders of his 
country, is to be considered guilty of sacrilege. — Quintil., 1. v., c. 10. 

FEIGNED MADNESS. 

I Sam. xxi : 13. — And David changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in 
their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. 

Plutarch. — Solon that he might escape the penalty denounced against those 
who should incite the Athenians to war, feigned himself mad. — Solon, c. 8. 

Cicero. — The tragedians accuse Ulysses of wishing to escape from military 
service by the affectation of insanity. — Be Officiis, 1. iii., c. 26. 

CAVE OF ADULLAM. 

I Sam. xxii : I. — David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. 
Rev. A. Bonar. — The cave of Adullam was not very far from Engedi, and 
was very near the birth-place of David. Though not quite certainly, yet with 
very great probability, this cave has of late years been identified with one near 
Bethlehem ; and if this be correct, David, from his earliest years, would know 
it as a place of resort. This caverned spot is near the village called Khureitum. 
The cave is reached only by climbing a precipitous ascent, the full height of 
which is a thousand feet. Half way up you find a slope that leads off to a ledge 
of rocks ; along this ledge you must walk for half a mile, sometimes creeping 
under projecting crags, sometimes over them ; at one time stepping over a gap, 
at another pressing through a fissure, all the while conscious that you have nearly 
six hundred feet of perpendicular rock below you ! When you reach the 
entrance at the end of this ledge, you find it guarded by two masses of rock, 
over which you make your way into the cavern, and are soon lost in an innu- 
merable succession of chambers. Each of these chambers is a sort of hall, in 
which you might imagine the rocks to be gothic pillars, they are so arranged. 
The whole of this mountain of rock seems to be honey-combed : it is all natural 
excavation. No one has explored more than five hundred yards of it, though 
the natives believe that the cave reaches as far south as Hebron. Some of the 



FIRST SAMUEL XXIV. 269 

chambers are only a few feet high, others are like the inside of a church. It 
was here, we believe, that David found a safe retreat from Saul. — Palestine for 
the Young. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Having passed eastward of Tekoa, we descended a 
shallow wady for about a mile to some curious old buildings which overhang 
the tremendous gorge of Wady Urtas, there called Khureitun, which is also the 
name of the ruins. Leaving our horses in charge of wild Arabs, and taking one 
for a guide, we started for the cave, having a fearful gorge below, gigantic cliffs 
above, and the path winding along a shelf of the rock, narrow enough to make 
the nervous among us shudder. At length from a great rock hanging on the 
edge of this shelf, we sprang by a long leap into a low window which opened 
into the perpendicular face of the cliff. We were then within the hold of David, 
and, creeping half doubled through a narrow crevice for a few rods, we stood 
beneath the dark vault of the first grand chamber of this mysterious and oppres- 
sive cavern. Our whole collection of lights did but little more than make the 
damp darkness visible. After groping about as long as we had time to spare, 
we returned to the light of day, fully convinced that, with David and his lion- 
hearted followers inside, all the strength of Israel under Saul could not have 
forced an entrance — would not have even attempted it. I see no reason to 
disturb the tradition which makes this "the hold" into which David retired 
with his father's house, and his faithful followers, when he fled from Gath. — 
The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 424. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — No one who has seen the cave of 
Khureitun can have any doubt of its fitness to be such a place of refuge as the 
cave of Adullam evidently was to David and his followers. — Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 35. 

EN-GEDL 

I Sam. xxiv : 1-3. — It was told Saul, saying, Behold David is in the wilderness of En-gedi. 
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his 
men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came by the sheep-cotes by the way, where 
was a cave : and Saul went in to cover his feet : and David and his men remained in the sides 
of the cave. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — On the western shore of the Dead Sea is y Ainfidy—r 
the " En-gedi " of the Bible. It is situated in a wild ravine, and the cliffs on 
either side are full of natural and artificial caves and sepulchres. In the account 
of Saul's pursuit of David to En-gedi, two circumstances are mentioned which 
are worthy of passing remark. The first is, that there were sheep-cotes there in 
connection with the cave into which Saul retired. I have seen hundreds of them 
around the mouth of caverns, and, indeed, there is scarcely a cave in the land, 
whose location will admit of being thus occupied, but has such a "cote" in 
front of it, generally made by piling up loose stones into a circular wall, which 
is covered with thorns as a further protection against robbers and wild beasts. 
During cold storms, and in the night, the flocks retreat into the cave, but at 
other times they remain in this inclosed cote. The cavern may have been full 



270 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of them when the king entered, nor would'his presence disturb them — as I have 
found on many occasions — while their constant tramping about the sleeping Saul 
would have rendered the approach of David wholly unnoticed. I have had them 
step over me when resting in such caves, and have seen them actually tramp on 
their sleeping shepherd without disturbing his slumbers. Moreover, these 
caverns are as dark as midnight, and the keenest eye cannot see five paces 
inwa?'d ; but one who has been long within, and is looking outward toward the 
entrance, can observe with perfect distinctness all that takes place in that 
direction. David, therefore, could watch Saul as he came in, and notice the 
exact place where he " covered his feet," while he could see nothing but impen- 
etrable darkness. The other fact is, that the cliffs about En-gedi were then 
called "the rocks of the wild goats," and from them, doubtless, the place 
received its name, En-gedi, i. e., The Fountain of the Goats. Now it is a 
remarkable and pleasing circumstance that these bold and hardy dwellers upon 
the rocks are still found in the wild ravines about 'Ain Jidy. I have seen the 
skin and powerful horns of one that was shot there by an Arab hunter. — The 
Land and the Book, II., 419-421. 

I Sam. xxiv : 5, 6. — And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him, because he 
had cut off Saul's skirt. And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this 
thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he 
is the anointed of the Lord. 

Plutarch. — The majesty of the kings of Sparta was held in such veneration, 
even by their enemies, that they scrupled to strike them, even when they had an 
opportunity of doing so in battle. — Agesilaus, c. 21. 

Pliny. — The king of Taprobane, if he is found guilty of any offence, is con- 
demned to death ; but no one slays him; all turn their backs upon him, and 
refuse to hold any communication with him. — Hist. Nat., 1. vi., c. 24. 

NABAL. 

I Sam. xxv : 2. — And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel ; and the 
man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was 
shearing his sheep in Carmel. 

Dr. Robinson. — The ruins of Carmel, now called Kurmul, still remain at 
ten miles below Hebron, close to those of Maon, now called Main, and Ziph, 
now known as Zif, and other places named in Scripture. — See Researches, Vol. 
I., 494, etc. 

I Sam. xxv : 4-9. — And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. And 
David sent out ten young men, and David said to the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and 
go to Nabal, and greet him in my name : and thus shall ye say, etc. 

Dr. Robinson. — We were here in the midst of scenes memorable of old for 
the adventures of David during his wanderings in order to escape from the 
jealousy of Saul ; and we did not fail to peruse here, and with the deepest 
interest, the chapters of Scripture which record those wanderings and adven- 
tures. Ziph and Maon gave their name to the desert on the east, as did En- 




(271) 



272 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

gedi ; and twice did the inhabitants of Ziph endeavor to betray the youthful 
outlaw to the vengeance of his persecutor. At that time David and his men 
appear to have been very much in the condition of similar outlaws at the present 
day. They lurked in these deserts, associating with the shepherds and herds- 
men of Nabal and others, and doing them good offices, probably in return for 
information and supplies obtained through them. Hence when Nabal held his 
annual sheep-shearing in Carmel, David felt himself entitled to share in the 
festival, and sent a message recounting his own services, and asking for a 
present. " Wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes; for we come 
in a good day ; give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy 
servants, and to thy son David." In all these particulars we were deeply 
struck with the truth and strength of the Biblical descriptions of manners and 
customs, almost identically the same as they exist at the present day. On such 
a festive occasion near a town or village, even in our own time, an Arab sheikh 
of the neighboring desert would hardly fail to put in a word, either in person 
or by message ; and his message, both in form and substance, would be only a 
transcript of that of David. — Researches, as quoted in Pictorial Bible. 

SAUL ASLEEP IN CAMP. 

I Sam. xxvi: 6, 7, 12. — Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I 
will go down with thee. So David and Abishai came to the people by night : and, behold, 
Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster; but 
Abner and the people lay round about him. ... So David took the spear and the cruse of 
water from Saul's bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither 
awaked : for they were all asleep. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — I noticed at all the encampments which we 
passed that the sheikh's tent was distinguished from the rest by a tall spear 
stuck upright in the ground in front of it ; and it is the custom, when a party 
is out on an excursion for robbery or for war, that when they halt to rest, the 
spot where the chief reclines or sleeps is thus designated. So Saul, when he 
lay sleeping, had his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster, and Abner and the 
people lay round about him. The whole of that scene is eminently oriental 
and perfectly natural, even to the deep sleep into which all had fallen, so that 
David and Abishai could walk among them in safety. The Arabs sleep heavily, 
especially when fatigued. Often when travelling, my muleteers and servants 
have resolved to watch by turns in places thought to be dangerous, but in every 
instance I soon found them fast asleep, and generally their slumbers were so 
profound that I could not only walk among them without their waking, but might 
have stolen the very 1 aba with which they were covered. Then the cruse of water 
at Saul's head is in%xact accordance with the customs of the people at this day. 
No one ventures to travel over these deserts without his cruse of water, and it is, 
very common to place one at the " bolster," so that the owner can reach it 
during the night. The Arabs eat their dinner in the evening, and it is generally 
of such a nature as to create thirst, and the quantity of water which they drink 
is enormous. The cruse is, therefore, in perpetual demand. Saul and his party 



FIRST SAMUEL XXVIII. 273 

lay in a shady valley, steeped in heavy sleep, after the fatigues of a hot day. 
The camp-ground of Sheikh Fareij, in Wady Shukaiyif, is adapted in all 
respects to be the scene of the adventure. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., 
p. 20. 

I Sam. xxvi: 13, 14. — Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill 
afar oft"; a great space being between them : and David cried to the people, and to Abner the 
son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art 
<thou that criest to the king? And David said, etc. 

Rev. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — In this and other instances, persons are 
described as addressing the people "afar off," and from the top of hills, so that we 
are sometimes surprised to think how it was possible for them to be heard. We 
do not remember ever to have met with any attempt to explain this, save in the 
following interesting passage from Hough's Letters on the Nielgherries : "The 
great extent to which the sound of the voice is conveyed has been thought by 
some persons to be a proof of the extreme rarity of the atmosphere. A similar 
observation is made by Captain Parry in his Voyage of Discovery to the Polar Re- 
gions, 1819-20, where he states, that in the depth of winter the sound of the 
men's voices was heard at a much greater distance than usual. This phenome- 
non is constantly observed on the Nielgherries, or Blue Mountains of Coimba- 
tore, in South India. I have heard the natives, especially in the morning and 
evening, when the air was still, carry on conversations from one hill to another, 
and that apparently without any extraordinary effort. They do not shout in the 
manner that strangers think necessary, in order to be heard at so great a dis- 
tance ; but utter every syllable as distinctly as if. they were conversing face to 
face. WTien listening to them, I have often been reminded of those passages of 
Holy Writ where it is recorded that Jotham addressed the ungrateful people of 
Shechem from Mount Gerizim. In the dense atmosphere of England, and even 
in the purer air of the plains of India, it is not easy to imagine how a discourse 
could be carried on at so great a distance and from such an eminence ; but on 
the Nielgherries the portions of sacred history to which I have referred receive a 
striking illustration." — Pictorial Bible, in loco. 

BATTLE OF GILBOA. 

I Sam. xxviii : 4. — And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in 
Shunem : and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — This Sulam (the ancient Shunem) affords an admir- 
able camp-ground for a large army ; Jebel ed Duhy rising abruptly behind, and 
the top of it commanding a perfect view of the great plain in every direction, so 
that there could be no surprise, nor could their march be impeded or their re- 
treat cut off. — The Land and the Book, II., p. 168. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A.— Of the identity of Gilboa with the ridge 
that stretches eastward from the ruins of Jezreel, no doubt can be entertained. 
At the northern base, half a mile from the ruins, is a large fountain, called in 
Scripture the fountain of Jezreel. The village is now called Jelbon, and its 



274 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

position answers to the description of Eusebius ; it is situated on the top of the 
mountain. The range of Gilboa extends in length some ten miles from east to 
west. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 923. 

I Sam. xxviii: 7, 8. — Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar 
spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said unto him, Behold there 
is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself and put on 
other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — The rock of the mountain, on the slope 
of which Endiir stands, is hollowed into caves, one of which may well have been 
the scene of the incantation of the witch. The distance from the slopes of Gil- 
boa to Endor is seven or eight miles. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 734. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — As we approached Endor we could 
fancy the very walk Saul took over the eastern shoulder of the hill to reach the 
witch's abode, skirting Little Hermon, on the front slopes of which the Philis- 
tines were encamped, in order to reach the village behind them, a long and 
weary distance from his own army, by the Fountain of Jezreel, on the side of 
Gilboa. It might be fancy, but the place has a strange, weird-like aspect — a 
miserable village on the north side of the hill, without a tree or a shrub to re- 
lieve the squalor of its decaying heaps. It is full of caves, and the mud-built 
hovels are stuck on to the sides of the rocks in clusters and are, for the most 
part, a mere continuation and enlargement of the cavern behind, and which 
forms the larger portion of this human den. — The Land of Israel, p. 128. 

Lieut. S. Anderson, R. E. — We can trace exactly the adventurous journey 
Saul had the night before his death, from Jezreel, across the vale, in the greatest 
peril of capture by the Philistines, whose camp he was stealthily avoiding, and 
round the shoulder of the opposite hill to the village of Endor, at the back of 
the hill, six and a half miles distant from his palace. Here, in one of the numer- 
ous caves which are still inhabited, the witch of Endor lived. — Survey of Pal- 
estine, in Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 357. 

I Sam. xxviii : II. — Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee ? And he said, 

Bring me up Samuel. 

Maximus Tyrius. — When he who came to consult the oracle had offered 
prayers and performed sacrifices and libations, he called upon the shade of any 
one he pleased, whether of his ancestors or of his friends ; which being done, 
an indistinct form, scarcely to be seen or recognized, appeared, which neverthe- 
less possessed the power of speech and the gift of divination. — Dissertations, 26. 

Strabo. — The magicians were supposed to communicate ordinances and pre- 
cepts from the gods, both during their life-time and after their death ; as, for 
example, Teiresias, to whom alone, according to Homer, Proserpine gave wis- 
dom and understanding after death. The others flit about like shadows. — < 
Strabo, 1. xvi., c. 2. 

Pliny. — According to what Osthanes tells us, there are numerous sorts of 
magic. It is practised with water, for instance, with balls, by the aid of the air, 
of the stars, of lamps, basins, hatchets and numerous other appliances — means 



FIRST SAMUEL XXXI. 275 

by which it engages to grant a foreknowledge of things to come, as well as con- 
verse with ghosts and spirits of the dead. Apion asserts that he himself had 
raised the spirits of the dead in order to make inquiry of Homer in reference to 
his native country and his parents ; but he dares not, he tells us, disclose the 
answer he received. — Hist. Nat., 1. xxx., c. 5. 

I Sam. xxxi : I. — Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled, from 
before the Philistines, and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — The account of the battle, which was 
so disastrous to the Hebrew king, designates not merely the general scene of the 
action, but various places connected with the movements of the armies, and in- 
troduced in such a way as to be in some measure strategetically related to each 
other. It is worthy of notice, as a corroboration of the Scripture narrative, that 
all these places, except possibly one of them, are still found to exist under their 
ancient names and to occupy precisely the situation with reference to each other 
which the requirements of the history imply. . . . All these places, so interwoven in 
the network of the story, and clearly identified after the lapse of so many cen- 
turies, lie almost within sight of each other. A person may start from any one 
of them and make the circuit of them all in a few hours. The date assigned to 
this battle is b. c. 1055, later but a little than the traditionary age of the siege 
of Troy. It is seldom that a record of remote events can be subjected to so 
severe a scrutiny as this. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 923, 924. 

I Sam. xxxi : 4. — Then said Saul unto his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword and thrust me 
through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But 
his armor-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell 
upon it. 

Plutarch. — Young Crassus, after his defeat by the Parthians, offered his side 
to his armor-bearer, and ordered him to strike the blow. Censorinus is said to 
have died in the same manner. — M. Crassus, c. 25. 

Quintus Curtius. — Having commanded Bubaces to be called, "Go," said 
Darius, " consult your own safety, having continued faithful to your king to the 
last, as it became you. I will await here the decree of my fate. Perhaps you 
wonder that I do not put an end to my existence? I choose to die by another 
man's crime rather than by my own." — Q. Curt., 1. v., c. 12. 

I Sam. xxxi : 10. — And they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 

Mr. George Grove, Crystal Palace. — This place is still called by its old 
Semitic "name, Beisan. It lies in the Ghor, or Jordan Valley, about twelve 
miles south of the Sea of Galilee, and four miles west of the Jordan. The site 
of the town is on the brow of the descent by which the great plain of Esdraelon 
drops down into the level of the Ghor. A few miles to the southwest are the 
mountains of Gilboa, and close beside the town runs the water of the Fountain 
of Jezreel. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 298. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The Gauls, as the chief of their spoils, fasten those that 
they have killed over the doors of their houses, as if they were so many wild 
beasts taken in hunting. — Lib. v., c. 2. 
18 



276 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



Tacitus. — The head of Galba, miserably mangled and stuck upon a pole by a 
rabble of the vile scullions and attendants of the camp, was by them erected 
over the tomb of Patrobius, a slave of Nero's, whom Galba had executed. — 
Histor., 1. i., c. 49. 
I Sam. xxxi : 11, 12. — And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard of that which the 

Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body 

of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt 

them there. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Beitsan is naturally one of the strongest places even 
in this country of strongholds. The Tell, or its Acropolis, rises about two 
hundred feet high, with the sides nearly perpendicular. A strong wall was car- 
ried round the summit, and the gateway was high up the steep declivity at the 
northwest angle. In the huge buttresses of this gateway are built fragments of 
columns, and handsome Corinthian capitals. It was on the wall of this Tell, I 
suppose, that the bodies of Saul and his sons were fastened by the Philistines 
after the battle on Gilboa ; and this supposition enables us to understand how 
the men of Jabesh-Gilead could execute their daring exploit of carrying them 
away. Jabesh-Gilead was on the mountain east of the Jordan, in full view of 
Bethshan, and these brave men could creep up to the Tell, along Wady Jalud, 
without being seen, while the deafening roar of the brook would render it impos- 
sible for them to be heard. I have often been delighted with this achievement. 
— The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 174. 



Second Book of Samuel. 




BODY OF ARCHERS — ANCIENT EGYPTIAN. 



2 Sam. i : 18. — He bade them teach the children 
of Judah the use of the bow. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A.— The bow 
is among the most ancient of offensive 
arms. We read of no corps of archers in 
the Hebrew army till after David's time ; 
but very large bodies of archers are sub- 
sequently mentioned. The Benjamites 
became remarkable for their use of this 
weapon. The frequent reference to 
archery in the Psalms would alone suffice 
to show the interest which David took in 
the subject. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

MUTILATION. 

2 Sam. iv : 12. — And David commanded his 
young men, and they slew them, and cut off 
their hands and their feet, and hanged them up 
over the pool in Hebron. 



SECOND SAMUEL V. 



277 



Annals of Assur-Nasir-Pal., b. c. 
8&$. — Many soldiers I captured alive ; 
of some I chopped off the hands and 
feet ; of others the noses and ears I 
cut off; of many soldiers I destroyed 
the eyes; one pile of bodies while 
yet alive, and one of heads I reared 
up on the heights within their town. — 
Records of the Past, Vol. III., p. 50. 

Dr. Richardson. — The south and 
part of the east wall of the great tem- 
ple at Medinet Habou is covered with 
a battle-scene, and the cruel punish- 
ment of the vanquished, by cutting 
off their hands and maiming their 
bodies, which is performed in the 
presence of the chief, who has seated 
himself for repose in the back part of 
his chariot to witness the execution 
of his horrid sentence. Three heaps 
of amputated hands are counted over 
before him, and an equal number of 
scribes with scrolls in their hands are 
minuting down the account. As 
many rows of prisoners stand behind, 
to undergo a similar mutilation in 
their turn.— In Pkt. Bible, Vol. II. , 
p. 6. 

CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM. 

2 Sam. v: 6, 7, 9. — And the king and his 
men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, 
the inhabitants of the land. . . . And 
David took the stronghold of Zion. . . . 
So David dwelt in the fort, and called it 
the city of David. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., 
LL. D. — It has seemed hitherto 
almost incredible that the Jebusites 
could have kept this acropolis for so 
iong a time, while the Hebrews dwelt 
almost under its shadow. Recent 
excavations have thrown light on this 
singular fact. Jebus was a place of 
extraordinary strength ; for though 
Zion appears at present on a level with some parts of the city, it is now proved 




278 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

beyond a question that it Was originally an isolated summit, precisely as implied 
in the account of its capture by David. It was protected not only by the deep 
ravine of Hinnom on the south and west, and the Tyropaeon on the east, but 
by a valley which ran from the Jaffa gate to the Tyropaeon on the north side 
of the mount. This last valley has been laid bare, showing at different 
points a depth of twenty-six and thirty-three feet below the present surface, and 
in one instance a depth of nearly eighty feet below the brow of Zion. At one 
spot a fragment of the ancient northern rampart of Zion was brought to light. 
It was built close against the cliff, and though only rising to the top of the rock 
behind, it was yet thirty-nine feet high toward the ravine in front. It is not sur- 
prising, therefore, that the subjugation of this stronghold should be reserved for 
the prowess of David, and be recorded as one of his greatest exploits. — Smith's 
Diet, of the Bible, p. 1220. 

2 Sam. vi : 14. — And David danced before the Lord with all his might ; and David was girded 

with a linen ephod. 

Strabo. — Music, accompanied with the dance, rhythm, and song, brings us 
near the deity by the pleasure which it excites, and by the charm of art. — 
Strab., 1. x., c. 3. 

Horace. — Like Salian priests the dance we'll lead, 
And many a mazy measure tread. 

— Hor., 1. i., car. 36. 
Tacitus. — The priests of the Jews used to chant to the sound of pipes and 
drums, binding their brows with ivy; whence some have inferred that they 
worshipped Bacchus, the conqueror of the east. — Historia, 1. v., c. 5. 

DEFEAT OF HABADEZER AND THE SYRIANS. 

2 Sam. viii : 3. — David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to 
recover his border at the river Euphrates. 

Nicolas of Damascus. — After this, there was a certain Hadad, a native 
Syrian, who had great power : he ruled over Damascus, and all Syria, excepting 
Phoenicia. He likewise undertook a war with David, the king of Judaea, and 
contended against him in a number of battles ; in the last of them all, which was 
by the river Euphrates, and in which he suffered defeat, showing himself a 
prince of the greatest courage and prowess. — Nic. Dam., Frag. 31. 
2 Sam. viii : 4.— And David houghed all the chariot horses. 

Livy.— At the battle of Cannae, a body of Numidians fell on the rear of the 
Romans, cutting their hams, etc. After the battle many were found lying on 
the ground alive, with their thighs and hams cut. — Liv.; I. xxii., c. 48. 

2 Snm. viii: 5, 6.— And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succor Hadadezer king of 
Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. Then David put garrisons 
in Syria of Damascus : and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. 
Eupolemon.— David reduced the Syrians, who dwelt by the river Euphrates, 

and Commagene, and the Assyrians and Phoenicians who dwelt in the land of 



SECOND SAMUEL XII. 279 

Gilead ; and he made war on the Edomites, and the Ammonites, and Moabites, and 
Ituraeans and Nabatseans and Nabdaeans ; moreover, he also made an expedition 
against Suron (Huram or Hiram), king of Tyre and Phoenicia, and compelled 
all these people to pay tribute to the Jews. — Quoted in Eusebius, see also F?-ags. 
ofPolyh. in Fr. Hist. Gr., Vol. III., p. 225. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A.- -The narrative of Eupolemon, which 
seems clearly to.be derived from non-Jewish sources, is an important testimony 
to the truth of the history related in 2 Sam. viii. and ix. It confirms that his- 
tory, by a distinct mention of the chief conquests of David recorded in the Bible, 
while it adds to them several others, which, though not recorded in Scripture, 

are intrinsically not improbable. — Hist. Must, of the O. T., p. 97. 

1 

INSULTED MESSENGERS. 

2 Sam. x : 4. — Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one-half of their 
beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 

Aristophanes. — You drive away the embassies from the city, slapping them 
on the buttocks who make proposals of peace. — Equites, V., 795. 

D'Arvieux. — It is a greater mark of infamy in Arabia to cut a man's beard 
off than it is with us to whip a fellow at the carts' tail, or to burn him in the 
hand. Many people in that country would rather die than incur that punish- 
ment. — In Pict. Bib., in loco. 

TREACHERY. 

2 Sam. xi : 14, 15. — And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and 
sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the fore- 
front of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten and die. 

Homer. — Praetus, unwilling to slay his guest, sent him into Lycia, and gave 
him fatal letters, which he was to show to his father-in-law, who was to cause 
him to be put to death. — Iliad, 1. vi., v. 167. 

Thucydides. — Pausanias gave to an Argyllian, an old servant of his, letters 
to convey to Arlabazus. This man alarmed by the recollection that no person 
sent on these errands before him had ever returned, having previously counter- 
feited the seal, to the end that if he were deceived in his suspicions, or if Pau- 
sanias should demand them again to make any alteration, he might escape 
detection, broke open the letters. He found by them that he was going on the 
errand which he foreboded, and that his own murder was especially enjoined. — 
Thucyd., 1. i., c. 132. 

TEE CONVICTING PARABLE. 

2 Sam. xii : 1-4. — And Nathan came unto David and said unto him, There were two men in 
one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and 
herds : but the poor man had nothing, save one ewe lamb, which he had bought and nour- 
ished up; and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own 
meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter, etc. 

Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — It is customary among Christians to 
purchase a young lamb to be eaten at Easter, and the same thing is done by 



580 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Muslims at the feast of Co)'ban-Bairam. These customs are evidently relics o\ 
the Jewish Passover. It is a great event for the children of a family, who may 
be seen leading the little pet about, and vying with each other who shall give it 
the nicest handful of grass. The fathers must have quite a struggle to bring 
about the slaughter of these favorites of the little ones ; for many of them are 
spared, and become installed as members of the family ; and for this reason two 
lambs are sometimes bought, only one of which is killed for th e Easter festival. 
Thenceforward the lamb is the children's inseparable companion. It follows 
the little girls to a pasture close by, or runs behind a donkey the boys are riding 
to the vineyard, and at night the little ones dispute who shall have it for his 
bedfellow. It goes to sleep with their little arms about its neck, or lying in 
its master's bosom, and being unto him as a daughter." So it was % with the 
poor man's "one little ewe lamb" in the parable of the prophet Nathan; and 
many a time since that day has the rich and powerful sheikh or aga, when 
desirous to entertain a passing traveller, "spared to take of his own flock," but 
has taken " the poor man's lamb and dressed it." — Bible Lands, p. 194. 
2 Sam. xii : 7. — And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. 

Horace. — Change but the name, of thee the tale is told. — Sat, I., v. 69. 

2 Sam. xii: 14. — Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies 
of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. 

Cicero. — Great men of a vicious life are doubly pernicious to the state, as 
being not only guilty of immoral practices themselves, but likewise of spreading 
them far and wide among their fellow-citizens. Nor are they mischievous to it 
only, inasmuch as they cherish vice themselves, but also because they corrupt 
others ; and they do more harm by their example than by the crimes which they 
commit. — De Legibus, 1. iii.,c. 13. 

Juvenal. — Every act of moral turpitude incurs more glaring reprobation in 
exact proportion to the rank of him who commits it. — Satires, VIII., v. 140. 

DEATH. 

2 Sam. xii: 16, 17. — David therefore besought God for the child: and David fasted, and went 
in, and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to 
raise him up from the earth ; but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. 

Arrianus. — Alexander, on the death of Hephaestion, neither tasted food nor 
changed his apparel for three whole days ; but lay all that time, either uttering 
lamentations or grieving silently. — Exped. Alex., 1. vii., c. 14. 

2 Sam. xii : 17. — And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. 

Maximus Tyrius. — God will not give you what ought not to be given, though 
you lament and implore ever so much, or pour ever so much dust upon your 
head. — Dissertations, 30. 

2 Sam. xii : 23. — But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back again ? 
I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. 

Euripides. — Thou thinkest thy son will return from be!ow the earth ; but who 
of the dead has ever returned from Hades? — Here. Fur., v. 296. 



SECOND SAMUEL XIII. 281 

Cicero. — O glorious day ! when I shall depart to that divine company and 
assemblage of spirits and quit this troubled and polluted scene. For I shall go 
not only to those great men of whom I have spoken before, but also to my friend 
Cato, than whom never was better man born, nor more distinguished for pious 
affection ; whose body was buried by me, whereas, on the contrary, it was fitting 
that mine should be buried by him. But his soul not deserting me, but often 
looking back, no doubt departed to those regions whither it saw that I myself 
was destined to come. Which, though a distress to me, I seemed patiently to 
endure ; not that I bore it with indifference, but I comforted myself with the 
recollection that the separation and distance between us would not continue 
long. — De Senect., c. 23. 

THE HONOR OF NAME. 

2 Sam. xii ; 28. — Now, therefore, gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against 
the city, and take it ; lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. 

Quintus Curtius. — Alexander now returned to Craterus, who was besieging 
Artacacua, and who, having all things in readiness, only waited for the king's 
coming, that he might give his name to the captured city. — Q. Curt., 1. vi., c. 6. 

Tacitus. — Agricola never boasted of his exploits to blazon his own fame. To 
his general, as the author of all, he, as his instrument and inferior, always as- 
cribed his good fortune. — Agric, c. 8. 

CROWN. 

2 Sam. xii : 30. — And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a 
talent of gold with the precious stones; and it was set on David's head. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The Athenians made a decree that golden statues of An- 
tigonus and Demetrius should be set up upon a chariot next to Harmodius and 
Aristogilon, and that they should both be adorned with crowns of the weight of 
two hundred talents each. — JDiod. Sic, 1. xx., c. 3. 

Pliny. — An Etruscan crown of gold was supported from behind, over the head 
of the victor. — Hist. Nat., 1. xxxiii., c. 4. 

Livy. — The ambassadors from King Philip deposited in the temple of Jupiter, 
supremely great and good, a golden crown of one hundred pounds weight. — 
Livy, 1. xxxvi., c. 35. 

GESHUR. 

2 Sam. xiii : 38. — So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years. 
Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — It is a remarkable fact — and it shows how 
little change three thousand years have produced in this Eastern land — that Ba- 
shan is still the refuge for all offenders. If a man can only reach it, no matter 
what may have been his crimes or his failings, he is safe ; the officers of govern- 
ment dare not follow him, and the avenger of blood even turns away in despair. 
During a short tour in Bashan I met more than a dozen refugees, who, like Ab- 
salom in Geshur, awaited in security some favorable turn of events. — Giant 
Cities of Bashan, p. 14. 
18 



282 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

TEKOAH. 

2 Sam. xiv : 2. — And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman. 
Prof. Horatio B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — Tekoah is known still as Tek'ua, 
and, though it lies somewhat aside from the ordinary route, has been visited and 
described by several recent travellers. The writer was there on the 21st of April, 
1852, during an excursion from Jerusalem by the way of Bethlehem and Urtas. 
Its distance from Beit Tahm (Bethlehem) agrees precisely with that assigned by 
the early writers as the distance between Tekoah and Bethlehem. . . . The 
scene was eminently a pastoral one, and gave back, no doubt, a faithful image of 
the olden times. Flocks were at pasture near the tents and on the remoter hill- 
sides in every direction. There were horses and camels and cattle also, though 
these were not so numerous as the sheep and goats. A well of living water, on 
the outskirts of the village, was a centre of great interest and activity ; women 
were coming and going with their pitchers, and men were filling the troughs to 
water the animals which they had driven thither for that purpose. — Smith's Diet, 
of Bible, p. 3189. 

DAVID'S RESIGNATION. 

2 Sam. xv : 25, 26. — And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city : 
if it shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and 
his habitation. But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I, let him do to 
me as seemeth good unto him. 

Epictetus. — Dare to lift up thine eyes to God, and say, Use me hereafter 
to whatsoever thou wilt. I agree and am of the same mind with thee, 
indifferent to all things. I refuse nothing that shall seem good to thee. Lead 
me whither thou wilt ; let me act what part thou choosest, whether of a public or 
a private person, of a rich man or a beggar. — Epict., 1. ii., c. 16. 
Cleanthes. — Conduct me Jove ; and thou O destiny. 

COVERING THE HEAD. 

2 Sam. xv : 30. — And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, 
and had his head covered, and he went bare-foot : and all the people that- was with him 
covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 

Plutarch. — Anaxagoras, being neglected and destitute, covered his head and 
resolved to starve himself. — PericL, c. 16. 

Livy. — Appius, bereft of courage and dreading for his life, covered his head, 
and, unobserved by his adversaries, made his escape into a house near the 
Forum. — Liv., 1. iii., c. 49. 

Quintus Curtius. — Darius being informed by the eunuch Tyriotes that his 
queen had died in her captivity, but that she had been, respectfully treated by 
the conqueror, covered his head and wept for a long time. — Quint. Curt., 1. iv., 
c. 8. 

WOOD OF EPHRAIM. 

t Sam. xviii : 6-9. — So the people went out into the field against Israel : and the battle was in 
the wood of Ephraim ; where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, 



SECOND SAMUEL XX. 



283 



and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men. For the battle was 
there scattered over the face of ail the country : and the wood devoured more people that day 
than the sword devoured. And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode 
upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught 
hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth ; and the mule that 
was under him went away. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — I have had a delightful ramble this morning in these 
grand old forests, and now understand perfectly how Absalom could be caught 
by the thick branches of an oak. The strong arms of these trees spread out so 
near the ground that one cannot walk erect beneath them ; and on a frightened 
mule, such a head of hair as that vain but wicked son "polled every year" 
would certainly become inextricably entangled. No doubt ; and it is interest- 
ing to know that the region where that battle was fought is still covered with 
such forests — that " wood of Ephraim," with thick oaks and tangled bushes, 
and thorny creepers growing over ragged rocks, and ruinous precipices down 
which the rebel army plunged in wild dismay, horses and men crushing each 
other to death in remediless ruin. Thus 20,000 men perished in that fatal 
wood, which devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. — The 
Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 234. 



TENDER GRIEF. 

2 Sam. xviii : 33. — And the king was much moved, and went up to the ckamber over the gate, and 
wept : and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! Would 
God that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son ! 

Bion. — I wail Adonis ! perished the 
fair Adonis ! lost, lost, Adonis. — Idyl I. 

Virgil. — We will raise your Daphnis 
to the stars. We will raise Daphnis to 
the stars ! Me too Daphnis loved ! — ■ 
Eclog., 1. v., v. 51. 



GREETING BY THE BEARD. 

Sam. xx : 9, 10. — And Joab said to Amasa, 
Art thou in health, my brother ? And Joab 
took Amasa by the beard with the right hand 
to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the 
sword that was in Joab's hand : so he smote 
him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his 
bowels to the ground, and struck him not 
again : and he died. 




TOMB OF ABSALOM. 



Homer. — Sternly he spake, and as the wretch prepar'd 

With humble blandishments to stroke his beard, 

Like lightning swift the wrathful falchion flew, 

Divides the neck, and cuts the nerves in two. — Iliad, 1. x., v. 454. 



284 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Euripides. — I implore thee, old man, falling before thy knees, for it is not 
possible for me to touch thy beard, deliver me by the gods. — Androm, v. 572. 

SIX-FINGERED GIANT. 

2 Sam. xxi : 20. — And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had 
on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, -four and twenty in number, and he also 
was born to the giant. 

Pliny. — Some persons have six fingers on the hands. We read that C. 
Horatius, a man of patrician rank, had two daughters, who, for this reason, had 
the name of " Sedigitae ; " and we find mention made of Volcatius Sedigitus, 
as a famous poet. — Hist. Nat., 1. xi., c. 99. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — I saw once a young girl in the county of Londonderry, 
in Ireland, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot ; but 
her stature had nothing gigantic in it. — Note, in loco. 

Reaumur. — A Maltese couple, named Kelleia, whose hands and feet were 
constructed upon the ordinary human model, had born to them a son, Gratio, who 
possessed six perfectly movable fingers on each hand, and six toes, not quite so 
well formed, on each foot. Gratio Kelleia married a woman with the ordinary 
pentadactyle extremities, and had by her four children, Salvator, George, 
Andre and Marie. Of these children Salvator, the eldest boy, had six fingers 
and six toes, like his father. — In Huxley's Lay Sermons, p. 265, 266. 

TIME OF SNOW. 

2 Sam. xxiii : 20. — And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went down also and slew a lion in the 

midst of a pit in time of snow. 

Dr. Robinson. — At Jerusalem snow often falls to the depth of a foot or 
more, in January and February, but it. seldom lies. — Researches, Vol. I., p. 429. 

Dr. Kitto. — At Nazareth snow falls more frequently and deeply; and it has 
been observed to fall even in the maritime plain of Joppa, and about Carmel. 
^Phys. Hist, of Pal., p. 210. 

Josephus. — The ambient air here (in the plain of Jericho) is of so good a 
temperature, that the people of the country are clothed in linen only, even when 
snow covers the rest of Judea. — -Jewish Wars, B. IV., c. viii., § 3. 

NUMBERING THE PEOPLE- 

2 Sam. xxiv : 15, 17. — So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, fir>m the morning even to the 
time appointed : and there died of the people from Dan even to Bpersheba seventy thousand 
men. . . . And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and 
said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly : but these sheep, what have they done ? 
Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. 

Hesiod. — States rue the wrongs a sinful man has done, 
And all atone the wickedness of one. 
The god sends down his angry plagues from high. 
Famine and pestilence ; in heaps they die. 
He smites with barrenness the marriage bed, 
And generations moulder with the dead : 



SECOND SAMUEL XXIV. 285 

Again in vengeance of his wrath he falls 
On their great hosts, and breaks their tottering walls ; 
Ponder ye kings ! within your inmost thought, 
The retribution of his judgments wrought. — Op. et dies, v. 240. 
Horace. — When doting monarchs urge 

Unsound resolves, their subjects feel the scourge. — Lib. i., ep. 2. 
Statius. — But now the weeping sons of Thebes atone 

For royal crimes, and mischiefs not their own. 

— Theb., 1. iii., v. 206. 
DAVID'S PEACE-OFFERINGS. 

2 Sam. xxiv : 25. — And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and 
peace-offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from 
Israel. 

Homer. — The gods (trie only great and only wise) 

Are moved by offerings, vows, and sacrifice ; 

Offending man their high compassion wins, 

And daily prayers atone for daily sins. — Iliad, 1. ix., v. 493. 



First Book of Kings. 



DAVID IN HIS OID AGE. 

I Kings i: 1, 2. — Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with 
clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for 
my lord the king a young virgin : and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, 
and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — This is by no means so uncommon a thing as people 
in England suppose. Men of seventy years of age and upwards often take a 
young virgin for the same purpose as did David, and for no other. It is 
believed to be exceedingly healthful for an aged person thus to sleep. — Oriental 
Illustrations , p. 188. ♦ 

THE ALTAR A REFUGE. 

I Kings i : 50. — And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught 

hold on the horns of the altar. 

^Eschylus. — When Mars to slaughter gives the reins, 
And rages o'er the ensanguined plains, 
To each that flies, the Altar gives 
A refuge, and the suppliant lives. — Suppl., v. 82. 
Plutarch. — There is the Altar to which the slave may flee for refuge; there 
are many sacred and inviolable places also for thieves ; those even who are 



286 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

routed and pursued by their enemies, if they can take hold of some image or 
gain some sacred temple, are safe. — De Superst., c. 4. 

Lucian. — The people ran together, and were going to cover £eregrinus with 
a volley of stones, had he not, to save his life, taken refuge with Jupiter. — De 
Mort. Eeregr., c. 19. 

I Kings ii : 29. — And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the 
Lord ; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, 
saying, Go, fall upon him. 

Thucydides. — The altars are a refuge to involuntary offences; and trans- 
gression is only imputed to those who are bad without compulsion, and not to 
such as urgent necessity may render daring. — Thucyd., 1. iv., c. 98. 

Euripides. — If an unrighteous man, availing himself of the law, should 
claim the protection of the Altar, I would drag him to justice, nor fear the 
wrath of the gods ; for it is necessary that every wicked man should suffer for 
his crimes. — Eurip., Frag. 42. 

SOLOMON'S REQUEST, 

I Kings iii : 7. — And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David 
my father; and I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — Such was the humble confession of Solomon when 
he came to the kingdom of his father : and such frequently is the form of speech 
used by men here, though they be advanced in years, when they wish to speak 
of their incapacity for any performance. " What can I do in this affair ? I am 
but a boy of yesterday's birth." When a man pleads for forgiveness, he says, 
" I am but a child ; it was my ignorance." " Forgive him, Sir; he is but an 
infant of yesterday." — Orient. Illust. y p. 190. 

I Kings iii : 9. — Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I 
may discern between good and bad : for who is able to judge this thy so great a people ? 

Seneca. — Cease not to pray to the gods ; and ask particularly for wisdom, 
a sound mind, and health of body. — Epist., 10. 

Juvenal. — We ought to pray that we may have a sound mind in a sound 
body. — Sat. 10., v. 356. 

Menander. — Nothing is more excellent in man than sense and reason. He 
who possesses this has all things. , 

SOLOMON'S JUDGMENT. 

I Kings iii : 25. — And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, 

and half to the other. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Ariophames, king of Thrace, being appointed to decide 
between three young men, who each professed to be the son of the deceased king 
of the Cimmerians, and claimed the crown in consequence, found out the real 
son by commanding each to shoot an arrow into the body of the dead king : two 
of them did this without hesitation; the third refused, and was therefore judged 
by Ariophames to be the real son of the deceased. — As quoted by Grotius, in loco. 



FIRST KINGS IV. 287 

Suetonius. — A woman refusing to acknowledge her own son, and there being 
no clear proof on either side, Claudius obliged her to confess the truth by order- 
ing her to marry the young man, the horror of such a connection constraining 
her to acknowledge that he was her child. — Claud., c. 15. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — A woman who was going to bathe left her child to 
play on the banks of the tank, when a female demon who was passing that way 
carried it off. They both appeared before the deity, and each declared the child 
was her own. The command was therefore given, that each claimant was to 
seize the infant by a leg and an arm, and pull with all their might in opposite 
directions. No sooner had they commenced than the child began to scream, 
when the real mother, from pity, left off pulling, and resigned her claim to the 
other. The judge therefore decided, that as she only had shown true affection, 
the child must be hers. — From Panseya-panas-j alike. 

SOLOMON'S PROVISIONS. 

1 Kings iv: 22, 23. — And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, 
and three-score measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a 
hundred sheep, besides harts and roebucks, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl. 

Poly^enus. — The daily consumption of provisions in the royal establishment 
of Cyrus was great, and consisted of one thousand bushels of wheat, one thou- 
sand bushels of barley-meal, two hundred and twenty bushels of oat-meal, eleven 
bushels of paste mixed for pastry; four hundred sheep, three hundred lambs, one 
hundred oxen, thirty horses, thirty deer, four hundred fat geese, one hundred 
goslings, three hundred doves, six hundred small birds, eleven bushels of salt, 
three thousand seven hundred and fifty gallons of wine, seventy-five gallons of 
milk, etc. — Stratagematum, iii., 3. 

Tavernier. — There enters no beef into the kitchens of the Grand Seignior's 
seraglio; but the ordinary consumption of every day, including all, as well those 
who eat within as without, may amount to five hundred sheep, in which number 
must be comprehended lambs and kids. According to the proportion of mutton 
may be computed the quantity of pullets, chickens, and young pigeons, the num- 
ber of which is limited according to the season ; as also what may be consumed 
in rice and butter for the pillau. — In Pict. Bib., Vol. II., p. 262. 

SHADE OF THE VINE AND FIG-TREE. 

I Kings iv : 25. — And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under hi* 
fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 

Dr. William Jenks. — The land was in such profound peace, that the people 
disregarded the protection of walled cities. — Camp. Com., note, in loco. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — There is no protection against the 
rays of an eastern sun more complete than the dense foliage of the fig-tree. 
The cottages of Cyprus, where law and security reign to a degree unknown in 
Syria, have still their clump of Fig-trees round each door; and we have enjoyed 



288 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

both rest and food beneath the shade of the Cyprian Fig-tree, cool even in the 
hottest autumnal weather. — Nat. Hist, of Bib., p. 351. 

WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 

I Kings iv : 30. — And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east 
country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Egypt was deemed by the Gentiles the fountain of the arts 
and sciences, and their philosophers were wont to go thither to fructify their 
minds by the outpourings of Egyptian wisdom. — Pict. Bib., Vol. II., p. 263. 

Herodotus. — The king Rhampsinitus considered the Egyptians superior in 
subtlety to all the world. — Herodt., 1. ii,, c. 122. 

Plato. — Solon said that on his arrival at Sais, in Egypt, he was very honor- 
ably received; and especially on his inquiry about ancient affairs of those priests 
who possessed superior knowledge in such matters, he perceived that neither him- 
self nor any of the Greeks, as compared with them, had any antiquarian knowl- 
edge at all. — Timceus, c. 3. 

BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 

I Kings v: 1-5. — And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon ; for he had heard 
that they had anointed him king in the room of his father : for Hiram was ever a lover of 
David. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying . . . Behold I purpose to build a house unto 
the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, etc. 

Josephus. — I will now pass from these records, and come to those that belong 
to the Phenicians, and concern our nation, and shall produce attestations to what 
I have said out of them. There are then records among the Tyrians that take in 
the history of many years, and these are public writings, and are kept with great 
exactness, and include accounts of the facts done among them, and such as con- 
cern their transactions with other nations also, those I mean which are worth re- 
membering. Therein it was recorded, that the Temple was built by king Solo- 
mon at Jerusalem, one hundred and forty-three years and eight months before the 
Tyrians built Carthage; and in their annals the building of our Temple is related ; 
for Hirom the king of Tyre, was the friend of Solomon our king, and had such 
friendship transmitted down to him from his forefathers. He thereupon was 
ambitious to contribute to the splendor of this edifice of Solomon's, and made 
him a present of one hundred and twenty talents of gold. He also cut down 
the most excellent timber out of that mountain which is called Libanus, and sent 
it to him for adorning its roof. Solomon also not only made him many other 
presents, by way of requital, but gave him a country in Galilee also that was 
called Chabulon. But there was another passion, a philosophic inclination of 
theirs, which cemented the friendship that was betwixt them; for they sent mu- 
tual problems to one another, with a desire to have them unriddled by each 
other ; wherein Solomon was superior to Hirom, as he was wiser than he in other 
respects ; and many of the epistles that passed between them are still preserved 
among the Tyrians. — Contra Apion., Book I., § 17. 



FIRST KINGS V. 289 

I Kings v: 6. — Now therefore, command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; 
and my servants shall be with thy servants. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — The ceiling, roof and beams of the Temple were 
of cedar wood. The discoveries in the ruins at Nimroud show that the same 
precious wood was used in the Assyrian edifices ; and the King of Nineveh, as we 
learn from the inscriptions, employed men, precisely as Solomon had done, to 
cut it in Mount Lebanon. — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 550. 

Menander. — Upon the death of Abibolas, his son Hirom took the kingdom; 
he lived fifty-three years, and reigned thirty-four. He raised a bank on that 
called the Broad Place, and dedicated that golden pillar which is in Jupiter's 
temple. He also went and cut down timber from the mountain called Libanus, 
and got timber of cedar for the roofs of the temples. He also pulled down the old 
temples and built new ones. — In/osph. Conlr. Apn., B. I., § 18. 

I Kings v : 6. — For thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber 

like unto the Sidonians. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Phenician civilization is represented as 
consisting especially in the possession of nautical skill, of extensive commerce, 
and of excellence in the mechanical and ornamental arts and employments. 
Their skill to hew timber, even at this remote period, was attested by their own 
historians. — Hist. Must, of the Old Test., p. 114. 

I Kings v: 9. — My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea; and I will 
convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me. 

Quintus Curtius. — Material for building towers and rafts was brought down 
from Mount Lebanon. — Q. Curt., 1. iv., c. 2. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — In Solomon's day the servants of King Hiram 
cut the cedars of Lebanon, and, making them into rafts, floated them to Joppa, 
the port appointed by the Jewish King. In the same manner, the timber, which 
grows abundantly on the Northern coast of Asia Minor, is cut down by the 
Sultan's servants, made into rafts at Sinope and other ports on the Black Sea, 
and conveyed to the capital for the supply of the imperial navy yard, and for 
house-building. — Bible Lands, p. 64. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — Exactly in this way is timber conveyed in all parts 
of the East. — Oriental Illust., p. 192. 

I Kings v : 17, 18. — And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and 
hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's 
builders did hew them, and the stone-squarers. 

Dr. John Kitto. — As to the largeness of the stones for the temple, we may 
remark that stones of astonishingly large size were certainly employed in the 
ancient structures of Syria. Thus in the sub-basement of the great temple of 
Baalbek Irby and Mangles measured a stone sixty-six feet in length, by twelve 
in breadth and thickness. And Wood, in his account of the same ruins, con- 
firms this observation ; and takes notice of stones which he found cut and 
shaped for use in a neighboring quarry, one of which measured seventy ieet in 



290 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



length, by fourteen in breadth, and fourteen feet five inches in depth, contain- 
ing 14,128 cubic feet; and which would, if of Portland stone, weigh 1,135 tons - 
We might also refer to the frequently enormous size of the stones employed in 
the erection of the ecclesiastical and sepulchral structures of Egypt. — Pict. Bible 
in loco. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D.— A striking confirmation of the amity 
between Hiram and the Hebrew kings has lately been brought to light. Certain 
writings or marks have been found on the bottom rows of the wall at the south- 
east angle of the Haram area, near where the ancient temple must have stood, 
at the depth of about ninety feet, where the foundations lie on the lime-rock 
itself. Mr. E. Deutsch, of the British Museum, who has examined these stones 
on the ground, decides that these signs were cut or painted on the stones 
when they were laid in their present places, and that they are Phenician marks; 
this is beyond question, because they agree with those found on primitive 
substructions in the harbor of Sidon. It is certainly remarkable that Phenician 










GREAT STONE IN THE QUARRY. 



letters or etchings should be found on these stones at Jerusalem, thus suddenly 
brought to light ; and the best explanation of the fact is that they were placed 
there by the Tyrian architects, whom Hiram sent to Jerusalem, to assist in the 
erection of the Temple. The precise value of the characters is not yet deter- 
mined, but no doubt they were designed to guide the workmen in placing the 
stones in their proper positions. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3340. 

I Kings vi : 1. — And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children 
of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, 
in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. 

Prof. George Rawltnson, M. A. — The Tyrian histories witnessed to the 
construction of the temple by Solomon, an event which they placed in the 144th 
year before the foundation of Carthage, or B. c. 1007 (a date that ahnost exactly 
agrees with the Bible C/ironology, which puts it at B. c. 1012). — Hist, fllust., 
P' no. 



FIRST KINGS VI. 291 

I Kings vi : 14-22. — So Solomon built the house, and finished it. And he built the walls. of the 
house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling : and 
he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks 
of fir, etc. 

To see that this whole description of Solomon's temple is both natural and 
credible — that it is in perfect accord with the architectural taste and me- 
chanical skill and royal munificence of those early days — one need but read the 
following record of the Temple of Merodach erected at Babylon at a somewhat 
later date : 

Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. — The fanes of Babylon I built, I adorned. 
Of the house, the foundation of the heaven and earth, I reared the summit with 
blocks of noble lapis lazuli : to the construction of Bit-Saggatu my heart lifted 
me up ; in abundance I wrought the best of my pine trees, which from Lebanon, 
together with tall Babil-wood, I brought for the portico of the Temple of Mero- 
dach : the shrine of his Lordship I made good, and interior walls with pine and 
tall cedar woods : the portico of the Temple of Merodach, with brilliant gold 
I caused to cover, the lower thresholds, the cedar awnings, with gold and 
precious stones I embellished: in the erection of Bit-Saggatu I proceeded: I 
supplicated the King of gods, the Lord of lords : in Borsippa, the city of his 
loftiness, I raised Bit-Zida: a durable house in the midst thereof I caused to be 
made. With silver, gold, precious stones, bronze, unmakana and pine woods, 
those thresholds I completed : the pine wood portico of the shrine of Nebo with 
gold I caused to cover, the pine wood portico of the gate of the Temple of 
Merodach I caused to overlay with bright silver, etc. — See Records of the Pasi\ 
Vol. V., p. 119. 

I Kings vi: 18. — And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: 
all was cedar; there was no stone seen. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — The people of the East are exceedingly profuse in 
their carved work. Look at a temple ; it is, almost from its foundation to its 
summit, a complete mass of sculpture and carved work. Look at the sacred car 
in which their gods are drawn out in procession, and you are astonished at the 
labor, taste and execution displayed by the workmen in carved work. Nay, the 
roof and doors of private dwellings are all indebted to the chisel of the "cun- 
ning workman." The pillars that support the verandahs, their chests, their 
couches (as were those of Solomon), the handles of different instruments, their 
ploughs, their vessels, however rude in other respects, must be adorned by the 
skill of the carver. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 193. 

I Kings v : 38. — So was he seven years in building it. 
f Josephus. — Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, undertook a very 
great work, that is, to build of himself the temple of God, and to make it larger 
of compass, and to raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be 
the most glorious of all his actions. The cloisters and outer enclosures he 
built in eight years. But the temple itself was built by the priests in a year and 
19 



292 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

six months, upon which the people were full of joy. — Antiquities, B. XV., 

C. IT. 

HOUSE OF LEBANON. 

I Kings vii : 2. — He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon ; the length thereof was a 

hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon 
four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — As a builder of great works Esar-haddon 
is particularly distinguished. Besides his palace at Babylon, he built at least 
three others in different parts of his dominions, either for himself or for bis son. 
The southwest palace at Nimroud is the best preserved of his constructions. 
This building, which was excavated by Mr. Layard, is remarkable from the 
peculiarity of its plan as well as from the scale upon which it is constructed. 
It corresponds in its general design ah7iost exactly with the palace of Solomon (i 
Kings vii : 1-12), but is of larger dimensions, the great hall being 220 feet long, 
by 100 broad, and the porch or ante-chamber 160 feet by 60 feet. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 761. 

I Kings vii; 10, 12. — And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten 
cubits and stones of eight cubits. . . . And the great court round about was with three rows of 
hewed stones. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Many of the stones in the existing walls of Jerusalem are 
fifteen or sixteen feet long, by four high and four deep ; and it is remarkable 
that these dimensions, as to length, correspond to those given in the Scripture. 
■ — Pict. Bible in loco. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, A. M. — Some forty feet from the angle, on the western 
side, are three courses of colossal masonry projecting from the wall, and forming 
the springing stones of a large arch. These stones have within the last few 
years attracted no little attention. And this is not strange, for they are 
unquestionably a remnant of the bridge that once connected Moriah and Zion. 
Calculating by the curve of the part which remains, we find that the span of the 
arch must have been about forty feet, and five such arches would be required to 
cross the Tyropean. That the bridge existed in our Lord's time we learn from 
Josephus. It is also mentioned during the siege by Pompey twenty years before 
Herod was made king. The exact date of the fragment still remaining cannot, 
of course, be precisely fixed. One thing, however, is certain, that it is coeval 
with the massive foundations of the southern angles of the Haram. One of the 
three courses is five feet four inches high, the others are a little less. One of the 
stones is twenty-four feet long, another twenty, and the rest in proportion. 
The Cyclopean dimensions, and peculiar character of the masonry, indicate a far 
higher antiquity than Herod the Great, and would seem to point back to the 
earliest age of the Jewish monarchy. We read that the foundations of Solo- 
mon's temple were formed of " costly stones, even great stones; stones of ten 
cubits, and stones of eight cubits. And the great court round about was of 
three rows of hewed stones." — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 126. 






FIRST KINGS VIII. 293 

THE TVSO PILLARS. 

I Kings vii r 13, 14.— And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. . . . And he was 
filled with wisdom and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came 
to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — The embossed and engraved vessels from Nim- 
roud afford many interesting illustrations of the progress made by the ancients in 
metallurgy. The Sidonians, and other inhabitants of the Phenician coast, weie 
the most renowned workers in metal of the ancient world. In the Homeric 
poems they are frequently mentioned as the artificers who fashioned and embossed 
metal cups and bowls. It will be remembered that Phenician characters occur 
on one of the plates (discovered at Nimroud). The discovery in Cyprus of 
twelve silver bowls very closely resembling those found at Nimroud, tend further 
to confirm the idea that many of these relics were the works of Phenician artists. 
— Nineveh mid Babylon, p. 162, 163. 

I Kings vii: 15, 21. — He cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line 
of twelve cubits did compass either of them about. . . . And he set up the pillars in the porch 
of the temple. 

Dr. John Kitto. — In several of the Egyptian temples, obelisks are placed 
immediately in front of them, at each side of, and at equal distances from the 
door of entrance. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Herodotus. — Among the various offerings which adorned and enriched the 
temple of Hercules, I saw two pillars; the one was of purest gold, the other of 
emerald, which in the night diffused an extraordinary splendor. — Herod., 1. ii., 
c. 44. 

Menander. — Upon the death of Abibalus, his son Hirom took the king- 
dom. He raised a bank on that called the "Broad Place," and dedicated 
that golden pillar which is in Jupiter's temple. — In Joseph us Contr. Ap., B. 
I., §18. 

I Kings vii: 18. — And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, 
to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The pomegranate was adopted as 
one of the favorite devices in the decoration of Solomon's temple, being carved 
on the capitals of the pillars. Whether the design was taken from the fruit or 
the flower, it would form a graceful ornament. We have frequently noticed 
the Pomegranate sculptured on fragments of columns among the ruins of 
Oriental temples. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 389. 

ATTITUDE IN PRAYER. 

1 Kings viii : 22. — And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the 
congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This was a usual custom in all nations : in prayer the 
hands were stretched out to heaven as if to invite and receive assistance from 
thence. — Note in loco. 



294 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Virgil. — Ye lamps of heaven, he said, and lifted high 
His hands, now free ; thou venerable sky, 
Inviolable powers! — ALn., lib. ii., v. 153. 
Dr. William Jenks. — The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic for prayer was the 
figure of two uplifted hands. — Note in loco. 

1 Kings viii : 30. — And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people 
Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This refers to a very ancient custom, for the worshippers, 
under different systems of religion, to direct their faces, when at prayer, to- 
wards some particular point where the presence of their deity was supposed to 
be more particularly manifested, or which was, dtherwise, the holiest place 
which the religion recognized. This point is called the kebla among the eastern 
nations. Jerusalem and its temple was the kebla of the Jews — the point to 
which they directed their prayers wherever they might be. . . ■. We discover 
the continuance of the custom of worshipping toward Jerusalem and its temple 
in the order issued by Adrian, by which the Jews were forbidden not only to 
enter Jerusalem, but to look towards it. The custom is not yet relinquished. 
The Jews still, in all their wide dispersions, turn their faces in prayer towards 
their lost Canaan, and for this reason it is that, in all Hebrew Synagogues, we 
observe the door (or the principal door, if there be more than one) is placed at 
or near the opposite of the compass. The kebla of the Mohammedans is at 
Mecca. — Pict. Bib. in loco. • 

QUEEN OF SHEBA. 

I Kings x : I. — And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the 
name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. 

Dius. — They say further, that Solomon, when he was king of Jerusalem, sent 
problems to Hirom to be solved, and desired that he would send others back 
for him to solve; and that he who could not solve the problems proposed to 
him should pay money to him that solved them. And when Hirom had agreed 
to the proposals, but was not able to solve the problems, he was obliged to pay 
a great deal of money, as a penalty for the same. As also they relate that one 
Abdemon, a man of Tyre, did solve the problems, and propose others which 
Solomon could not solve, upon which he was obliged to repay a great deal of 
money to Hirom. — In Josephus Contr. Ap., B. I., § 17. 

Plutarch. — Aristippus, having heard from Ischomachus of the wisdom of 
Socrates, could have no rest till, having sailed to Athens, with wonderful thirst 
and ardor he had drunk from the fountain, and had heard the man himself, and 
his language and philosophy. — De Curiosit., c. 2. 

Idem. — In the course of his expedition into India, Alexander took ten of 
the Gymnosophists. As these ten were reckoned the most acute and concise in 
their answers, he put the most difficult questions to them that could be thought 
of, and at the same time declared that he would put the first person that an- 
swered wrong to death, and after him all the rest. The oldest man among 
'hem was to be judge. 



ii^^^^Sp^iiiS^ 




THE QUEEN OF SHEBA ENTERING THE COURT OF SOLOMON. 



(295) 



FIRST KINGS X. 297 

He demanded of the first, " Which were the most numerous, the living or the 
dead?" He answered, "The living, for the dead no longer exist." 

The second was asked, "Whether the earth or the sea produce the largest 
animals? " He answered, "The earth, for the sea is part of it." 

• The third, "Which was the craftiest of all animals?" "That," said he, 
" with which man is not yet acquainted " — meaning himself. 

The fourth, "What was his reason for persuading Sabbas to revolt?" 
" Because," said he, "I wished him either to live with honor, or to die as a 
coward deserves." 

The fifth had this question put to him, " Which do you think oldest, the day 
or the night? " He answered, " The day, by one day." As the king appeared 
surprised at this solution, the philosopher told him, "Abstruse questions must 
have abstruse answers." 

Then addressing himself to the sixth, he demanded, "What are the be^t 
means for a man to make himself loved?" He answered, "If possessed of 
great power, do not make yourself feared." 

The seventh was asked, " How a man might become a god ? " He answered, 
" By doing what is impossible for man to do." 

The eighth, "Which is the strongest, life or death?" "Life," said he, 
" because it bears so many evils." 

The last question he put was, " How long is it good for a man to live ? " "As 
long," said the philosopher, " as he does not prefer death to life." 

Then turning to the judge, he ordered him to give sentence. The old man 
said, " In my opinion, they have all answered one worse than the other." "If 
this is thy judgment," said Alexander, "thou shalt die first." "No," replied 
the philosopher, " unless you choose to break your word ; for you declared that 
the man who answered worst should first suffer." — The king loaded them with 
presents, and dismissed them. — Alexand., c. 64. 

I Kings x: 10. — And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices 
very great store, and precious stones : there came no more such abundance of spices as these 
which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The Sabaeans not only excel all the neighboring bar- 
barians in wealth, but all other people whatsoever, for plenty of everything 
which is counted precious. They swim, as it were, in streams of gold and 
silver, especially at Sabas, the seat of their kings. The doors and roofs of their 
apartments are adorned with numberless golden bowls, set with precious stones. 
— Diod. Sic, 1. Hi., c. 3. 

Pliny. — The Sabaei are the richest of all in the great abundance of their 
spice-bearing groves, their mines of gold, etc. — Hist. Nat., 1. vi., c. 32. 

Virgil. — The Sabaeans alone possess the tree which produces frankincense.—" 
Georg., L ii., v. 117. 



298 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



SOLOMON'S THRONE. 

I Kings x : 18. — Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best 

gold. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Among the Greeks ivory was in 
use at a very early period, as it is repeatedly mentioned by Homer andHesiod. 
In after times the use of ivory became more general among the luxurious. The 
galleys of the Phoenicians had their benches or hatches ornamented with ivory 
inlaid work. Many specimens of ivory ornaments have been found both in 
Nineveh, especially a sceptre and inlaid tablets, and also in the earliest monu- 
ments of Egypt. The art of inlaying ivory is still practised by the inhabitants 
of Sidon.— Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 82. 

Austen H. La yard, M. P. — Gilding appears to have been extensively used 
among the Assyrians in decoration \ and some of the great sphinxes may have 



id in hi in ia hi 



- 



1^ 4 y W ;; i u— iww 







m_in 111 111 u»l_m ui m m — ui — ui_ui_ 




lillJUlE 



EGYPTIAN THRONES. 



been overlaid with gold, like the cherubim in Solomon's temple. — Nineveh and 
Babylon, p. 555. 

Idem. — In one of the tombs at Kouyunjik was a thin golden mask, still pre- 
served, which perfectly retained the figure of the corpse. A similar mask of 
thin gold was discovered in a tomb opened by the officers of the Euphrates 
expedition on the banks of that river. — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 503. 

I Kings x : 19, 20. — The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind : and 
there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. 
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps : there was 
not the like made in any kingdom. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — In the further corner of the chamber (at Nim- 
roud), to the left hand, stood the royal throne. Although it was utterly im- 
possible, from the complete state of decay of the materials, to preserve any part 



FIRST KINGS XI. 299 

of it entire, I was able, by carefully removing the earth, to ascertain that it 
resembled in shape the chair of state of the king, as seen in the sculptures of 
Konyunjik and Khorsabad, and particularly that represented in the bas-reliefs 
already described, of Sennacherib receiving the captives and spoil, after the 
conquest of the city of Lachish. With the exception of the legs, which appear 
to have been partly of ivory, it was of wood, cased or overlaid with bronze, as 
the throne of Solomon was of ivory, overlaid with gold. The metal was most 
elaborately engraved and embossed with symbolical figures and ornaments, like 
those embroidered on the robes of the early Nimroud king, such as winged 
deities struggling with griffins, mythic animals, men before the sacred tree, 
and the winged lion and the bull. As the wood-work, over which the bronze 
was fastened by means of small nails of the same material, had rotted away, the 
throne fell to pieces, but the metal casing was partly preserved. Numerous 
fragments of it are now in the British Museum, including the joints of the arms 
and legs ; the rams' or bulls' heads, which adorned the ends of the arms (some 
still retaining the clay and bitumen with the impression of the carving, showing 
the substance upon which the embossing had been hammered out), and the 
ornamental scroll-work of the cross bars, in the form of the Ionic volute. The 
legs were adorned with lions' paws resting on a pine-shaped ornament, like the 
thrones of the later Assyrian sculptures, and stood on a bronze base. A rod 
with loose rings, to which was hung embroidered drapery, or some rich stuff, 
appears to have belonged to the back of the chair, or to a frame-work raised 
above or behind it. In front of the throne was the footstool, also of wood 
overlaid with embossed metal, and adorned with the heads of rams or bulls. 
The feet ended in lions' paws and pine cones, like those of the throne. — 
Nineveh and Babylon, p. 167-169. 

IMPORTS OF SOLOMON. 

I Kings x : 22. — The king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram : once in 
three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and 
peacocks. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — In a tomb at Thebes, Blacks and people of red color 
bring to the king of Egypt, from the country of Pount, ivory, apes, leopards, 
skins, and dried fruits. Ethiopians bring gold rings, and bags of precious 
stones, hides, apes, leopards, ebony, ivory, ostrich eggs and plumes, a camel- 
opard, hounds with handsome collars, and a drove of long-horned oxen. An- 
other group of light red race, the Gentiles of Kufa, bring vases of elegant forms 
ornamented with flowers, necklaces, and other costly gifts. Still another group 
of white men, wearing close sleeves, bring long gloves, vases, a chariot and 
horses, a bear, elephant, and ivory. — In Camp. Comment., in loco. 

SOLOMON'S WIVES AND CONCUBINES. 

I Kings xi: 3. — And he had seven hundred wives, princesses; and three hundred concubines. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Among Oriental monarchs an extensive female establish- 



300 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



ment is regarded as a piece of royal state, which sometimes gives occasion to 
one as large or larger than that of Solomon. And this is often the case when 
the prince himself, as frequently happens, distinguishes only three or four of 
the number, and sometimes only one, with his personal attention and favor. ♦ 
China, India, Persia and Turkey afford, or have afforded, instances similar to 
that of the king of Israel. The Chinese emperor has a vast number of females 
in his establishment, many of whom he never saw in his life. Magalhaeus com- 
putes their number at three thousand. Those of the great Mogul were stated 
at one thousand by the travellers of the seventeenth century — exactly Solomon's 
number. — Pict. Bib., note in loco. 

Sir John Malcolm. — While his generals were subduing the Roman Empire, 
Khoosroo was wholly devoted to the enjoyment of unheard-of luxury and mag- 
nificence. His noble palaces, of which he built one for every season — his 
thrones, which were invaluable, particularly that called Takh-dis, which was 
formed to represent the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the hours of the day — 
his treasures — his ladies, of whom there were twelve thousand, each, if we believe 
the gravest of Persian writers, equal to the moon in splendor and beauty — his 
horses, etc. — History of Persia, in Pict. Bib. 

I Kings xi : 40. — And Jeroboam arose, and fled into 
Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt 
until the death of Solomon. 

Champollion. — The name of this king, Shis- 
hak or Shishork, is graven on one of the col- 
umns in the palace of Karnak, and is repre- 
sented as dragging to the feet of his gods the 
chiefs of thirty conquered nations, among whom 
has been found a representative of the Jews, 
under the name of Jouda-hamelek, or the king- 
dom of Judah, which offers a striking cor- 
roboration of what is narrated in 1 Kings 
xiv., 25-28. — Precis., p. 205; and Letters, 

SHISHAK, KING OF EGYPT. F* 99' 

ROYAL ASSOCIATES. 

I Kings xii : 8. — But Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, 
and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before 
him. 

Dr. Jofx Kitto. — It was an ancient custom, particularly in the East, for 
young princes to be trained up with young men, who, from the rank or influence 
of their families, might be expected to become the leading men of the nation. 
Sesostris in Egypt, Cyrus in Persia, and Alexander in Macedon, were brought up 
in this manner : and we find that the companions and fellow-pupils of their early 
days were their devoted friends and military commanders in more advanced 
life.— Pict. Bib., Vol. II., 293. 





y 

s 

h 

:-.- 



FIRST KINGS XVI. 303 

THE ALTAR AT BETHEL. 

I Kings xiii : I -4.— And behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord 

unto Bethel : and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar 

in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, Behold, a child shall be 

born unto the house of David, Josiah by name ; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the 

high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he 

gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken : Behold, the 

altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. And it came to pass, 

when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar 

in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, 

which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This clear, distinct, and remarkable prophecy, concerning 

what should be done by a man who was not born till 360 years later, and whose 

very name is mentioned, may be advantageously contrasted with the obscure, 

indeterminate, guarded, and equivocal predictions of the idle oracles of ancient 

paganism. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This man of God, as it were, gave this warning to idol- 
atry, that it might be on its guard, and defend itself against this Josiah, when- 
ever a person of that name should be found sitting on the throne of David : and, 
no doubt, it was on the alert, and took all prudent measures for its own de- 
fence; but all in vain; for Josiah, in the eighteenth year of his reign, literally 
accomplished this prophecy, as we may read in 2 Kings xxiii: 15-20. — Note 
in loco. 

SHISHAK. 

I Kings xiv: 25. — And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king 
of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the house, etc. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, Brit. Mus. — Shishak has left a record of this expe- 
dition, sculptured on the wall of the great temple of El Karnak. — Smith's Bib. 
Diet., p. 3013. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Doubts were thrown a few years since, by 
an able writer, on the expeditions of Shishak against Rehoboam, Solomon's son, 
and of Zerah, the Ethiopian, against Asa, Rehoboam's grandson; which, it was 
suggested, might be mere embellishments of history, otherwise tame and uninter- 
esting. The careful analysis which the inscription of Shishak, at Karnak, has 
undergone at the hands of Mr. Stuart Poole, and Dr. Brugsch, not to mention 
other scholars, and the evidence thus furnished of the reality and the importance 
of his expedition into Palestine, render the continuance of incredulity, as to the 
former of these attacks, impossible. The analysis has thrown a flood of light on 
what was previously obscure in the scriptural narrative. — Modern Scepticism, p. 284. 

OMRI. 

I Kings xvi : 23, 24. — In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign 
over Israel, twelve years : six years reigned he in Tirzah. And he bought the hill Samaria 
of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which 
he built after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill Samaria. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — At length a certain Omri attained to 



304 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

power, and succeeded in introducing greater stability into the Israelite state. 
Removing the capital to a new site, Samaria, and establishing a new system of 
laws, which were thenceforth observed, he so firmly fixed his dynasty upon the 
throne, that it continued during three generations and four reigns before it was 
succeeded by another. A monarch of this capacity might be expected to get 
himself a name among his neighbors; and accordingly we find in the Assyrian 
inscriptions of the time that his name is the Israelite name with which they are 
most familiar. Samaria is known to the Assyrians for some centuries merely as 
Beth-Omri, " the house" or "city of Omri;" and even when they come into 
contact with Israelite monarchs of the house which succeeded Omri's upon the 
throne, they still regarded them as descendants of the great chief whom they 
viewed perhaps as the founder of the kingdom. Thus the Assyrian records agree 
generally with the Hebrew in the importance which they assign to this monarch; 
and specially confirm the fact that he was the founder of the later Israelite 
metropolis, Samaria. — Historical Illustrations of the O. T.,p. 121. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL.D. — The most skeptical writers recognize 
the significance of this agreement of Assyrian and Jewish history. — Hist. Must. 
of O. T.,p. 121, note. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Omri's name appears also on another very 
recently discovered monument. The stele of Mesha, king of Moab, erected at 
Dibon in the Moabite country about b. c. 900, twenty or thirty years after 
Omri's death, records that he reduced the Moabites to subjection, and began an 
oppression under which they groaned, till Mesha re-established their inde- 
pendence. This notice agrees well with the Hebrew date for Omri, and with 
the mention that is made of his might in 1 Kings xvi : 27. — Hist. Must, of 
O. T., p. 122. 

The Moabite Stone.— I Mesha am son of Chemoshgad King of Moab, the 
Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my 
father. And I erected this stone to Chemosh at Karcha, a stone of salvation, 
for he saved me from all despoilers, and let me see my desire upon all mine 
enemies. And Omri, king of Israel, who oppressed Moab many days, for 
Chemosh was angry with his land. His son succeeded him, and he also said, 
I will oppress Moab. In my days he said, Let us go, and I will see my desire 
on him and his house ; and Israel said, I shall destroy it for ever. Now Omri 
took the land Medeba, and occupied it, he and his son, and his son's son, forty 
years. And Chemosh had mercy on it in my days. — Dr. Ginsburg's Translation, 
lines 1 to 9. 

AHAB. 

I Kings xvi : 29.— And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two 

years. 
Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A.— Omri's son and successor, Ahab, is men- 
tioned by name in an Assyrian contemporary inscription, which, agreeably to 
the account given in the First Book of Kings with respect to the place of his 
ordinary residence, calls him, "Ahab of Jezreel." The inscription tells us that 



FIRST KINGS XVII. 305 

Ahab on a certain occasion joined in a league of kings against the Assyrians, and 
furnished to the confederate army, that was brought into the field, a force of 
10,000 footmen and 2,000 chariots. The allies suffered defeat, and Ahab 
appears thenceforth to have abstained from offering any opposition to Assyria. 
Among the confederate monarchs with whom he leagued himself was the 
Damascene king, Benhadad, whom Scripture also makes Ahab's contemporary. 
— Hist. Illust. , p. 122. 

The Black Obelisk. — This Assyrian monument contains a notice of the next 
Israelite monarch, Ahab, and another of the Syrian king who succeeded 
Benhadad, Hazael. Hazael appears the chief antagonist of the Assyrian invaders 
of Syria, in immediate succession to Benhadad. And Ahab, the son of Omri, 
is declared to have sent ambassadors to the Assyrian capital with presents or 
tribute. The facts here recorded are not mentioned in Scripture ; and the 
"testimony" consists simply in the mention at an appropriate time, under 
appropriate circumstances, and in proper sequence, of persons who play an 
important part in the sacred history. — Hist. Illust. of O. T.,p. 127; see also 
Ancie7it Monarchies, Vol. IV., p. 576. 
I Kings xvi : 31. — He took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of 

Eihbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, 

and worshipped him. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — This " Eth- 
baal " appeared as Eithobalus in Dius and Menan- 
der, who made him the sixth king of Tyre after 
Hiram, reckoning the interval between the two at 
fifty years, and giving Eithobalus a reign of thirty- 
two years, whereby he would be exactly contempo- 
rary with Ahab. Moreover, the Tyrian histories 

related that Eithobalus was high-priest of Astarte 

, ' . , . r .1 Baal, or Melkart. — From a 

(or AshtoretrO, which accounts in a measure for the . 

v J copper coin of Cossyra in 

religious fanaticism of his daughter. — Hist. Illust., the British MuseU m. 

p. 125. 

I Kings xvi ; 32.— And Ahab reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had 

built in Samaria. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A.— The Phenician Baal was Melkart, who from 
the earliest foundation of Tyre was the tutelar god of that city, and. whose wor- 
ship extended with the extension of her state. Many representations of the 
Phenician Baal or Melkart are extant on coins. Annexed is one. — Pict. Bible, 
in loco. 

ELIJAH. 

I Kings xvii : 2, 3.— And the word of the Lord came unto Elijah, saying, Get thee hence, and 
turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett.— Dr. Robinson, in his Physical Geography, and 
Wilson, in his Lands of the Bible, hold " Cherith " to be the Wady Kelt. And 




306 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

it must be owned that a brook or ravine better suited to have been the asylum 
of the prophet could hardly be found anywhere. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 419. 

I Kings xvii : 4. — And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the 

ravens to feed thee there. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— And now (in going down from 
Jerusalem to Jericho) the scenery changed rapidly to the grand and savage. 
Instead of limping among the gravels and boulders of winter torrents, with an 
occasional zizyphus-bush overhanging them, we skirted the tremendous gorge 
of the Wady Kelt, which we could occasionally see by peering down the giddy 
height, with its banks fringed by strips of cane and oleander, the " willows by 
the water-courses." Here Robinson is inclined to place "the brook Cherith." 
. . . The gorge opens suddenly at a turn of the path about two miles before 
reaching the plain, where the traveller finds himself in front of a precipice per- 
haps 500 feet high, pierced by many inaccessible anchorite caverns, and with a 
steep, rugged hill above. We gaze down into the steep ravine, and see the 
ravens, eagles, and griffon-vultures sailing beneath us. These are now the sole 
inhabitants of these caves, the monarchs of the waste. — Land of Israel, p. 202. 

I Kings xviii: I, 2. — And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to 
Elijah in the third year, saying, Go show thyself unto Ahab ; and I will send vain upon the 
earth. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in 
Samaria. 

Josephus. — Now Menander mentions this drought in his account of the acts 
of Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians, where he says thus : "Under him there was a 
want of rain from the month of Hyperberetseus till the month of Hyperberetaeus 
in the year following ; but when he made supplications, there came great 
thunders." By these words he designed this want of rain that was in the days 
of Ahab, for at that time it was that Ethbaal also reigned over the Tyrians, as 
Menander informs us. — Antiquities, B. VIII., c. 13, § 2. 

I Kings xviii : 4. — For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah 
took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and 
water. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — Like all limestone formations, the hills 
of Palestine abound in caves. ... In these innumerable rents and cavities and 
holes, we see the origin of the sepulchres, which still perforate the rocky walls 
of the Judaean valleys ; the hiding-places of robbers, and insurgents ; and the 
refuge of those " of whom the world was not worthy." — Sinai and Pal., p. 149. 

I Kings xviii : 5. — And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, 
and unto all brooks ; peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that 
we lose not all the beasts. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — In droughts in the East, which have lasted from six 
to ten months, how often have we seen men, like Obadiah, going along in 
marshy places, or by the sides of tanks, in search of grass for their cattle. See 
the poor fellow with a basket on his back, and a little instrument in his hand. 



FIRST KINGS XVIII. 307 

He strolls from fountain to brook ; and no sooner does he see a green patch 
of verdure, than he runs with eagerness to the spot. Perhaps he meets another 
in search of the same thing, when each declares he had the first view. They set 
to work snarling at each other, and dealing out all kinds of abuses, till they have 
completely cleared the place of every green blade. — Oriental Illust., p. 202. 

I Kings xviii : 19. — Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the 
prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the grove four hundred, which 
eat at Jezebel's table. 

Tacitus. — Between Judaea and Syria stands Mount Carmel, the place, and the 
deity of the place, bearing the same name. Nor is the god distinguished by 
any statue or any temple, but only by an altar reared, and worship offered. — 
Hist., 1. ii., c. 78. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — Mount Carmel forms one of the most 
striking and characteristic features of the country of Palestine. It stands as a 
wall between the maritime plain of Sharon on the south, and the more inland 
expanse of Esdraelon on the north. In form it is a tolerably continuous ridge, 
at the west end about 600 feet, and at the east end about 1,600 feet above the 
level of the sea. Of the identity of Carmel there never has been a doubt. — ■ 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 388. 

I Kings xviii : 27. — And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud : 
for he is a god ; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure 
he sleepeth, and must be awaked. 

Homer. — Jove went yesterday across the ocean to banquet with the 
Ethiopians. — Iliad, 1. L, v. 409. 

Idem. — Jove on his couch reclined his awful head, 

And Juno slumbered on the golden bed. — Iliad, 1. i., v. 423. 

Plutarch.— -It is no wonder said Hegesias that the temple of Diana wa& 
burned ; since she was absent at the time, employed in bringing Alexander into 
the world. — Alexander, c. iii. 

Lucian. — 'Tis plain that the gods are not at home, and probably have taken 
a voyage to attend " the feasts of Ethiopia's blameless race ; " for they are in 
the habit of inviting themselves as guests to those honest folks. — De Juv. Trag. t 
c 37- 

I Kings xviii : 28. — And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives 
and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. 

Herodotus.— The Carians of Egypt treat themselves at this solemnity (the 
rites of Isis) with unparalleled severity : they cut themselves in the face with 
swords, and by this distinguish themselves from the Egyptian natives. — Herodt., 
1. ii., c. 61. 

Lucian. — It is the universal custom with the worshippers of Hierapolis to 
make punctures in honor of the gods, some in their hands, others in their 
necks; and hence it is that, all the Assyrians are marked in that manner.— 
De dea Syr., c. 59. 



308 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Idem. — The worshippers of the Syrian goddess spun round and round, 
tlashed themselves in the arm with their swords, lolled out their tongues, and 
pierced them through in such a manner that frequently they were all over 
blood. — Asm., c. 37. 

Lucan. — Belona's priests, a barb'rous frantic train, 

Whose mangled arms a thousand wounds disdain, 
Toss their wild locks, and with a dismal yell, 
The wrathful gods and coming woes foretell. 

— Phars., 1. i., v. 565. 

I Kings xviii : 30-32. — And Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. . . . 
And he took twelve stones, according to the number of the twelve tribes of the sons of Jacob 
. . . and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, A. M. — Carmel is chiefly celebrated as the scene 
of Elijah's sacrifice. The exact spot is marked by local tradition, by the agree- 
ment of its physical features with the Scripture narrative, and by its name, el- 
Muhrakah, "The Sacrifice." It is about six hours' ride from the convent, 
over the crest of the ridge. I visited it from the Plain of Esdraelon, on the 
opposite or eastern side. It is on the brow of the mountain, and commands 
the whole plain of Jezreel and Tabor. Close to the base of the range, below 
the spot, flows the river Kishon, where the prophets of Baal were slain ; and 
just above the spot is a projecting peak, from which Elijah's servant saw the 
" little cloud, like a man's hand, rising out of the sea." Sitting on that com- 
manding height, on a bright spring evening, I felt persuaded I was upon the 
scene of Elijah's great sacrifice. Beside and under me were probably the very 
stones of which God's altar was built, and over which played the heavenly flame. 
A few paces beneath me was the well from which the water was drawn, that 
the prophet's servants poured upon the altar. Around me were the thickets from 
which the wood was cut. Away at the foot of the mountain flowed the Kishon 
in its deep bed, which on that day ran red with the blood of Jehovah's enemies. 
There, stretching out before me, was the plain across which Ahab dashed in his 
chariot ; and yonder, on its eastern border, I saw the little villages which mark 
the sites and still bear the names of Jezreel and Shunem. — Giant Cities of Bashan, 
241, 242. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — Carmel is not so much a mountain as a 
ridge, an upland park, extending for many miles into the interior of the country. 
At the eastern extremity, which is also the highest point of the whole ridge, is 
a spot marked out alike by tradition and by natural features as one of the most 
authentic localities of the Old Testament history. The tradition is unusually 
trustworthy. It is one of the very few, perhaps the only case in which the 
recollection of an alleged event has been actually retained in the native Arabic 
nomenclature. Many names of towns have been so preserved, but here is no 
town, only a shapeless ruin, yet the spot has a name, El-Maharakali, or "The 
Sacrifice." But, be the tradition good or bad, the localities adapt themselves 
to the event in almost every particular. The summit thus marked .out is the 
extreme eastern point of the range, commanding the last view of the sea behind, 



FIRST KINGS XVIII. 309 

and the first view of the great plain in front, just where the glades of forest, 
"the excellency of Carmel," sink into the usual barrenness of the hills and 
vales of Palestine. There, on the highest point of the mountain, may well 
have stood, on its sacred " high place," the altar of the Lord which Jezebel had 
cast down. Close beneath, on a wide upland sweep, under the shade of ancient 
olives, and round a well of water, said to be perennial, and which may therefore 
have escaped the general drought, and have been able to furnish* water for the 
trenches round the altar — must have been ranged, on one side, the king anc 
people, with the eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and Astarte, and on 
the other the solitary and commanding figure of the Prophet of the Lord. Full 
before them opened the whole plain of Esdraelon, with Tabor and its kindred 
ranges in the distance; on the rising ground, at the opening of its valley, the 
city of jezreel, with Ahab's palace and Jezebel's temple distinctly visible ; in the 
nearer foreground, immediately under the base of the mountain, was clearly 
seen the winding stream of the Kishon, working its way through the narrow 
pass of the hills into the Bay of Acre. Such a scene, with such recollections of 
the past, with such sights of the present, was indeed a fitting theatre for a con- 
flict more momentous than any which their ancestors had fought in the plain 
below. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 345-347. 

I Kings xviii : 33-35. — And Elijah said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt 
sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second 
time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran 
round about the altar. And he filled the trench also with water. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — No place could be conceived more 
adapted by nature to be that wondrous battle-field of Truth. In front of the 
principal actors in the scene, with the king and his courtiers by their side, the 
thousands of Israel might have been gathered on the lower slopes, witnesses 
of the whole struggle to its stupendous result. In the upper part of the amphi- 
theatre, to the left, is an ancient fountain, overhung by a few magnificent trees, 
among them a noble specimen of Turkey oak. The reservoir of the spring is 
stone-built and square, about eight feet deep, and the old steps which once 
descended to it may yet be traced. The roof partially remains. The water is 
of some depth, and is perennial. This was corroborated by the existence of 
molluscs (Neritina michonii~) attached to the stones within the cistern. In that 
three years' drought, when all the wells were dry, and the Kishon had first 
sunk to a string of pools, and then finally was lost altogether, this deep and 
shaded spring, fed from the roots of Carmel, remained. After we had drunk 
of this fountain, whence Elijah drew for the trench round his altar, while Ahab 
sat under the rock, probably just where the oak tree now grows, we toiled up 
again to our horses, alarming the jays, and many a flight of wood-pigeons rarely 
here disturbed. — Land of Israel, p. 119. 
I Kings xviii: 40. — And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal ; let not one of them 

escape. And they took them; and Elijah brought them clown to the brook Kishon, and slew 

them there. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. —Immediately below, on the banks 



310 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of the Kishon, was a small flat-topped green knoll, Tell Cassis, " the mound of 
the priests," marking in its name the very spot where Elijah slew the prophets 
of Baal, when he had brought them down to the brook Kishon. — Land of Israel, 
p. 118. 

I Kings xviii : 42. — And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel ; and he cast himself down upon 
the earth, and put his face between his knees. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — Who in the East has not seen the natives thus 
sitting on the earth, with their faces between their knees? Those who are 
engaged in deep meditation, in a long train of reasoning, who are revolving the 
past or anticipating the future, or who are in great sorrow or fatigue, may be 
seen seated on the ground with the face between the knees. " This morning as 
I passed the garden of Chinr.an, I saw him on the ground with his face between 
his knees. I wonder what plans he was forming." " Kan dan is sick or in 
trouble; for he has got his face between his knees." — Oriental Illust., p. 205. 

I Kings xviii : 43. — And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he 
went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — From the place where Elijah must have worshipped, 
the view of the sea is just intercepted by an adjacent height. That height, 
however, may be ascended in a few minutes, and a full view of the sea obtained 
from the top. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 348, note. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — We were standing on the edge of 
a cliff, and looked down on a map of central Palestine. The hewn stones 
among which we stood mark the site of the altar of the Lord which Jezebel 
overthrew and Elijah repaired. To this spot came Elijah's servant to look for 
the little cloud, which at length rose to the prophet's prayer, and portended the 
coming rain, exactly as it does now. No site in Palestine is more indisputable 
than that of the little hollow in the knoll 300 feet below us, where the Lord God 
of Elijah manifested his Divinity before Ahab and assembled Israel. — The Land 
of Israel, p. 117. 

I Kings xviii : 44. — And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth 
a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare 
thy chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. 

Pliny. — An isolated cloud, however small, though seen in a clear sky, 
announces wind and storm. — Nat. Hist., 1. xviii., c. 82. 
Sophocles. — Forth from a little cloud, 

Soon as the storm shall burst, it will o'erwhelm thee, 

•And stop thy clamours. — Ajax, v. 1148. - 
Aratus. — If before him mount a little cloud, 

Veiling his rising beams in murky shroud, 

By this forewarned, within the house remain, 

Charged is the air with stores of pelting rain. — Diosem., v. 845. 
Emerson. — The following morning rose fine and beautiful ; again all sail was 



FIRST KINGS XIX. 311 

set, and we hoped ere noon to reach the open sea to the south of Syra, where 
Stephanopoulo expected to encounter the squadron of the commodore. As we 
were seated at breakfast, a sailor put his head within the door, and saying 
briefly, "that it looked squally to windward," hurried again upon deck. We 
all followed, and on coming up, saw a little black cloud on the verge of the 
horizon towards the south, which was every instant spreading over the sky and 
drawing nearer to us. The captain altered his course instantly, preparing to 
scud before it ; and in the meantime ordered all hands aloft to take in sail. 
But scarcely an instant had elapsed ere the squall was upon us, and all grew 
black around : the wind came rushing and crisping over the water, and in a 
moment the ship was running almost gunwale down, whilst the rain was dashing 
in torrents on the decks. — This instance, and others I have witnessed, are thor- 
oughly explanatory of the passage in Kings, where the servant of Elijah descries 
from the top of Carmel the little cloud ascending from the sea. In the Medi- 
terranean such scenes are frequent. — Letters from the s£gean, ii., 149. 

I Kings xviii : 46. — And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah ; and he girded up his loins, and 
ran before Ahab to ihe entrance of Jezreel. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — The Egyptian monuments show this custom, and 
their nobles had even sometimes six or seven servants to run before them ; and 
when going to an entertainment these carried the stool to assist them in 
alighting from their chariot, an inkstand, or whatever they might want, on the 
road, or at their friend's house. — Ancient Egypt. 

Suetonius. — Sergius Sulpicius Galba (afterwards emperor) distinguished him- 
self by leading an escort, with a shield in his hand, and running by the side of 
the emperor Caligula's chariot twenty miles together. — Galba, c. 6. 

I Kings xix : 4. — But Elijah himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came, and 

sat down, under a juniper tree. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The rothem or retem, here trans- 
lated "juniper tree," is a species of Broom, very common in the ravines of the 
desert, and often on the open ground. It is especially frequent near Sinai and 
Petra, occasional in the wilderness of Judaea, and abundant round the Dead 
Sea, and in the ravines leading down the Jordan Valley. Thus it is strictly a 
desert shrub, never occurring in the richer or higher ground. In February, 
when it puts forth its sheet of delicate white and purplish-pink blossom, which 
precedes its tiny foliage, few shrubs can surpass it in grace and beauty. It 
grows to the height often or twelve feet, and affords a thick and grateful shade. 
It was under a Rothem bush that Elijah lay down when he fled into the wilder- 
ness. Dean Stanley incidentally mentions that in the only storm of rain he 
ever encountered in his travels in the desert, he took shelter under a Rothem 
bush. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 359. 

I Kings xix : 6. — And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a 

cruse of water at his head. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — As most Orientals like an occasional draught 
20 



312 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of water during the night, a cruse is usually placed so near the bed spread upon 
the floor that the sleeper can reach it by merely raising his head from the pillow 
and stretching out his hand. This habit evidently prevailed among the Hebrews, 
for we find distinct references to it in the Scriptures. — Bible Lands, p. 44. 

I Kings xix : 18. — Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not 
bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. 

Cicero. — The mouth was often applied to the images of Hercules in worship. 
— Verr., iv., 43. 

Roberts. — Things which have been sent to the temples to be presented to 
idols, are, when returned, kissed by the people. When a devotee has touched 
the feet of a priest, he kisses his hands. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 206. 

Dr. William Jenks. — The text probably alludes to the little images of Baal 
handed round at their religious assemblies to be kissed, or to the ancient super- 
stition of kissing sometimes the obscene image of this god, afterwards practised in 
heathen Italy, and handed down to us in the venerable custom of kissing the 
Pope's toe. — Comp. Comm., note in loco. 

BENHABAB. 

I Kings xx : 10. — And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more 
also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — "The gods do so unto me, and more also." — This 
form of imprecation or prayer is very common in the East: "If I do not ruin 
that fellow, then the gods do so to me: " " If I kill not that wretch, then may the 
gods kill me." And it is an interesting fact, that this other figure of speech, 
in reference to the dust not being sufficient to fill the hands of the numerous 
hosts of Benhadad, is in common use at this day. — "We had better at once give 
up our possessions: why attempt to resist such hosts? The dust of the country 
will not be sufficient to furnish a handful for each of the soldiers." — "Why do 
the inhabitants of Batticotta hate and despise us? If we all go against them, 
will their country afford a handful of earth for each of us?" — Oriental Illustra- 
tions, p. 207. 

I Kings xx : 23. — And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of 
the hills ; therefore they were stronger than we ; but let us fight against them in the plain, and 
surely we shall be stronger than they. 

Virgil. — Gods of every kind. — ALneid, 1. viii., v. 698. 

Cicero. — What a multitude of gods there is. — De Nat. Deor., III., 16. 

Roberts. — The Hindoos have their gods of the hills, and also those of the 
lower places. Thus Siva, Vishnoo, and Murraga-Murte are those of the high 
places; but Vyravar, Urruttera, and many demons, are the deities of the lower 
regions. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 207. 

1 Kings xx : 30. — But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city ; and there a wall fell upon twenty 
and seven thousand of the men that were Teft. And Benhadad fled. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — East of us about two miles is Fik, a considerable vil- 



FIRST KINGS XXI. 313 

lage on the top of the mountain, occupying the site of ancient Aphek, the city 
to which Benhadad fled after one hundred thousand of his soldiers had been slain 
in battle by Ahab. The city however proved almost as destructive as the army 
of Israel, for a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were 
left. This tremendous destruction was caused, as I suppose, by an earthquake; 
and after having seen the effects of the earthquake in Safed and Tiberias, I can 
easily understand and readily credit this narrative. . . . Those ramparts were very 
lofty and massive. An open space was always left along their base, and this 
would be packed full, from end to end, by the remnants of Benhadad' s mighty 
host, and escape from the falling towers would be impossible. The peculiar 
character of the site would render the destruction only the more extensive and 
inevitable. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 53. 

I Kings xx : 31. — And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings 
of the house of Israel are merciful kings ; let us, I pray thee, put sack-cloth on our loins, and 
ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel ; peradventure he will save thy life. 

Dr. William Jenks. — Figures of captives with ropes about their necks are 
common on Egyptian monuments (and also on those of Assyria). They 
are sometimes seen thus tied together in rows, and led captive by one who holds 
the end of the string in his hand. In some instances they appear thus tied to- 
gether on their knees, while the executioner cuts off their heads. Thevenot 
states, that at the taking of Bagdad by the Turks, in 1638, when the besieged 
entreated quarter, the principal officer went to the Grand Vizier with a scarf 
about his neck, and his sword wreathed in it, and begged mercy. — Comp. Comm., 
note in loco. 

ARAB AND NABOTH. 

I Kings xxi : 4. — And Ahab laid himself down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and 

would eat no bread. 

Roberts. — How often (in the East) do we see full-grown men acting in a sim- 
ilar way, when disappointed in their wishes. Approach them and they avert 
their faces; offer them food, and they will not eat, and generally speaking, their 
friends are so weak as to gratify their wishes at any expense. — Orient. Must., p. 
209. 

I Kings xxi : 10. — And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, 
saying. Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. 

Roberts. — Ask any judge, any gentleman in the civil service of India, 
whether men may not be had, m any village, to swear anything for the fraction 
of a shilling ; and he will soon adduce sad proofs of the widespread subornation 
of evidence among the natives. — Orient. Must., p. 210. 

I Kings xxi : 19. — Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth 
shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Every oriental city and village 
abounds with troops of hungry and half-savage dogs, which own allegiance 
rather to the place than to persons, and which wander about the streets and 



314 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

fields, howling dismally at night, and devouring even the dead bodies of men 
when they can reach them. — Natural History of the Bible, p. 79. 

AHAB AND THE FALSE PROPHETS. 

I Kings xxii : 8. — I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. 

Sophocles. — None ever loved the messenger of ill. — Antig., v. 277. 

I Kings xxii : 22. — And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all 

his prophets. 

Herodotus. — The Oracle consulted by Croesus assured him that if he pros- 
ecuted a war against the Persians fye should overthrow a mighty empire. Depend- 
ing upon this answer he commenced the war and was overthrown by Cyrus. In 
answer to the complaints of Croesus, the Oracle declared that he ought to have 
inquired whether his own empire were intended, or that of the Persians. — 
Herodt., 1. i., c. 53, 91. 

IVORY PALACE. 

I Kings xxii : 39. — Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house 

which he made, etc. 

Homer. — Above, beneath, around the palace, shines 
The sunless treasure of exhausted mines : 
The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay, 
And studded amber darts a golden ray.— Odys., IV., 73. 
Euripides. — The ivory-decked palaces. — Iphig. in Aul., v. 582. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram. — Chests inlaid with ivory are still used in Damascus, 
and I have seen a chamber in the house of a wealthy Damascene panelled with 
alternate veneers of ivory and ebony to the height of three or four feet from the 
floor, thus illustrating the ivory houses of Ahab, and of the prophecy of Amos. 
—Nat. Hist, of Bible, 82. 



Second Book of Kings. 



REVOLT OF 310 AB. 

2 Kings i: I. — Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The rebellion of Moab has recently had 
much light thrown upon it by the discovery of the monument (the " Moabite 
Stone") erected to commemorate the occurrence. The "Mesha, king of 
Moab," who threw off the Israelite yoke, inscribed upon a pillar which he set 
"up in his own land, the series of events whereby he had restored his country to 
independence ; and the inscription upon this pillar has recently, by the com- 
bined labor of various Semitic scholars, been recovered, deciphered, and trans- 
lated into the languages of modern Europe. (See under v. 5 of chap, iii.) — 
Hist. Illust. of O. T.,p. 126. 



SECOND KINGS II. 315 

ELJSHA. 

2 Kings ii : 21, 22. — And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, 
and said, Thus saith the Loid, I have healed these waters. ... So the waters were healed 
unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha, which he spake. 

Maundrell. — Turning down into the plain, we passed by a ruined aqueduct, 
and a convent in the same condition, and in about a mile's riding came to the 
fountain of Elisha, so called because miraculously purged from its brackishness 
by that prophet, at the request of the men of Jericho. Its waters are at present 
received in a basin about nine or ten paces long, and five or six broad : and 
from thence issuing out in great plenty, divide themselves into several small 
streams, dispersing their refreshment between this and Jericho, and rendering 
it exceeding fruitful. Close by the fountain grows a large tree, spreading into 
boughs over the water. — Journey, p. 8o. 

2 Kings ii : 23. — And he went up from thence unto Beth-el : and as he was going up by the 
way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go 
up, thou bald head ; Go up, thou bald head. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — In Leviticus (xiii: 29) very careful 
directions are given to distinguish Bohak, "a. plague upon the head and beard," 
from mere natural baldness, which is pronounced to be clean. But this shows 
that even natural baldness subjected men to an unpleasant suspicion. Baldness 
was despised both among Greeks and Romans. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 230. 

Ovid. — Disgraceful (turpis) is the shrub without leaves, the meadow without 
grass, and the head without hair. — De Art. Amd., iii., 250. 

Tacitus. — When Tiberius retired to Campania it was said by some that he 
did so because he was ashamed in his old age of his deformities, his head being 
bald, etc. — Annals, iv., 57. 

Suetonius. — His baldness gave Julius Caesar much uneasiness, having often 
found himself on that account exposed to the jibes of his enemies.—/*//., c. 45. 

Roberts. — I was not a little astonished in the East, when I first heard a man, 
who had a large quantity of hair on his head, called " a bald head; " and I 
found upon inquiry it was an epithet of contempt— " What can those bald heads 
do? " etc. Hence the epithet has often been applied to Christian missionaries. 
— Oriental Illustrations, p. 214. 

2 Kings ii : 24. — And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the 
Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children 
of them. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The narrative in 2 Kings ii : 23, 24, has 
sometimes been objected to by persons, who, we apprehend, have been 
misled by a defective translation, or have failed to attend to the circum- 
stances of the case. The path of the prophet Elisha lay through the district of 
Beth-el, the stronghold of idolatry in Israel, where, as in Dan, stood one of the 
golden calves set up by Jeroboam. There was a crowd of idle young men on 
the outskirts of the town, lawless, rude, and amusing themselves— perhaps 
throwing stones with their slings — for the word translated ''little children," in 



316 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

our version, is the same in Hebrew as that used in i Kings xii : 8, 10, 14, where 
it is applied to young men of the same age as king Rehoboam — 41. In all 
the languages of the East, moreover, the words " child " and " children " often 
denote simply a social relation, and are constantly applied to full-grown persons, 
as in the New Testament. 

No one who has travelled in the East can have failed to notice the extreme 
lawlessness of a certain class of boys and young men living on the outskirts of 
a town, especially toward a Jew, a Christian, or a European, who should 
happen to be passing by alone or unprotected. Let him go, for instance, to the 
castle-hill of Smyrna ; and if it be a holiday, and the boys (oghlans) are out, 
he will perceive stones whizzing past him, and will hear the shouts of " Frank," 
" Hat- wearer," " Giaoor," rallying the rowdies of the vicinity, and warning 
him to beat a hasty retreat. 

Elisha, as he slowly ascended the path leading past Beth-el alone and weary, 
was recognized as the servant of the obnoxious Elijah ; he was soon surrounded 
by a crowd of bitterly hostile and lawless young men, presently increased to a 
mob by the accession of others " coming out of the city." They abused the 
prophet's person, pelted him with stones, knocked off his turban, and, seeing 
his shaved head, hooted after him, saying, " Go up, go along, bald head," 
throwing stones after him. In imminent danger of his life, he stood at bay — as 
we have done in similar circumstances — and looking upon his fierce assailants, 
he invoked the help of the God whom he served, and whom they had exchanged 
for a molten calf; and He instantly sent forth " two she-bears out of the wood " 
of Ephraim, which killed forty-two of them, and scattered the rest. This was 
the last blow that needed to be struck at idolatry in Israel for the re-establish- 
ment of the worship of the true God. 

We have repeatedly known the bear to fall upon and devour children who had 
strayed out but a short distance from the mountain villages ; and we particularly 
remember a Turkish girl about thirteen years of age, who thus lost her life on 
the Akdagh, near Amasia. — Bible La?ids, p, 262-264. 

MESHA, KING OF MOAB. 

2 Kings iii: 4. — And Mesha, king of Moah, was a sheep-master, and rendered unto the king 
of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool. 
Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A.— Here again the Bible receives fresh confir- 
mation from geographical facts ; Moab, with its extensive grass-covered 
uplands, is even now an essentially sheep-breeding country, although the 
"fenced cities and folds for sheep," of which mention is made in the book of 
Numbers, are all in ruins. But in its palmier days, when those rich pastures 
were covered with flocks, no more appropriate title could "have been given to the 
king of such a country than that he was " a sheep-master. "—Des.qftheExod., 411. 

2 Kings iii : 5.— But it came to pass when Ahab was dead that the king of Moab rebelled 

against the king of Israel. 

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318 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and I (Mesha) built Baal Meon, and made therein the ditch, and I built 
Kirjathaim, for the men of Gad dwelt in the land Ataroth from of old ; and the 
king of Israel fortified Ataroth, and I assaulted the wall and captured it, and 
killed all the warriors of the wall, for the well pleasing of Chemosh and Moab ; 
and I removed from it all the spoil, and offered it before Chemosh in Kirjath ; 
and I placed therein the men of Siran and the men of Zereth Shachar. And 
Chemosh said to me, Go take Nebo against Israel. And I went in the night, 
and I fought against it from the break of dawn till noon, and took it, and slew 
in all seven thousand men ■ but I did not kill the women and maidens, for I 
devoted them to Ashtar-Chemosh ; and I took from it the vessels of Jehovah and 
offered them before Chemosh. And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz, and 
occupied it, when he made war against me; and Chemosh drove him out 
before me, and I took from Moab two hundred men, all chiefs, and fought 
against Jahaz, and took it in addition to Dibon. I built Karcha, the wall of 
the forest, and the wall of the city; and I built the gates thereof, and I built 
the towers thereof, and I built the palace, and I made the prisons for the men of 
.... within the wall. — Ginsburg' s Translation, lines 8-23. 

2 Kings iii : 27. — Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered 
him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. 

Arrianus. — When Alexander approached the city Pellion, he offered three 
boys, three maidens, and three black rams in sacrifice.— Exped. Alex., 1. i., c. 5. 

Caesar. — The Gauls in time of war or danger either sacrifice human victims, 
or make vows that they will do so ; for they think that it is impossible for their 
gods to be appeased, unless one man's life is given for another's. — De Bell. 
Gal., 1. vi., c. 16. 

Dionysius Halicarnassus. — The ancients are said to have offered human 
victims to Saturn. The Carthaginians did so while their city stood ; and the 
Gauls and other western nations have the same custom in these days. — Dion. 
Halic, 1. i. 

THE CREDITORS CLAIM. 

2 Kings iv : I. — The creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 
Plutarch. — So greatly were the poor of Athens in debt to the rich, that some 
parents were forced to sell their own children, for no law forbade it, and to 
quit the city to avoid the severe treatment of the usurers. — Solon, c. 13. 

INVISIBLE BEINGS. 

2 Kings vi: 17.— And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may 
see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; and he saTy ; and behold the mountain 
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 

Prof. Josiah P. Cooke. — When we remember that our organs of vision and 
hearing are capable of receiving impressions either of light or sound only when 
the rapidity of the undulations which cause them is comprised within certain 
very narrow limits, and when we recall the facts stated in a previous lecture, 



SECOND KINGS VI. 319 

that there are waves of light and sound of which our dull senses take no cogni- 
zance, that there is a great difference even in human perceptivity, and that 
some men, more gifted than others, can see colors or hear sounds which are 
invisible or inaudible to the great bulk of mankind, you will appreciate how 
possible it is that there may be a world of spiritual existence around us — inhabit- 
ing this same globe, enjoying this same nature — of which we have no percep- 
tion; that in fact the wonders of the New Jerusalem may be in our midst, and 
the songs of the angelic hosts filling the air with their celestial harmony, although 
unheard and unseen by us. Let me not be understood as implying that science 
has in any sense revealed to us a spiritual world, or that it gives the slightest 
shadow of support to those products of imposture, credulity and superstition, 
which, under the name of witchcraft, mesmerism, or spiritualism, have in every 
age of the world deceived so many. The only revelation man has received of a 
spiritual existence is contained in the Bible ; but modern science has rendered 
the conception of such an existence possible, and in this way has removed a 
source of doubt. The materialist can no longer say that the spiritual world is 
inconceivable ; for these discoveries show that it may be included in the very 
scheme of nature in which we live, and thus, although science may not remove 
the veil, it at least answers this cavil of materialism. — Religion and Chemistry, p. 
107. 

CAPTIVES SPARED. 

2 Kings vi : 22. — And Elisha answered, Thou shalt not smite them : wouldest thou smite those 
whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and thy bow ? set bread and water before them, 
that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 

Seneca. — Pyrrhus. There is no law which spares the captive, or forbids that 
he should suffer. — Agamemnon. Though the law forbids it not, it cannot, for 
very shame, be done. — Troad., v. 337. 

SIEGE OF SAMARIA. 

2 Kings vi: 25. — And there was a great famine in Samaria: and behold they besieged it, until 
an ass's head was sold for four-score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's 
dung for five pieces of silver. 

Plutarch. — In the war with the Caducii, the troops of Artaxerxes were forced 
to kill their beasts of burden, and eat them ; and those became so scarce that an 
ass's head was sold for sixty drachmas. — Artax., c. 24. 

Idem. — When Sylla was besieging Athens, a bushel of wheat was sold for one 
thousand drachmas. The people ate not only the herbs and weeds that grew 
about the citadel, but sodden leather and oil bags. — Sylla, c. 13. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — I believe that the Hebrew Chiriyonim, or Khir yonim, 
was a name for a coarse and cheap sort of food, a kind of bean, as some think, 
to which this whimsical title was given on account of some fancied resemblance 
between the two. Nor am I at all surprised at it, for the Arabs give the most 
quaint, obscure, and ridiculous names to their extraordinary edible mixtures. — 
The Land and the Book, II., p. 200. 



320 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

2 Kings vi : 29. — So we boiled my son, and did eat him ; and I said unto her on the next day, 
Give thy son that we may eat him ; and she hath hid her son. 

Polybius. — When the camp of Spendius and Matho was besieged by Amilcar, 
the rebels were reduced to so great extremity by famine, that they were forced 
to feed upon each other. When they had impiously devoured all their prisoners 
and slaves, and no succors were arrived, the multitude grew impatient of their 
misery, and began to threaten their chiefs. — Polyb., 1. i., c. 6. 

2 Kings vii : 2. — Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God. 

Dr. John Kitto. — At the present day in Western Asia, when a king walks 
any short distance, or remains standing, it is usual for him to support himself 
by resting his hand upon the arm of the highest officer of state who happens to be 
present. — Pict. Bib. , note in loco. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — It is amusing to see full grown men here (India), as 
they walk along the road, leaning on each other's hands, like school -boys in 
England. Those who are weak or sick lean on another's shoulder. It is also 
a mark of friendship to lean on the shoulder of a companion. — Orient. Illust., 
p. 218. 

2 Kings vii : 6, 7. — For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and 
a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host : and they said one to another, Lo the king 
of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittiies, and the kings of the Egyptians, 
to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and 
their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 

Sophocles. — When the gods oppose us, valour bends 

To cowardice, and strength to weakness yields. — Ajax, v. 455. 

Xenophon. — When the Persian king besieged Mespila, he could not make 
himself master of it, either by length of time or force ; but Jupiter having 
struck the inhabitants with a panic fear, it was taken. — Cyrop., 1. iii., c. 4. 

Plutarch. — The vast army of Tigranes was put to flight by Lucullus without 
any conflict ; instead of standing to receive the Romans they set up a cry of 
fear, and most despicably fled without striking a stroke ; insomuch that all those 
myriads were routed without waiting to receive one wound, or spilling one 
drop of blood. — Lucullus, c. 28. 

2 Kings vii : 8. — And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into 
one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went 
and hid it; and came again, and entered another tent, and carried thence also, and went and 
hid it. 

Herodotus. — After the battle of Plataea, the helots, as they dispersed them- 
selves over the camp, found tents decorated with gold and silver, couches of the 
same, goblets, cups, and drinking-vessels of gold, besides sacks of gold and 
silver cauldrons, placed on carriages. The dead bodies they stripped of 
bracelets, chains, and cimeters of gold ; to their habits of various colors they 
paid no attention. — Many things of value the helots secreted. — Herodt., 1. ix., 
c. 80. 



SECOND KINGS IX 321 

2 Kings vii : 12. — And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now show 
you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry, therefore are they 
gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, 
we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. 

Harmer. — The pasha of Damascus found his enemy, the sheikh Daher, 
encamped near the sea of Tiberias. The engagement was deferred to the next 
day, but during the night the sheikh divided his forces into three troops, and 
silently moved from his camp, leaving the fires burning, with all the tents and 
stores as they were, including plenty of provisions and strong liquors. At mid- 
night the pasha thinking to surprise the sheikh, marched in silence to his camp, 
and, to his great astonishment, found it completely abandoned, and that too in 
such haste that the baggage and stores had been left behind. Rejoicing in his 
bloodless success, the pasha determined to stay there and refresh his soldiers. 
They soon fell to plunder, and drank so freely of the liquors, that, overcome by 
the fatigue of the day's march and the fumes of the spirits, it was not long 
before they were all in a sound sleep. Then the supposed fugitives, who were 
well informed of these proceedings, marched back silently to the camp, and 
rushing suddenly from all sides upon the confused and sleeping enemy, obtained 
an easy victory over them. — They slew 8,000 of their number, and the 
remainder, with the pasha at their head, escaped with great difficulty to Damas- 
cus, leaving all their own baggage behind them. — This was what the king of 
Israel feared. — In Pict. Bib., in loco. 

2 Kings viii : 9. — So Hazael went to meet Elisha. and took a present with him, even of every 
good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy 
son Benhadad, king of Syria, hath sent me to thee saying, Shall I recover of this disease ? 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The Assyrian monument known as "the 
Black Obelisk" contains a notice of Ahab, king of Israel, and of the Syrian 
king who succeeded Benhadad, Hazael. Hazael appears as the chief antagonist 
of the Assyrian invaders of Syria in immediate succession to Benhadad. — See 
Ancient Monarchies, Vol. II., p. 364, and Vol. IV., p. 576. 

2 Kings viii : 17. — So Benhadad died ; and Hazael reigned in his stead. 

Hazael is mentioned twice as reigning in Damascus on 

The Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer. — In my eighteenth year, for the 16th 
time the Euphrates I crossed. Hazael of Damascus to battle came : 1 221 of 
his chariots, 470 of his war-carriages with his camp I took from him. ... In 
my 21st campaign, for the 21st time the Euphrates I crossed. To the cities of 
Hazael of Damascus I went. Four of his fortresses I took. — Records of the 
Past, Vol. V., p. 34 and 35. 

2 Kings ix : 13. — Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on 
the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king. 

The name of Jehu is found on the 

Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer.— The tribute of Jehu, the son of Omri : 
silver, gold, bowls of gold, etc.— Records of the Past, Vol. V., p. 41. 



322 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

JEZEBEL. 

2 Kings ix : 30. — And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it ; and she painted 
her face and tired her head, and looked out at a window. 

Xenophon. — The wife of Ischomachus had painted her face with a certain 
cosmetique in order to make her skin fairer than it was ; and with another mix- 
ture had endeavored to increase the natural bloom of her cheeks ; and also had 
put on higher shoes than ordinary, to make her look taller than she really was. 
— CEconomics, c. 10. 

Id^m. — Cyrus observed Astyages to be adorned, with his eyes and complexion 
painted, and with false hair, things that are allowed among the Medes ; for the 
purple coat, the rich habit called candys, collars about the neck, and bracelets 
about the arms, all belong to the Medes. — Cyroftcedia, 1. i., c. 3. 

Juvenal. — One with needle held obliquely, adds to his eyebrows, touched 
with moistened soot ; and raising the lids, paints his quivering eyes. — Satire, 
II!, v. 93. 

Pliny. — Such is their affectation of ornament, that they paint their eyes also. 
■ — Nat. Hist., lib. xi., c. 37. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Eyes thus adorned are depicted in the mural tablets of 
Egypt, and pots containing the coloring material and the instruments for its 
application have been found. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

2 Kings ix : 35. — And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and 
the feet, and the palms of her hands. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — Should a belated traveller enter a town in the 
Ea ;, his progress through the streets can be certainly known by the furious 
barking that salutes him as he proceeds. Drunken strangers, reeling homeward 
late in the night, have been overpowered by them, and devoured before morning; 
and when the town has been invaded by an enemy, these same hungry brutes 
first feed upon the dead bodies in the street, and then enter the very houses to 
search for more. — Bible Lands, p. 276. 

East India Letter-Writer. — In March last, as I was repairing to the native 
village of Bustom to survey a bridge which was thrown across the road, on my 
route from the station of Jellasore, on crossing the Sonbunreeka river, my 
attention was attracted to a number of human skeletons which lay scattered in 
various directions upon the white sands adjacent to the course of the stream. 
Upon inquiry I learned that these unfortunate relics were the remains of pilgrims, 
who we~e on their road to the great Pagoda at Juggernaut, and had been 
drowned two evenings before by means of a ferry-boat sinking with them 
during a violent northwester. On my approaching several of these sad 
vestiges of mortality, I perceived that the flesh had been completely devoured 
fron\ the bones by Pariah dogs, vultures, and other obscene animals. The only 
portion of the several corpses I noticed that remained entire and untouched 
were the bottori^ of the feet and the insides of the hands ; and this extraordinary 
circumstance immediately brought to my mind that remarkable passage recorded 



SECOND KINGS XIII. 323 

in the Second Book of Kings, relating to the death and ultimate fate of Jezebel, 
who was, as to her body, eaten of dogs, and nothing remained of her but " the 
palms of her hands and the soles of her feet." — London Times, Aug. 12, 1841. 

SONS OF ARAB. 

2 Kings x : 6. — Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the gre^t men of the city, 

which brought them up. 

Dr. William Jenks. — From polygamy numerous sons are still common in 
the Eas' Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of Persia, had by his 360 concubines, 115 
sons, and three by his queen. — Comp. Com., note in loco. 

2 Kings x : 7. — And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's 
sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel. 

Plutarch. — In the families of kings nothing is more common than the 
murder of sons, wives and mothers: as for the killing of brothers, like a pos- 
tulate in geometry, it was considered as indisputably necessary to the safety of 
the reigning prince. — Demetr., c. 3. 

2 KLigs x : 8. — And he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the 

morning. 

Annals of Assur-Nasir-Pal. — Eight hundred of their soldiers by my arms I 
destroyed ; their heads I cut off; many soldiers I captured in hand alive ; their 
populace in the flames I burned ; their spoil I carried off in abundance ; a 
trophy of the living and of their heads about his great gate I built (b. c. 879). 
— Pecords of the Past, Vol. III., p. 61. 

Pr. John Kitto. — These horrid usages prevail throughout Asia, but are 
more revoltingly displayed, we believe, in Persia than elsewhere. It has there, 
not seldom, been known that the king has expressed his anger at some town or 
viliage, by demanding from it a pyramid of heads of given dimensions ; and Sir 
John Malcolm states that the executioners are so indifferent to the distresses of 
others, that they will select a head of peculiar appearance and long beard to 
grace the summit of the pyramid. — Pict. Bible, note in loco. 

BUYING PEACE. 

2 Kings xii: 18. — And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, 
and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed 
things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and in the 
king's hoine, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria : and he went away from Jerusalem. 

Homl. — Paris offers to Greece the spoils and treasures he to Ilion bore, with 
large increase of added Trojan wealth, to buy the peace.— Iliad, lib. vii., v. 389. 

Plutarch.— Darius offered Alexander ten thousand talents and half of Asia, 
if he would withdraw his army. — Peg. et Imp. Apophlh. Alex., c. ii. 

THE SIGNAL OF WAR. 

2 Kings xiii: 17.— Ttieii Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And ne said, The arLvir of the 
Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria : for thou shalt smite the Syrians 
in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. 



324 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Virgil. — Who first, he cried, with me the foe will dare? 
Then hurl'd a dart, the signal of the war. 

— sEn., 1. ix., v. 51. 
Justin. — As soon as Alexander the Great had arrived on the coasts of Ionia, 
he threw a dart iuto the country of the Persians.— Just., lib. ii. 

VALLEY OF SALT. 

2 King" xiv: 7. — r Ze slew of Edom, in the valley of Salt, ten thousand, and took Selah by war, 
and called the name of it Joktheel. 

Captains Irby and Mangles. — The " Valley of Salt " was the salt and sandy 
plain to the south of the Dead Sea. On crossing this plain we found, exclu. ve 
of the saline appearance left by the retiring of the waters, several large fragments 
of clear rock salt lying on the ground ; and, on examining the hill, we found it 
composed partly of salt and partly of hardened sand. In many instances the 
salt was hanging from cliffs in clear perpendicular points like icicles ; and we 
observed numerous strata of that material of considerable thickness, having very 
little sand mixed with it. — Travels, as quoted in the Pictorial Bible. 

BETHSHEMESH. 

2 Kings xiv : 11. — Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah. 
Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — Bethshemesh is now Ain-Shems. It was 
visited by Dr. Robinson, who found it to be in a position exactly according with 
the indications of Scripture, on the northwest slopes of the mountains of Judah — 
a low plateau at the .junction of two fine plains — about two miles from the great 
Philistine plain, and seven from Ekron. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 299. 

GENERAL PICTURE OF SYRIA. 

2 Kings xiv: 28. — Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, 
how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for 
Israel, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — A more interesting point of agreement 
than the bare mention in the same chronological order of the same historic names, 
is to be found in the accord between the general picture of Syria at this time 
(b. c. 900-800), as presented to us in our Sacred Books, and the representation 
of it given by the Assyrian Records. In both we find the country between the 
middle Euphrates and Egypt parcelled out among a large number of tribes or 
nations, of whom the most powerful are, in the north, the Hittites, the Hama- 
thites, the Phoenicians, and the Syrians of Damascus; in the south, the Philistines 
and the Idumeans. In both there is a similar portrait of. Syria of Damascus as 
a considerable state, the strongest in these part:?, ruled from a single centre by a 
single monarch. The same general character, and the same secondary position, 
is in both assigned to Hamath, which, like Damascus, has its single king, but is 
evidently a kin^ lorn of less strength. In contrast with these two centralized 
monarchies stand the nations of the Hittites and the Phoenicians, each of which 






SECOND KINGS XV. 



325 



has several independent kings or chiefs, the number in the case of the Hittites 
being, apparently, very great. The military strength of the northern nations 
consists especially, according to both authorities, in their chariots, besides which 
they have a numerous infantry, but few or no horsemen. Both authorities show 
that, in this divided state of Syria, the kings of the various countries were in the 
habit of forming leagues, uniting their forces, and making conjoint expeditions 
against foreign countries. Lastly, in both pictures we see in the background th*3 
two great powers of Egypt and Assyria, not yet in conflict with one another, nor 
yet able, either of them, to grasp the dominion of Syria, or crush the spirit of its 
brave and freedom-loving peoples, but both feeling their way towards a conquest, 
and tending to come into a collision which will establish the complete preponder- 
ance of the one or the other in the region lying between the Nile and the 
Euphrates. — Historical Illustrations of the O. T., p. 128. 

2 Kings xiv : 21. -And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and 
made him king instead of . his father Amaziah. 

Inscription of Tiglath-pileser II. — 'This inscription has been much injured; 
but in it are found the names of Azariah and Jehoahaz, kings of Judah ; and 
also those of Menahem, Pekah and Hoshea, kings of Israel. Imperfect as time 
and violence have rendered this inscription, yet it confirms in a striking manner 
the accuracy of this and the following chapters. — See Records of the Past, Vol. 
V., p. 43. 

MENAHEM. 



2 Kings xv : 19. — And Pul the king 
of Assyria came against the land : 
and Menahem gave Pul a thou- 
sand talents of silver, that his hand 
might be with him to confirm th e 
kingdom in his hand. 

Austen H. La yard, M. ~P. — 
In an inscription on a bas- 
relief representing part of a 
line of war chariots, Dr. Hincks 
has detected the name of Mena- 
hem, the king of Israel, amongst 
those of other monarchs paying tribute to the king of Assyria in the eighth year 
of his reign. — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 526. 




TIGLATH-PILESER IX HIS CHARIOT. 



TIGLATH-PILESER. 

2 Kings xv : 27, 29. — In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of 
Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. . . In the days 
of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth- 
maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, 
and carried them captive to Assyria. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — With the reign of Tiglath-pileser in 
Assyria, and those of Azariah and Ahaz in Judah, and of Menahem and Pekah 



326 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



in Israel, points of contact between Assyrian and Hebrew records become 
abundant. Tiglath-pileser relates that, about his fifth year (b. c. 741), being 
engaged in wars in Southern Syria, he met and defeated a vast army under the 
command of Azariah, king of Judah, the great monarch whose host is reckoned 
in Chronicles at 307,500 men, and whose military measures are described at con- 
siderable length in 2 Chr. xxvi : 6-15. — Historical Illust. of O. T.,p. 134. 

Tablet of the Temple of Nebo. — Palace of Tiglath-pileser, the great king, 
the powerful king of nations, king of Assyria, king of Babylon, king of Sumir 
and Akkad, king of the four regions. The powerful warrior who, in the service 
of Assur his Lord, the whole of his haters has trampled in like clay, swept like 
a flood, and reduced to shadows. The king who, in the might of Nebo and 
Merodach, the great gods, has marched, and from the sea of Bit-yakin to the 
land of Bikni by the rising sun, and from the sea of the setting sun to Egypt ; 
from the west to the east all countries possesses, and rules their kingdoms. — 
Smith's Assyrian Discoveries, p. 256. 




SIEGE OF DAMASCUS— FINAL ASSAULT. 



2 Kings xvi : 5-10. — Then Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, 
came up to Jerusalem to war : and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. At 
that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath : and 
the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath- 
pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son : come up and save me out of 
the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against 
me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of, the Lord, and in the 
treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present for the king of Assyria. And the king 
of Assyria hearkened unto him : for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took 
it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. And king Ahaz went to 
Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Again, Tiglath-pileser relates (in the 
inscriptions) that from his twelfth to his fourteenth year (b. c. 734~73 2 ) ne 
carried on a war in southern Syria with the two kings, Pekah of Samaria, and 
Rezin of Damascus, who were confederate together, and that he besieged Rezin 
in his capital for two years, at the end of which time he captured him and put 
him to death, while he punished Pekah, by mulcting him of a large portion of 
his dominions, and carrying off vast numbers of his subjects into captivity. It 



SECOND KINGS XVII. 



327 



is scarcely necessary to point out how completely this account harmonizes with 
the Scriptural narrative, according to which Pekah and Rezin, having formed 
an alliance against Ahaz, and having attacked him, Ahaz called in the aid of 
Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who " hearkened to him, and went up against 
Damascus, and took it, and carried the people captive to Kir, and slew Rezin;" 
and who likewise punished Pekah by invading his territory, and carrying away 
the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, and settling them 
in Gozan in the Khabour. Further, Tiglath-pileser relates that before quitting 
Syria, he held his court at Damascus, and there received submission and tribute 
from the neighboring sovereigns, among whom he expressly mentions, not only 
Pekah of Samaria, but Ahaz king of Judah. This passage of the Assyrian 
annals very remarkably illustrates the account given in 2 Kings xvi : 10-16, of 
the visit of Ahaz to Damascus "to meet king Tiglath-pileser." — Hist. Must. 
ofO. T.,p. 134. 




SAMARITAN HEBREWS BEARING TRIBUTE— AN ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE. 



HOSHEA. 

2 Kings xvii : 3.— Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his 

servant, and gave him presents. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A.— The annals of Tiglath-pileser contain 
some mention of the two Israelite monarchs, Menahem and Hoshea. Menahem 
appears as tributary to Assyria in the early part of Tiglath-pileser's reign 
(about b. c. 743); and Hoshea makes submission to the Assyrian monarch, 
probably in his last year, b. c. 728. Of Hoshea, the last Israelite king, there is 
no further mention in the Assyrian inscriptions.— ffist Must, p.. 135. 

2 Kings xvii : 4.— And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea : for he had sent mes- 
sengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done 
year by year, therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — Whenever an expedition against the kings of 
Judah or Israel is mentioned in the Assyrian Records, it is stated to have been 
undertaken on the ground that they had not paid their customary tribute.— 
Nineveh and Babylon, p. 541. 
21 



328 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Hoshea's league with " So, king of 
Egypt," admits of some illustration from the Egyptian records. So may 
reasonably be identified with the Sabaco of Manetho and Herodotus, and the 
Shebek I. of the hieroglyphical inscriptions. This prince, who contended with 
Sargon in southern Palestine a little later, may well have attracted the regard of 
Hoshea, when, about b. c. 724 or 723, he was looking out for some powerful 
ally who might help him to throw off the yoke of Assyria. The league formed 
between the two neighbors is natural and has many analogies. — Hist. Illust, of 
the O. T.,p. 137. 

Herodotus. — Sabacos continued master of Egypt for the space of fifty years. 
— Herodt., lib. ii., c. 137. 

2 Kings xvii : 6. — In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried 
Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in lialah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and 
in the cities of the Medes. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The capture of Samaria, and the depor- 
tation of its people by the Assyrians, which terminated the reign of Hoshea, 
and at the same time brought the kingdom of Israel to an end, is noticed in the 
annals of Sargon, who was Shalmaneser's successor, and assigned by him to his 
first year, which was b. c 722-721. Here, it will be observed, there is an 
exact accord between the Assyrian and the Hebrew dates, the Hebrew 
chronology placing the fall of Samaria in the 135th year before the capture of 
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, which was iruthe 18th year of that king, or b. c. 
586 (and b. c. 586 + 135 producing b. c. 721). — Hist. Illust. of the O. T., 
p. 138. 

2 Kings xvii : 23. — So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. 
Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Again, Sargon relates (in the Assyrian 
inscriptions) that he carried away captive from Samaria 27,280 families. — Hist. 
Illust. of the O. T.,p. 138. 

2 Kings xvii : 24. — And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and 
from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria 
instead of the children of Israel. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — And Sargon subsequently states (in his 
inscriptions) that he transported numerous prisoners from Babylonia to a place 
"in the land of the Hittites," which is probably Samaria, though the inscription 
is not at this point quite legible. — Hist. Illust. of the O. T.,p. 138. 

2 Kings xvii: 29. — Hmvbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses 
of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they 
dwelt. 
Austen H. Layard, M. P. — The conquerors, as we learn from the inscriptions, 

established the worship of their own gods in the conquered cities, raising altars 

and temples, and appointing priests for their service. — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 

542* 



SECOND KINGS XVIII. 329 

HEZEKIAH. 

2 Kings xviii : 1 3— 1 5 . — Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of 
Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah king 
of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, T have offended; return from me: 
that which thou puttest on me will I bear: And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah 
kino- of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave 
him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house. 

Inscriptions of Kouyunjik. — Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not 
submit to my yoke, I (Sennacherib) came up against him, and by force of arms, 
and by the might of my power, I took forty -six of his strong fenced cities, and of 
the smaller towns which were scattered about 1 took and plundered a countless 
number. And from these places I captured and carried off as spoil 200,150 
people, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mares, asses 
and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude. And Hezekiah himself I 
shut up in Jerusalem, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to 
hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates to prevent escape. . . 
Then, upon this Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent 
out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with thirty talents of gold, and eight 
hundred talents of silver, and diverse treasures, a rich and immense booty. . 
All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government, 
Hezekiah having sent them by way of tribute, and as a token of submission to 
my power. — In Aiicient Monarchies, Vol. III., p. 160, 161. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The close agreement of these two ac- 
counts (that of Scripture and this of the Inscriptions) is admitted on all hands, 
and is indeed so palpable that it is needless to enlarge upon it here. The Assy- 
rian monarch, with pardonable pride, brings out fully all the details at which 
the Hebrew annalist, in his patriotic reticence, only hints — as the ravage far and 
wide of the whole territory, the vast numbers of the captives and the spoil, the 
actual siege and blockade of the capital, the alarm of the Jewish monarch, and 
his eagerness to propitiate his offended lord, — but his main facts are exactly 
those which the Jewish historian puts on record, the only apparent discrepancy 
being in the number of the talents of silver, where he probably counts the whole 
of the treasure carried off, while the Hebrew writer intends to give the amount 
of the permanent tribute which was agreed upon. It may be added, that the 
details, which the author of Kings suppresses, are abundantly noticed in the 
writings of the contemporary prophet, Isaiah, who describes the ravage of the 
territory (Isa. xxiv.), the siege of Jerusalem (xxix : 1-8), and the distress and 
terror of the inhabitants (xxii: 1-14), even more graphically and more fully than 
the historiographer of Sennacherib. — Hist. Illust, of O. T.,p. 143. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — It is surely very interesting to meet with so 
close an agreement between records kept in different languages and by people 
in bitter hostility to each other. The Assyrian record calls Hezekiah, Khaza- 
kiah-hoo ; Jerusalem, Urselimma ; and Judah, Yehoodah, names which come 
closer to the original Hebrew than our rendering of them. — Bible Lands, 357, 



330 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGLS. 



TIRHAKAH. 

2 Kings xix : 9. — And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold he is ^rae out 
to fight against thee, he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah. 

Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — With Tirhakah we are acquainted both from sacred 
and profane records, and his successful opposition 
to the power of Assyria is noticed in the Bible, 
may be traced in Herodotus, and is recorded on the 
walls of a Theban temple. At Medinet Abou are 
the figure and name of Tirhakah, and of the captives 
taken by him. — In Pict. Bib., Vol. II., p. 375. 

Inscriptions of Kouyunjik. — The no')les and 
people of Ekron . . attached themselves to Hezekiah 
of Judea, and paid their adorations to his Cod. 
The kings of Egypt also sent horsemen and footmen, 
belonging to the army of the king of Ethiopia, of 
which the numbers could not be counted. In the 
neighborhood of the city of Lachish I joined battle 
'with them. — Colonel Rawlinson's Outlines. 

SENNACHERIB. 

2 Kings xix : 28. — I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle 
in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which 
thou earnest. 

TIRHAKAH. 

Herodotus. — After the taking of Memphis by 
Cambyses two thousand Egyptians were made to walk in processipn with ropes 
round their necks, and bridles in their mouths. — Herodt., lib. 3, c. 14. 

2 Kings xix: 7, 35. — Behold I will send a blast upon him. . . . And it came to pass that 
night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred 
four-score and five thousand ; and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all 
dead corpses. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — His sentence was that God would send upon him a 
"blast," ruach, a wind. The connection of this sentence with its execution is 
given by the Psalmist, who says, "He maketh his angels ruchoth" winds; or 
maketh the winds his angels, or messengers, for the performance of his will. 
Prof. Michaelis has these words, "The wind Zelgaphoth is a pestilent east wind, 
well known to the Asiatics, which suddenly kills those who are exposed to it." 
And Thevenot mentioned such a wind in 1658, that in one night suffocated 
20,000 men ! — Comment., on 1 Kings xx: 30. 

2 Kings xix : 37. — And it came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, 
that Adramelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword : and they escaped into the 
land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The murder of Sennacherib by two of 
his sons, though not distinctly related in the Assyrian Records, is illustrated by 





(331) 



SECOND KINGS XIX. 



333 



the condition wherein Assyria is found at the commencement of the reign of 
Esarhaddon. This monarch's inscriptions show that soon after his accession he 
was engaged for some months in a war with his half-brothers, who would natur- 
ally, after murdering their father, endeavor to seat themselves upon his throne. 
The Greek historian, Abydenus, alludes to the same struggle; and the Armenian 
records declare that the two assassins, having made their escape from the scene 
of conflict, obtained a refuge in Armenia, where the reigning monarch gave them 
lands, which long continued the possession of their posterity. — Hist. Must, of 
the O. T.,p. 146. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — After a few days' labor, the workmen came to 







THE RING IN THE NOSE — (FROM AN ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE). 

the walls of a chamber. They were panelled with inscribed, but unsculptured, 
alabaster slabs. The inscriptions contained the name, titles, and genealogy of 
Esar-haddon, such as were found on the bulls and sphinxes of the southwest 
palace at Nimroud. Several bricks and fragments of stone were also obtained 
from the ruins, which all bore the same inscription. The annals of this mon- 
arch are inscribed on a large hexagonal cylinder presented by me to the British 
Museum. Like his father, he was a great warrior, and he styles himself in his 
inscriptions, "King of Egypt, conqueror of Ethiopia." — Nineveh and Babylon, 
p. 296, 508, 529. 



334 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS. 

2 Kings xx : 7. — And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took it, and laid it on the 

boil, and he recovered. 

Pliny. — With the leaves of figs still green, an application is made for scrofu- 
lous and other sores. Figs are applied in all cases where sores are required to 
be brought to a head or dispersed. A decoction of figs is applied to boils, in- 
flamed tumors, and impost- 
humes of the parotid glands. 
Green figs applied raw, with 
the addition of nitre and 
meal, remove warts and 
wens. — Natural History, 1. 
xxiii., c. 63. 

2 Kings xx : II. — And Isaiah 
the prophet cried unto the 
Lord ; and he brought the 
shadow ten degrees backward, 
by which it had gone down in 
the dial of Ahaz. 



Herodotus. — As to the 
pole, the gnomon and the 
division of the day into 
twelve parts, the Greeks re- 
ceived them from the Baby- 
lonians. — Herodt., 1. ii., c. 
109. 

Diogenes Laertius. — A 
sun-dial, the work of Phere- 
cydes, the astronomer ^b. 
c. 600), is still preserved 
in the island of Syra. — 
Pherec. Vit. 

Plutarch. — At the fort of 
the citadel at Syracuse, un- 
der the Pentapylae, was a 
lofty sun-dial, which had 
been placed there by Dio- 
nysius. — Dion., c. 29. 




NISROCH — (FROM AN ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE). 

JOSIAH. 

2 Kings xxiii : 5. — Them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and 
to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 

Plato. — Addressing the gods in prayers and supplications, both at the rising 



SECOND KINGS XXIII. 335 

of the sun and moon, rolling upon the ground and offering adorations, both by 
the Greeks and Barbarians. — De Leg., 1. x., c. 3. 

Col. Rawlinson. — The commemorative cylinders of the Birs Nimroud desig- 
nate the building by the name of "The Temple of the Planets of the Seven 
Spheres." — Pict. Bib., Vol. II., p. 702. 

2 Kings xxiii : 7. — Where the women wove hangings for the grove. 

Lucian. — Mankind have consecrated to their gods groves and mountains, and 
assigned to every deity a particular bird, or tree, or plant. — De Sacrif., c. 10. 
Ovid. — I saw myself the garlands on their boughs, 
And tablets hung for gifts of granted vows. 

— Metamor., 1. viii., v. 722. 

2 Kings xxiii : 1 1. — And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, 
at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamber 
lain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The ancient Persians, who were sun- worshippers, dedicated 
to that luminary white horses and chariots, which were paraded in their sacred 
processions; and it is thought that other nations borrowed the practice from 
them. Whether so or not, we find the same idea of associating a chariot and 
horses with the sun, to denote the rapidity of his apparent progress, common in 
the poetry and sculpture of classical antiquity. The sun was supposed to be 
drawn daily, in a chariot, by four wondrous coursers, through the firmament: 
and we all recollect the fate of the ambitious Phaeton, who aspired to guide the 
swift chariot and control the strong coursers of the sun. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Xenophon. — Next to the bull there were horses led for a sacrifice to the sun. 
After these proceeded a white chariot, with its perch of gold adorned with a 
crown or wreath around it, and sacred to Jove. After this a white chariot, 
sacred to the sun, and adorned with a crown as that before. — Cycrop., 1. viii., c. 3. 

Ovid. — Persia propitiates Hyperion begirt with rays of light, by the sacrifice 
of a horse, that no sluggish victim may be offered to the swift god. — Fast., lib. 
i., v. 385. 

2 Kings xxiii : 12. — The altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which 

the kings of Judah had made. 

Strabo. — The Nabatseans worship the sun, and construct their altar on the 
top of a house, pouring out libations, and burning frankincense upon it every 
day. — Strab., 1. xvi., c. 4. 

2 Kings xxiii: 16. — And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in 
the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar 
and polluted it. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — It is interesting to be reminded that 
sepulchres are found at the present day in the rocky heights around Bethel. It 
was from such recesses, no doubt, that King Josiah, in his zeal for the worship 
of Jehovah, dug up the bones of the old idolaters who had lived at Bethel, which 
he burned on the altar of the golden calf in order by this act of pollution to 



336 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



mark his abhorrence of such idolatry, and to render the place infamous forever. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 290. 

2 Kings xxiii : 29. — In his days Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt went up against the king of 
Assyria to the river Euphrates: and King Josiah went against him; and he slew him at 
Megiddo, when he had seen him. 

Reginald Stuart -Poole, Brit. Mus. — The name of this monarch, in 
hieroglyphics, is written NEKU. Herodotus calls him Nekos and assigns to 
him a reign of sixteen years, which is confirmed by the monuments. Herodotus 
also mentions the battle in which Josiah was slain, relating that Necho made 
war against the Syrians, and defeated them at Magdolus (Megiddo), after which 
he took Cadytis, a large city of Syria. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2467. 

2 Kings xxiv : 1. — In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, etc. 

That there was a king bearing this name, and ruling at this time, in Babylon, 
is abundantly attested by his own records, which have recently been exhumed 
from the ruins of that city. 

Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. — Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, 
glorious Prince, worshipper of Marduk, adorer of the lofty one, etc. — See 
Records of the Past, Vol. V., p. 113. 



JERUSALEM TAKEN BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 

2 Kings xxiv : 10-16. — And at that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came 
up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged, etc. 

Berosus. — The king of Babylon sent his son Nebuchadnezzar against Egypt, 

and against the land of the Jews, with a 
great army, upon his being informed that 

/ LriA M '"' / they had revolted from him, and by that 

means he subdued them all, and set the 
temple that was at Jerusalem on fire ; and 
he removed the people of the Jews entirely 
out of their own country, and transferred 
them to Babylon ; when it so happened 
that their city was desolate during the 
interval of seventy years, until the days 
of Cyrus, king of Persia.— fosephs. Cont. 
Ap., I., 19. 

ZEDEKIAH. 

2 Kings xxv : 7.— And they slew the sons of 
Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes 
^ of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, 
PUTTING OUT THE eyes OF prisoners. and carried him to Babylon. 

Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M. A.— Putting out the eyes of captives, 
and other cruelties, as flaying alive, burning, tearing out the tongue, etc., were 
practiced by the Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors ; and parallel instances 




FIRST CHRONICLES X. 337 

of despotic cruelty are found in abundance in both ancient and modern times 
in Persian and other histories. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2643. 

Annals of Assur-Nasir-Pal. — Many soldiers I captured alive ; of some I 
chopped off the hands and feet ; of others the noses and ears I cut off; of many 
soldiers I destroyed the eyes ; one pile of bodies while yet alive, and one of 
heads I reared up on the heights within their town (b. c. 882). — Records of the 
Past, Vol. III., p. 50. 



First Chronicles. 



NAMES SIGNIFICANT. 

I Chronicles iv: 9. — And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called 
his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. 

Homer. — The afflicted pair, their sorrows to proclaim, 

From Cleopatra changed their daughter's name, 

And call'd Alcyone ; a name to show 

The father's grief, the mourning mother's woe. 

— Iliad y lib. lix., v. 557. 

PASTORAL WEALTH. 

I Chron. v: 21. — And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep 
two hundred and fifty thousand, and of men a hundred thousand. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The powerful tribe of the Beni 
Sakk'r, who now inhabit that same region, boast of one hundred thousand 
camels. — Nor does the number of the sheep seem to have diminished at the 
present day on that east side of Jordan, in spite of the impoverishment of the 
land. No country could be conceived more adapted by nature for flocks than 
the rich plateaux whence the feeders of the Jabbok rise in the ancient Ammon. 
The land is almost treeless, well watered everywhere. Never did I see such a 
display of pastoral wealth as met our eyes in the neighborhood of desolate 
Rabbah. It was the early spring, when the grass was shooting forth in its 
freshness. The sheep of the great tribes* of the Adwan and the Beni Sakk'r had 
gathered here from far and near ; and mile after mile we rode through flocks 
countless as the sand, while winding up the gently sloping valley, at the head of 
which stand the magnificent but lonely ruins of the great city. To the open 
spaces among the temples the sheep and goats were driven at night, and there 
the bleating was almost deafening. — Nat. Hist, of Bib., p. 59, 135. 

DEATH OF SAUL. 

I Chron. x: 9. — They sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry tidings to their 

idols and to the people. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — When the heathen of the present day gain a victory 



338 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

over their enemies, they always take the tidings to their idols. There is the 
king, and there are his general and troops, with the priests and people, all 
marching in triumph to the temple. Then they relate to the gods all their pro- 
ceedings ; how they conquered the foe, and have now come to them to give the 
glory. — Orient. Must. , p. 229. 

I Chron. x: 10. — And they put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in 

the temple of Dagon. 

Arrianus. — Alexander sent to Athens three hundred suits of Persian armor, 
to be hung up in the temple of Pallas there, by way of acknowledgment of his 
victories, and ordered an inscription to be fixed over them to this effect, "Alex- 
ander, the son of Philip, and all the Greeks, except the Lacedemonians, have 
devoted the spoils taken from the barbarians inhabiting Asia." — Eped. Alexand., 
1. i., c. 16. 

Virgil. — Hung on the pillars, all around appears 

A row of trophies, helmets, shields and spears, 
And solid bars, and axes keenly bright, 
And naval beaks, and chariots seiz'd in fight. 

—sEneid, VII., 183. 
See 1 Sam. xxxi : 1-12. 
I Chron. xi : 4-9. — And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the 

Jebusites were, etc. 
See 2 Sam. v : 6-9. 

I Chron. xi : 22. — Benaiah . . . went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day. 

See 2 Sam. xxiii : 20. 

I Chron. xv: 29. — Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David 

dancing, etc. 
See 2 Sam. vi : 14. 

1 Chron. xviii: 5-8. — And David smote Hadarezer, etc. 

See 2 Sam. viii : 3-6. 

1 Chron. xix : 4.— Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, shaved them, and cut off their 

garments, etc. 
See 2 Sam. x: 4. 

I Chron. xx: 2. — And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to 

weigh a talent of gold, etc. 
See 2 Sam. 12 : 30. 

I Chron. xx : 6. — And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose 
fingers and toes were four and twenty ; six on each hand, and six on each foot. 

See 2 Sam. xxi: 20. 

POPULATION OF PALESTINE. 

I Chron. xxi : 5.-— And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all 
they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew the sword: 
and Judah was four hundred three-score and ten thousand men that drew the swcrd. 



FIRST CHRONICLES XXIX. 339 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — Some have doubted whether Palestine could 
support a population of three millions even in David's time, when its limi fC! were 
the broadest, and it had become the entrepot of the commerce of India. Com- 
puting the surface of the land at 11,200 geographical square miles, we have an 
average of 267 souls to the square mile; whereas prosperous Great Britain has 
but 246. It should, however, be remembered that England possesses large 
tracts of unproductive soil belonging to a favored class. German Bohemia, 
though hilly, supports a population of 254 to the square mile; while the fertile 
alluvial plains of Belgium feed no less than 438. Modern China supports 288. 
There are no data by which we can estimate the present population of Palestine, 
but we are safe in saying that every country of Western Asia has greatly 
deteriorated in fertility during the last twelve centuries. Egypt, according to 
Herodotus, anciently contained seven millions of inhabitants; yet its present 
population is but two and a half millions. Babylonia was once the most fertile 
spot upon the face of the earth. According to Strabo, barley produced three 
hundred fold ; and Pliny states that there were two crops of wheat in the year. 
But now this whole region is little more than a desert. — Bible Lands, p. 22. 

I Chron. xxi : 7. — And God was displeased with this thing ; therefore he smote Israel. 
See 2 Sam. xxiv : 15-17. 

BLOODSTAINED HANDS. 

I Chron. xxii : 8. — But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood 
abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because 
thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. 

Homer. — Let chiefs abstain, and spare the sacred juice 

To sprinkle to the gods, its better use. 

By me that holy office were profaned ; 

111 fits it men with human gore distain'd, 

To the pure skies their horrid hands to raise, 

Or offer Heaven's great sire polluted praise. 

— Iliad, 1. vi., v. 264. 
Virgil. — In me 'tis impious holy things to bear, 

Red as I am with slaughter new from war, 

Till in some living stream I cleanse the guilt 

Of dire debate, and blood in battle spilt. 

— Aineid, 1. ii., v. 71S. 

THE GREAT GIVER OF ALL. 

I Chron. xxix : 14. — All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. 
Seneca. — A man may be taught how to behave himself at sacrifices and in 
public worship, without any curious and troublesome superstition ; but he will 
never be perfect in religious duty till he has conceived in his mind a right 
notion of God, as the possessor and giver of all things, and who freely and 
graciously bestows inestimable benefits upon us. — Epist., 95. 



340 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Cicero. — We must needs acknowledge that the benefits of this life, the light 
which we enjoy, and the spirit which we breathe, are imparted to us from him, 
i. e., Jupiter optimus maximus. — Orat. pro Sext. Rose, c. 45. 

Euripides. — Men do not enjoy riches as their own ; but having the property 
of the gods we cherish it ; and when they choose they take them away again. — 
Phcen., v. 554. 

Epictetus. — There is but one way to tranquillity of mind and happiness — to 
account no external things thine own, but to refer all these to God and fortune. 
— Epict., 1. iv., c. 4. 



Second Chronicles. 



SOLOMON'S REQUEST, 

2 Chron. i : 10. — Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before 
this people : for who can judge this thy people, that is so great ? 

See 1 Kings iii: 9. 

TYRIAN ARTS. 

2 Chron. ii : 7. — Send me now therefore a cunning man to work in gold, and in silver, and in 
brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson and blue, and that can skill to grave with the 
cunning men that are with me. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Homer speaks especially of the Tyrians, 
beautifully embroidered robes and their bowls of silver. Their skill to hew timber, 
even at this remote time, was attested by their own historians, as also was their prac- 
tice of making large metal pillars. Such remains of their art as have come down 
to us are of the character indicated. They consist of engraved gems and cylin- 
ders, and of metal bowls, plain or embossed with figures. — Hist. Illust. of O. T. y 

THE TEMPLE ENRICHED WITH GOLD. 

2 Chron. iii; 6, 7. — And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty. . . He over- 
laid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof with gold. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Society of Bib. Arches. — One of the most curious of the 
Assyrian Inscriptions lately discovered is that which has been translated by M. 
Charles Lenormant, and relates to the construction by Vulnarari of a golden 
temple to the great god Bel. Erected in seven stages, analogous to the present 
ruins of Bin Nimrud, the walls, the roof, the columns, and the sanctuary, the ves- 
sels, and the statues of the gods, were all alike plated, or composed of solid gold. 
It was founded, so runs the inscription, " To the glory of the great god Bel, my 
lord and master, whose servant I am, who has placed me on the throne of this 
people. ' ' That such an edifice could be erected of materials so costly and so 
rare, at a period very near to that of king Solomon, removes at once all dispute 



SECOND CHRONICLES XII. 341 

as to the credibility of the Biblical narrative concerning his temple, and affords 
a justification of the means employed by the wisest of kings for storing up a 
metal not then used as an article of currency. — Faith and Free Thought, p. 240. 

THE MOLTEN SEA. 

2 Chron. iv : 2, 3. — Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in com- 
pass, and five cubits the height thereof. . . . And under it was the similitude of oxen. 

Austen H. La yard, M. P. — With the cauldrons were discovered at Nimrud 
two circular flat vessels, nearly six feet in diameter, and about two feet deep, 
which I can only compare with the brazen sea that stood in the temple of Solo- 
mon. The dimensions, however, of that vessel were far greater. It is singular 
that in some of the bas-reliefs large metal cauldrons supported on brazen oxen are 
represented . — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 152. 

TADMOR. 

2 Chron. viii : 4. — And he built Tadmor in the wilderness. 

Dr. John Kitto. — In the Syrian desert there are the magnificent ruins of an 
ancient city, which made a conspicuous figure in ancient times under the name 
of Palmyra. This is not doubted to occupy the site of the "Tadmor" built by 
Solomon. The names Tadmor and Palmyra equally refer to the palm-trees 
which grew there ; and the former is at this day the only name by which the 
spot is known to the natives, although the palms have now disappeared. — Pict. 
Bib., in loco. 

2 Chron. ix : 1-12. — And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to 

prove Solomon, etc. 

See 1 Kings x: 1-10. 

2 Chron. ix : 1 7. — Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 
See 1 Kings x: 18-20. 

2 Chron. xii : 2. — And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king oi 
Egypt came up against Jerusalem, etc. 
See i Kings xiv: 25. 

SHISHAK' S INVASION OF JUDEA. 

2 Chron. xii : 2, 4. — And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king 
of Egypt came up against Jerusalem . . . And he took the fenced cities which pertained to 
Judah, and came to Jerusalem. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Of the divided kingdom which followed 
on the death of Solomon, the Assyrian records furnish numerous, and the Egyp- 
tian a few illustrations. The most important Egyptian notice is contained in an 
inscription erected by Shishak (Sheshonk) at Karnak, which has been most care- 
fully studied by modern scholars, and may be regarded as having completely 
yielded up its contents. This document is a list of the countries, cities, and tribes, 
conquered in his great expedition by Shishak, and regarded by him as tributaries. 
It contains, not only a distinct mention of "Judah" as a "kingdom" which 
Shishak had subjugated, but also a long list of Palestinian towns, from which an 



342 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

important light is thrown on the character of the expedition commemorated, and 
the relations subsisting between Judah and Israel in the early part of Solomon's 
reign. — Hist. I/lust, of O. T.,p. 117. 

Champollion. — In the marvellous palace of Karnak I have contemplated 
the portraits of most of the ancient Pharaohs, known for their great acts, and 
they are veritable portraits, each possessing its peculiar physiognomy. . . Here 
is Shishak dragging to the feet of the Theban Triad, the chiefs of more than 
thirty conquered nations, among whom I have discovered, letter for letter, 
Ioudah-amalek, "the kingdom of Judah.". . . According to the Bible, Shishak 
attacked and took Jerusalem, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam. It is 
this victory which the bas-relief of Karnak refers to. The kingdom of Judah is 
here personified, and doubtless with that fidelity to physiognomy remarked in all 
the ancient works of art of the Egyptians, in reference to the foreign nations 
which they have represented upon their monuments: in the bas-relief there is 
found the physiognomy of the Jewish people, in the tenth century before the 
Christian era, according to the Egyptians. Indeed Rehoboam himself, perhaps, 
sat for the original of this picture.* — In Comp. Comment., note in loco. 

2 Chron. xviii: 7. — There is yet one man, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate 
him ; for he never prophesieth good unto me, but always evil. 

See 1 Kings xxii : 8, 22. 

PALMS OF ENGEDL 

2 Chron. xx : 2. — Behold they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Engedi has been unmistakably 
identified with the modern Ainjidy, on the western shore of the Dead Sea. 
Its name signifies " the felling of the palm trees ; " it was the contemporary of 
Sodom and Gomorrah — an existing city when Hebron first arose. Through its 
groves of palm trees passed the Assyrian hordes of Chedarlaomer, on the first 
great organized expedition recorded in history. Now not a palm remains in 
these lonely recesses ; but they have left the evidence of their former abundance 
in the deep glens which open on the little plain. Copious springs of fresh water 
percolate through the cliffs on all sides, and perform the functions of a dropping 
well, rapidly petrifying the vegetation which clings to the rocks, and lining the 
valleys with a thick crust of carbonate of lime. On breaking this soft incrusta- 
tion, we found masses of palm leaves quite perfect, and even ivhole trees petrified 
where they stood, grown as it were to the rock, entire from the root of the stem 
to the last point of the frond. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 380. 

2 Chron. xxv : II. — And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to 

the valley of salt, etc. 
See 2 Kings xiv : 7. 

SENNACHERIB BEFORE LACHISH. 

2 Chron. xxxii: 9. — After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem,, 
(but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king 
of Judah and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying, etc. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — During the latter part of my residence at Mosuh 



SECOND CHRONICLES XXXII. 



343 



a chamber was discovered in which the sculptures were in better preservation than 
any before found at Kouyunjik. Some of the slabs, indeed, were almost entire, 
though cracked, and otherwise injured by fire ; and the epigraph, which fortu- 
nately explained the event portrayed, was complete. These bas-reliefs repre- 
sented the siege and capture by the Assyrians, of a city evidently of great extent 
and importance. It appears to have been defended by double walls, with 
battlements and towers, and by fortified outworks. The country around it was 
hilly and wooded, producing the fig and the vine. The whole power of the 
great king seems to have been called forth to take this stronghold. In no other 
sculptures were so many armed warriors seen drawn 
up in array before a besieged city. In the first 
rank were the kneeling archers, those in the second 
were bending forward, whilst those in the third 
discharged their arrows standing upright, and were 
mingled with spearmen and slingers ; the whole 
forming a compact and organized phalanx. The 
reserve consisted of large bodies of horsemen and 
charioteers. Against the fortifications had been 
thrown up as many as ten banks or mounts, com- 
pactly built of stones, bricks, earth, and branches of 
trees ; and seven battering rams had already been 
rolled up to the walls. The besieged defended 
themselves with great determination. Spearmen, 
slingers and archers thronged the battlements and 
towers, showering javelins, arrows, stones, and 
blazing torches upon the assailants. On the bat- 
tering rams were bowmen discharging their arrows, 
and men with large ladles pouring water upon 
the flaming brands, which, hurled from above, 
threatened to destroy the engines. Ladders, 
probably used for escalade, were falling from the 
walls upon the soldiers who mounted the inclined 
ways to the assault. Part of the city had, how- 
ever, been taken. Beneath its walls were seen 
Assyrian warriors impaling their prisoners, and 
from the gateway of an advanced tower, or fort, issued a procession of cap- 
tives, reaching to the presence of the king, who, gorgeously arrayed, received 
them seated on his throne, which was richly carved or encased in embossed 
metal, and standing on an elevated platform. Several prisoners were already 
in the hands of the torturers. Two were stretched naked on the ground to be 
flayed alive, others were being slain by the sword before the throne of the king. 
The haughty monarch was receiving the chiefs of the conquered nation, who 
crouched and knelt humbly before him. Above the head of the king was this 
inscriotion: 




SENNACHERIB ON HIS THRONE 
BEFORE LACHISH — (ASSYRIAN 
SCULPTURE). 



S44 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

" Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of 
Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before the 
city of Lachish : I give permission for its slaughter.''' 
Here therefore was the actual picture of the taking of Lachish, the city, as we 
know from the Bible, besieged by Sennacherib, when he sent his generals to 
demand tribute of Hezekiah, and which he had captured before their return ; 
evidence of the most remarkable character to confirm the interpretation of the 
inscriptions, and to identify the king who caused them to be engraved with the 
Sennacherib of Scripture. This highly interesting series of bas-reliefs contained, 
moreover, an undoubted representation of a king, a city, and a people, with 
whose names we are acquainted, and of an event described in Holy Writ. They 
furnish us, therefore, with illustrations of the Bible of very great importance. — 
Nineveh and Babylon, p. 125-128. 

MANASSEH. 

2 Chion. xxxiii: 11. — The captains of the host of the king of Assyria took Manasseh among 
the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 

Inscriptions of Esar-haddon. — I count among the prisoners of my reign 
twelve kings of the Hittites, who dwell beyond the mountains, — Bahlon, king 
of Tyre ; Manasseh, king of Judah, together with the kings of the isles of the 
Mediterranean Sea. — Revue Archeologique, 1864. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — We have in the annals of Esar-haddon a 
curious illustration of what is at first sight most surprising in the Sacred Narra- 
tive, namely, the statement that "the captains of the host of the king of 
Assyria," when they took Manasseh prisoner, carried him with them, not to 
Nineveh, but to Babylon. It appears by the inscriptions, that Esar-haddon not 
only, like his grandfather, Sargon, took the title of the "king of Babylon," but 
that he actually built himself a palace there, in which he must undoubtedly have 
occasionally resided. Thus there is nothing strange in an important prisoner 
being brought to him at the southern capital, though such a thing could scarcely 
have happened to any other Assyrian sovereign. — Hist. Must, of O. T.,p. 149. 

PHARAOH NECHO, 

2 Chron. xxxv: 20. — After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt 

. came up to fight, etc. 
See 2 Kings xxiii : 29. 
2 Chron. xxxv: 22. — And Josiah hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of 
God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 

Dr. John Saul Hawson. — Megiddo was the modern el Lejjun, the Legio of 
Eusebius and Jerome, an important and well-known place in their day. Van de 
Velde visited the spot in 1852. About a month later in the same year, Dr. 
Robinson was there, and convinced himself of the correctness of his former 
opinion. Both writers mention a copious stream flowing down this gorge, and 
turning some mills before joining the Kishon — here are probably " the waters of 
Megiddo."— Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1873. 



SECOND CHRONICLES XXXV. 345 

Herodotus. — Pharaoh Necho made war by land upon the Syrians, and 
defeated them in a pitched battle at Magdolus (Megiddo). — Herodt., II., 159. 

GENERAL TESTIMONY TO THE FOREGOING HISTORIC BOOKS. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The direct historical illustrations which 
profane sources furnish of Jewish history, include notices of almost every foreign 
monarch mentioned in the course of the narrative — of Shishak, Zera, Benhadad, 
Hazael, Mesha, Rezin, Pul, Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, So, Sargon, Senna- 
cherib, Tirhaka, Merodach-Baladan, Esar-haddon, Necho, Nebuchadnezzar, 
Evil-merodach, and Apries — and of the Jewish or Israelite kings, Omri, Ahab, 
Jehu, Ahaziah, Menahem, Pekah, Ahaz, Hoshea, Hezekiah, and Manasseh. All 
these monarchs occur in profane history in the order, and at or near the time 
which the sacred narrative assigns to them. The synchronisms, which that 
narrative supplies, are borne out wherever there is any further evidence on the 
subject. The general condition of the powers which come into contact with 
the Jews is rightly described ; and the fluctuations which they experience, their 
alternations of glory and depression, are correctly given. No discrepancy occurs 
between the sacred and the profane throughout the entire period, excepting here 
and there a chronological one. And these chronological discrepancies are in 
no case serious. 

The later narrative of the Books of Chronicles and Kings receives a further 
illustration, of an indirect character, from a consideration of the incidental 
notices which are dropped with respect to the manners and customs of the for- 
eign nations, with which the Jews are in this part of their history represented as 
coming into contact. Though the sacred narrative is far from giving us in this 
place such a complete portraiture of the Assyrians or Babylonians as it furnishes 
in the Pentateuch of the Egyptians, yet, if we add to the picture drawn in 
Chronicles and Kings the further touches furnished by the contemporary 
prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, we shall find that we possess, 
altogether, a description of these peoples, which is capable of comparison with 
the account of them that has reached us from profane sources. And this com- 
parison, though it cannot be carried to the extent which was found possible in 
the case of Egypt, will be found to embrace so many and such minute points as 
to constitute it an important head of evidence, and one perhaps to many minds 
more convincing than the direct illustrations adduced hitherto. — The (scripture) 
picture thus presented to us is in striking accord also with the character of the 
Assyrians, of their monarchy, of their mode of warfare, of their favorite habits 
and practices, as they may be gathered from the sculptured monuments and 
inscriptions. — Hist. Illust. of the O. T.,p. 154-160. 
22 



Ezra. 



CYRUS. 

Ezra i: 2. — Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the 

kingdoms of the earth. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus' empire was the noblest and most extensive in Asia. He 
ruled over the Medes and Hyrcanians, Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappado- 
cians, both Phrygias, the Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Bactrians, Indians, 
Cilicians, Scythians, Paphlagonians, Megadinians, and many other nations, the 
Greeks inhabiting Asia, and the Cyprians and Egyptians ; the borders of his 
kingdom were to the East of the Red Sea, to the North the Euxine Pontus, to 
the West Cyprus and Egypt, and to the South Ethiopia ; and though of such 
an extent, was governed by the single will of Cyrus. — Cyropcedia, 1. viii., c. 8. 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — The character of Cyrus, and his actions, as 
indicated by Ezra (and Daniel), are in remarkable agreement with the notices 
which we possess of him in profane authors. Of all the Persian monarchs, he 
was the most distinguished for mildness and clemency ; the one to whom the 
sufferings of a captive nation, torn violently from its home and subjected to 
seventy years of oppression, would most forcibly have appealed. Again, he was 
an earnest Zoroastrian, a worshipper of the " Great God, Ormazd," the special, 
if not the sole, object of adoration among the ancient Persians ; he was a hater 
of idolatry, and of the shameless rites which accompanied it, and he would 
naturally sympathize with such a people as the Jews — a people whose religious 
views bore so great a resemblance to his own. Thus the restoration of the Jews 
by Cyrus, though an act almost without a parallel in the history of the world, 
was only natural under the circumstances ; and the narrative of it, which Ezra 
gives us, is in harmony at once with the other Scriptural notices of the monarch, 
and with profane accounts of him. The edicts which he issued on the occasion 
(Ezra i. 2-4, and vi. 3-5) are alike suitable to his religious belief and to the 
generosity of his character. His acknowledgment of one "Lord God of 
Heaven " (i. 2) ; his identification of this God with the Jehovah of the Jews; 
and his pious confession that he has received all the kingdoms over which he 
rules from this source, breathe the spirit of the Old Persian religion, of which 
Cyrus was a sincere votary ; while the delivery of the golden vessels from out 
of the treasury (i. 7-11, and vi. 5); the allowance of the whole expense of 
rebuilding the Temple out of the royal revenue (vi. 4) ; and the general direc- 
tions to all Persian subjects to " help with silver, and with gold, and with 
goods, and with beasts" (i. 4), accord well with the munificence which is 
(346) 



EZRA VI. 347 

said to have been one of his leading characteristics. — Hist. Illust. of O. T. y 

P- 193- 

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. 

Ezra iii : 7. — They gave . . . meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, 
to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant they had of 
Cyrus king of Persia. 

Rev. George E. Post, M. D. — For a long time it was contended that the 
cedar was not found in any part of Lebanon except the famous grove near 
Besherreh, and that any trees resembling it in other localities were only cognate 
species, but not the true Larix Cedrus. I have, however, settled this point by a 
laborious search and botanical examination. There are certainly in existence 
the following groves: 1. An extensive one near el-Hadet, consisting of many 
thousand small trees. 2. A small grove east of ' Ain Zehalta. 3. A large grove 
of very young trees east of " Ain Zehalta, in the valleys and on the western 
slopes of Lebanon ; I estimated the number at 10,000 trees. 4. A grove above 
Baruk, and stretching southward two or three miles, terminating in a cluster of 
noble trees overhanging the village el-Measir : this may number from 20,000 to 
30,000 in all, both small and large trees. The southernmost portion is a grand 
collection of about 250 trees. One measures 27 feet in circumference, another 
23, and many from 15 to 20. Some of them spread widely their horizontal 
branches, and bear numerous cones. The grandeur of their situation on the 
declivity of a deep gorge enhances the interest which always attends the sight 
of this venerable tree. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1624. 

HOUSE OF THE ROLLS. 

'Ezra, vi : 1, 2.— Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the 
rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the 
p lace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written : 
In the first year of Cyrus the king, etc. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P.— I shall call these chambers " the chambers of 
records," for, like "the house of the rolls," or records, which Darius ordered 
to be searched for the decrees of Cyrus, concerning the building of the temple 
of Jerusalem, they appear to have contained the decrees of the Assyrian kings 
as well as the archives of the empire. I have mentioned elsewhere that the his- 
torical records and public documents of the Assyrians were kept on tablets and 
cylinders of baked clay. Many specimens have been brought to England. . . . 
These chambers I am describing appear to have been a depository in the palace 
of Nineveh for such documents. To the height of a foot or more from the floor 
they were entirely filled with them ; some entire, but the greater part broken 
into many fragments, probably by the falling in of the upper part of the build- 
inr. ^ They were of different sizes ; the largest tablets were fiat, and measured 
nine inches by six and a half inches ; the smaller were slightly couvex, and seme 
were not more than an inch long, with but one or two lines of writing. The 
cuneiform characters on most of them were singularly sharp and well defined, 



348 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



but so minute in some instances as to be almost illegible without a magnifying 
glass. These documents appear to be of various kinds. Many are historical 
records of wars, and distant expeditions undertaken by the Assyrians ; some 
seem to be royal decrees, and are stamped with the name of the king, the son 
of Esar-haddon ; others again, divided into parallel columns by horizontal lines, 
contain lists of gods, and probably a register of offerings made in their temples. 
. . . Many are sealed with seals, and many prove to be legal documents, con- 
tracts, or conveyances of land. Others bear rolled impressions of those en- 




THE TOMB OF DARIUS. 



graved cylinders so frequently found in Babylonia and Assyria. — Nineveh and. 
Babylon, p. 295-298. 

Ezra vi : 2. — And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the 
Medes, a roll, and therein was recorded, etc. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The discovery of the original decree of 
Cyrus, early in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, at Achmetha (Ecbatana), is one of 
those little points of agreement between sacred and profane history which are 
important because their minuteness is an indication that they are purely casual 
and unintentional. When Ezra wrote, the Persian kings resided usually at Susa 
or Babylon ; these cities, as the ordinary stations of the court, were, therefore, 
the places at which the archives were laid up. But Cyrus (one hundred years 
before) seems to have held his court permanently at Ecbatana (Herod. I., 153), 
and consequently it was there that he kept his archives, and there that his 
decree was found. — His tor. Illust. of O. T.,p. 196. 



EZRA X. 319 

Prof. G. Rawlinson, M. A. — This Darius died b. c. 486. He had prepared 
his tomb in the neighborhood of Persepolis, where it may still be seen. It is 
placed in a recess of the rock, sculptured as in the annexed figure, bearing an 
inscription which is yet legible. — Rawlinson's Herodotus iv. 4, 395. 

DECREED PENALTY. 

Ezra vi: 11. — I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled 
down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon ; and let his house be made 
a dunr' ;1 1 for this. 

Herodotus. — Leutychides being brought to public trial for having received a 
bribe, was driven from Sparta, and his house rased. — Herodt., 1. vi., c. 72. 

Livy. — Spurius Cassius being prosecuted for treason by the Quaestors, Caeso 
Fabius and Lucius Valerius, was found guilty on a trial before the people, and 
his house was rased by public decree. — Livy, 1. ii., c. 41. 

Quintilian. — Ignominy follows some men even after death. Thus the 
house of Maelius, when he was dead, was demolished ; and none of the pos- 
terity of Marcus Manlius was suffered to carry their family's name. — Quintilian, 
lib. iii., cap. 7. 

EXPRESSIONS OF GRIEF. 

Ezra ix: 3. — And when I heard this' thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off 
the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — In great disappointment, fury, or distress, the people 
of the East tear out their long hair. They also bite their lips and arms. — 
Orient. II lust., p. 242. 

COLD AND RAIN. 

Ezra x : 9. — It was the ninth month, and the twentieth day of the month : and all the people sat 
in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — The " ninth month" answered to our December; this 
is the coldest and most rainy part of the year in Palestine. — Note, in loco. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — On court days in Hindoostan, during a wet Mon- 
soon, the half-naked people sit huddled together under the nearest tree shivering 
for the great rain. — Orient. Illust., p. 243. 



Nehemiah. 



PALACE OF SUSA. 

Nehemiah i : 1.— And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in 

Shushan the palace. 
Herodotus.-— Not far remote from the river Choaspes, in the district of 
Cissia, is Susa, where the Persian monarch occasionally resides, and where hia 
treasures are deposited. — Herodt., 1. v., c. 49. 



350 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Strabo. — The palace of Susa was embellished more than all the rest, but the 
palaces at Persepolis and Passargadse were *ield i equal honor and veneration 
with it. — Strab., 1. xv., c. 3. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — These bas-reliefs (at Kouyunjik) record the con- 
quest of the country of Susiana. . . In the same inscription a king of Armenia 
is also mentioned ; and it would appear that the great men of that country we^e 
sent to the Assyrian monarch whilst in Susiana. Above the royal chariot was a 
row of trees, and beneath a procession of mace-bearers, and led hjrses ricUy 
caparisoned. A lower compartment contained a curious ground-plan of a 
city. It is seen from another inscription (in this bas-relief) that Su 1 or 
Shushan actually stood in a district of this name ; and it is highly probable that 
we have here a representation of that city. Its position between two rivers well 
agrees with that of existing ruins generally believed to mark its site. — Nineveh 
and Babylon, p. 386. 

CUP-BEARER. 

Nhm. i: 11. — And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight 
of this man. For I was the king's cup-bearer. 

Herodotus. — Cambyses professed the greatest regard for Prexaspes, who 
received all petitions to the king, and whose son enjoyed the honorable office of 
royal cup-bearer. — Herodt., 1. iii., c. 34. 

Xenophon. — Astyages said to Cyrus — Do you give nothing to this Sacian, 
your cup-bearer, whom I favor above all ? This Sacian was a very beautiful 
person, and had the honor to introduce to Astyages any that had business with 
him, and was to hinder those whom he did not think it seasonable to introduce. 
— Cyropozdia, 1. i., c. 3. 

Joseph Bonomi, F. R. S. L. — The Chamber of audience, at Khorsabad. — Upon 
the wall between the second corner and the passage of communication we have 
sixteen figures: near the opening the king attended by his cup-bearer and 
Selikdar, and before him seven officers of his court. ... On the length of wall 
between the corner and the central entrance of the Divining Chamber there are 
twelve figures; the king, his right hand elevated and his left carrying a full- 
blown lotus and bud, is followed by his cup-bearer and Selikdar ; in front are 
two persons, etc. — Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 184, 185. 

Idem. — The next slab (Nimroud) represents the return of the king from the 
chase. It is a perfect tableau de genre de haut ton, portraying the manners of 
the Assyrian court more than 2,500 years ago; resembling in so many 
points the present customs of the East, that it is truly remarkable how little 
change the lapse of time has effected. . . . Fully armed, the king stands in the 
centre of the composition ; his bow being still in his left hand, while with his 
right he raises to his lips the cup which he has just received from the hand of 
the cup-bearer. At his feet lies the subdued lion. He is followed by two 
beardless attendants, who have accompanied him in the chase. . . . Behind these 
are the king's bearded attendants. ... All these we may fairly presume have 
accompanied the king in the chase, and have arrived with him at the entrance 



NE1IEMIAH IV. 353 

of his palace, where he is met by the officers of his household. In advance of 
these latter stands the royal cup-bearer, the sharbetgee of modern times. This 
functionary, having presented his lord with the prepared beverage, is occupied 
in dispersing the flies, which, in hot climates, assail with uncommon avidity all 
cool and sweetened fluids. — Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 253. 

BETH-ZUR. 

Nhm. iii : 16. — The ruler of the half part of Beth-zur. 

Mr. George Grove. — The recovery of the site of Beth-zur, under the 
almost identical name of Beit-Sur, by Wolcott and Robinson, explains its 
impregnability, and also the reason for the choice of its position, since it com- 
mands the road from Beersheba and Hebron, which has always been the main 
approach to Jerusalem from the south. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 300. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — It shows how wonderfully the oldest 
names of the Bible have been preserved and transmitted to us that we find 
Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor grouped together in Joshua xv : 58, and the same 
places represented on the modern map as Halhul, Beitsur, and Jedur, in the 
immediate vicinity of each other. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 301. 

DERISIVE EXPRESSION. 

Nhm. iv : 3. — Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, 
if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — When men (in the East) deride the workmanship of 
a mason, they say, "Che ! why, if a dog or a jackal run against that wall, it will 
fall." — "A wall! why it will not keep out the jackals." — Orient. Illust., p. 245. 

BUILDING UNDER ARMS. 

Nhm. iv : 17, 18. — They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that 
laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a 
weapon. For the builders every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And 
he that sounded the trumpet was by me. 

Rev. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — We have often had to notice circum- 
stances in different parts of Asia of a similar description to those recorded by 
Nehemiah. In countries or districts liable to the visits of, or partly occupied 
by, Bedouins or Tartars ; or where a settled population is divided into adverse 
clans or tribes; or where the principle of blood-revenge is in strong and 
extensive operation — under all these and other circumstances, the cultivators 
dare not pursue the labors of the field unarmed. We have seen men following 
the plough with guns slung to their backs and swords by their sides ; or else 
these and other weapons were placed within reach, while they pursued such 
labors as kept them stationary. Sometimes also, but less frequently, we have 
observed men, armed with guns, swords, spears, clubs, and bucklers, keeping a 
watchful guard while their fellows pursued their important labors. — Pict. Bib., 
in loco. 



354 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

RAPID FORTIFICATION. 

Nhm. vi : 15. — So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty 

and two days. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — I see no difficulty in supposing that several thousand ' 
workmen, each of whom was working as for God, should be able to complete 
this wall in fifty-two days. . . . The work mentioned here was little when com- 
pared with what Caesar did in Gaul and other places ; and to what Titus did at 
Jerusalem, who built a wall round that city of 5,000 paces in three days, 
besides thirteen towers of ten stadia in circuit. And Quintus Curtius and 
Arrian inform us that Alexander the Great built the walls of Alexandria, on the 
Tanais, which were nearly eight miles in compass, in the space of between 
twenty and thirty days. — Note, in loco. 

GOD THE CREATOR AND RULER OF ALL. 

Nhm. ix : 6. — Thou, even thou, art Lord alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, 
with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, 
and thou preservest them all ; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. 

Cleantkes. — Without thee nothing is done upon the earth, or in heaven, or 
in the depths of the sea, except alone those evil deeds of which an impious people 
are guilty. — death. H. in Jovem. 

Plutarch. — The glory of Plato enlightened the world, and his doctrine was 
generally received, both on account of his life and his subjecting the necessity 
of natural causes to a more powerful and Divine principle. — Plut. Nic., c. 23. 

Cicero. — The gods are the supreme lords and governors of all things; all 
events are directed by their influence, and wisdom, and divine power. — De Leg., 
1. ii., c. 7. 

RETURN TO EVIL. 

Nhm. ix : 28. — After they had rest they did evil again before thee. 

Juvenal. — Now we are suffering all the evils of long-continued peace. Luxury, 
more ruthless than war, broods over Rome, and exacts vengeance for a con- 
quered world. — Sat. vi., v. 291. 

Catullus. — Ease and idleness have destroyed both cities and citizens formerly 
prosperous. — Catull., Li., carm 51. 

SEALED DOCUMENTS. 

Nhm. ix : 38. — And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our 
princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it. 

Austen H. Layard, M. P. — In a chamber, or passage in the southwest corner 
of the palace of Kouyunjik, were found a large number of pieces of fine clay 
bearing the impressions of seals, which there is no doubt, had been affixed, like 
modern official seals of wax, to documents written on leather, papyrus or parch- 
ment. Such documents, with seals in clay still attached, have been discovered 
in Egypt and specimens are preserved in the British Museum. The writings 
themselves had been consumed by the fire which destroyed the building or had 



ESTHER I. 355 

perished from decay. In the stamped clay, however, may still be seen the holes 
for the string or strips of skin, by which the seal was fastened; in some instances 
the ashes of the string remain, with the marks of the finger and thumb. The 
greater part of these seals are Assyrian, but with them are others bearing Egyp- 
tian, Phoenician, and doubtful symbols and characters. — Nineveh and Babylon, 
p. 130. 



Esther 



AHASUERUS. 

Esther i : 1.— Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — The name Ahasuerus is, in one of its Greek 
forms, Xerxes, which is explained by Herodotus (lib. vi., c. 98) to mean a 
warrior. — Test, of Heath., p. 245. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — It is now generally allowed by critics, 
that Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius, is the monarch at whose court is 
laid the scene of the Book of Esther." The character of this monarch, so 
graphically placed before us by the sacred historian, bears the closest possible 
resemblance to that which is ascribed by the classical writers to the celebrated 
son of Darius. Proud, self-willed, amorous, careless of contravening Persian 
customs; reckless of human life, yet not actually blood-thirsty; impetuous, 
facile, changeable — the Ahasuerus of Esther corresponds in all respects to the 
Greek portraiture of Xerxes ; which is not (be it observed) the mere picture of 
an oriental despot, but has various marked peculiarities that distinctly indi- 
vidualize it. And so with respect to his actions. — Hist. Illust., p. 200. 

Esth. i : I. — This is Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia over a hundred and 

seven and twenty provinces. 

Herodotus. — Sir, (said Mardonius to Xerxes,) you are not only the most 
illustrious of all the Persians, who have hitherto appeared, but you may securely 
defy the competition of all posterity. You have reduced to our power the 
Sacae, the Indians, the Ethiopians, and the Assyrians, with many other great 
and illustrious nations. — Herodt., 1. vii., c. 9. 

SHUSHAN. 

Esth. i : 2. — In those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which 

was in Shushan the palace. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — That Susa (or Shushan) was the ordinary 
seat of the Persian Court is apparent from Herodotus, Ctesias, and the Greek 
writers generally, while it was fixed during part of the year at Babylon, is 
declared by Xenophon, Plutarch, and others. — Hist. Itlust. of O. T.,p. 209. 

Herodotus. — In this province, Cissia, you see the river Choaspes marked. 



356 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



and likewise the town Susa upon its banks, where the Great King holds his 
court, and where the treasuries are in which his wealth is stored. — Herodt., lib. 
v., c. 49. 

ROYAL FEAST AND PALACE. 

Esth. i: 5-7. — And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people 
that were present in Shushan both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden 
of the king's palace ; where were white, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine 

• linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble : the beds were of gold and silver, upon 
a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble. And they gave them drink in 
vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, 
according to the state of the king. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Susa, the royal city, and the most beautiful palace in the 
universe. — Diod. Sic., 1. xvii., c. 7. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The magnificence of the Susian Palace is 
evidenced, not merely by the accounts of ancient authors, but by the exist- 




WINE VASE AND CUPS — FROM AN ASSYRIAN TABLET. 

ing remains, which exhibit four groups of " marble pillars" exquisitely carved, 
springing from a pavement composed chiefly of blue limestone, and constructed 
(in the opinion of the excavators) with a view to the employment of curtains or 
hangings between the columns, an arrangement thoroughly suitable to the site and 
climate. Greek writers describe at length the splendor of the palace furniture, 
whereon the precious metals were prodigally lavished. — Hist. Ilhist., p. 210. 

Idem. — The magnificent palace which had so great a fame in antiquity, and 
of which the best account is to be found in the Book of Esther, occupied the 
northern portion of the great mound, an irregular rectangle, two sides of which 
measure 1,200 feet, while the remaining two fall somewhat short of 1,000. It 
has been recently exhumed in a great measure by Sir W. Williams and Mr. 
Loftus, and is found to have consisted of a great hall of stone pillars, of the 
same size and on the same plan as that of Persepolis, and of a number of inferior 
buildings behind the hall, the material of which is brick. The pillars are 
arranged into a central group of thirty-six, standing in six rows of six each, so 
as to form an exact square, one hundred and forty-five feet (nearly) each way ; 
and into three outlying groups or porticoes, flanking the central group on three 
sides, the east, the north, and the west. These porticoes, which are exactly 



ESTHER I. 



357 



paralled to the sides of the inner square, are formed of two rows of six pillars 
each, in line with the pillars of the central group, the distance between the out- 
ermost pillars of the central group and the inner pillars of the porticoes being 
sixty-four feet. The pillars are of two kinds — those of the central group or 
phalanx have square bases, while those of the porticoes have round or bell-shaped 
bases. Both sorts appear, however, to have been surmounted by the same 
capital. The central group is supposed to have been covered with a roof, but 
the space between that group and the porticoes was probably only shaded by 
curtains, answering to the description given in the Book of Esther. It appears 
by a trilingual inscription upon four of the pillars, that the palace was com- 
menced by Darius and finished by Artaxerxes Mnemon. — Rawlinson's Herodotus, 
Vol. III., p. 208. 

Herodotus. — Xerxes (Ahasuerus), when he fled away out of Greece, left 
his war-tent with Mardonius ; when Pausanias, therefore, saw the tent with its 
adornments of gold and silver, and its hangings of diverse colours, he gave 
commandment to the bakers and the cooks to make him ready a banquet in such 
a fashion as was their wont for Mardonius. Then they made ready as they were 
bidden, and Pausanias, beholding the couches of gold and silver daintily decked 
out with their rich covertures, and the tables of gold and silver laid, and the 
feast itself prepared with all magnificence, was astonished at the good things set 
before him. — Herodt., 1. ix., c. 82. 




GUESTS AT THE TABLE: THE TOAST — (FROM AN ASSYRIAN TABLET). 



Esth, i : 8. — And the drinking was according to the law ; none did compel : for so the king 
had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's 
pleasure. 

Cicero. — The custom which is common among the Grecians at their banquets 
should, in my opinion, be observed in life. " Drink," say they, " or leave the 
company." — Tusc, Disp., I. v., c.,40. 

Plutarch. — Cleomenes used, after supper, to have a three-legged stand 
brought in, on which were placed a brass bowl full of wine, two silver pots, that 
held about a pint and a half each, and a few cups of the same metal. Such of 
the guests as were inclined to drink made use of these vessels, for the cup was 
not pressed upon any man against his will. — Cleomen., c. 13. 



358 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Lucian. — Let none refuse to drink a health when he is challenged, and let 
everybody drink whenever he pleases. On the other hand, let no man be 
forced to drink more than he can. — Chronosol., c. 18. 

Esth. i : 9. — Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the .royal house which 

belonged to king Ahasuerus. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Greek writers describe at length the 
seclusion of the women among the Persians. — Hist. Illust., p. 210. 

Plutarch. — The barbarians in general, especially the Persians, are jealous 
of the women even to madness, not only of their wives, but of their slaves and 
concubines ; for besides the care they take that they shall be seen by none but 
their own family, they keep them like prisoners in their houses. — Themist., c. 26. 

Dr. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — Existing oriental usages oblige women to 
feast separately from the men, even on the same occasions of rejoicing. — Pict. 
Bible, in loco. 

Esth. i; 12. — But the queen Vashti refused to come p-t the king's commandment by his cham- 
berlains. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Vashti's refusal to comply with the king's order was natural, 
for, according to oriental notions, a woman of reputation would consider it an 
ignominy worse than death to appear thus before a society of men with her face 
uncovered. None but courtesans do, or ever did, appear at the entertainments 
of men in Persia. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

THE WIFE'S TURN. 

Esth. ii: 12. — Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus. 
Herodotus. — Phsedima, therefore, Otane's daughter, bent on accomplishing 
what she had promised her father, when her turn came, and she was taken to 
the bed of the Magus (in Persia a man's wives sleep with him in their turns), 
waited till he was sound asleep, and then felt for his ears. — Lib. iii., c. 69. 

SITTING AT THE GATE. 

Esth. ii: 19. — Then Mordecai sat in the king's gate. 

Xenophon. — It was determined that the men of note and quality should 
always attend at Cyrus's doors, and yield themselves to his service in whatever 
he thought fit, till he himself dismissed them ; and according as it was then 
determined, so do those in Asia, that are under the king, even to this day ; they 
attend at the doors of their princes. — Cyrop., 1. viii., c. 1. 

Herodotus. — Orestes sitting at the gate of the palace with another Persian, 
whose name was M.itroba.les.- —If erodt., 1. iii., c. 120. 

THh HIGHEST SEAT. 

Esth. iii : I. — After these thin fo lid king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the 
Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. 

Xenophon. — Let the best men with you be honored with the principal seats, 
as they are with me. — Cyrop., 1. viii., c. 6. 



ESTHER III. 361 

Idem. — Hystaspes, after asserting his readiness to do service to Cyrus, which 
the latter readily acknowledged, exclaimed, In the name of all the gods, then, 
Cyrus, by what means is it that Chrysantas has prevailed on you to place him 
before me in the more honorable seat? — Cyrop., 1. viii., c. 5. 

THE SCATTERED JEWS. 

Esth. iii : 8. — And Haitian said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad 
and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are 
diverse from all people ; neither keep they the king's laws : therefore it is not for the king's 
profit to suffer them. 

Cicero. — While Jerusalem was flourishing, and while the Jews were in a 
peaceful state, still the religious ceremonies and observances of that people were 
very much at variance with the splendor of this empire and the dignity of our 
name and the institutions of our ancestors. And they are the more odious to 
us now, because that people has shown by arms what were its feelings towards 
our supremacy. — Orat. pro Flac, c. 28. 

Juvenal. — Trained to look with scorn upon the laws of Rome, they study 
and observe and reverence all those Jewish statutes that Moses in his mystic 
volume handed down. — Sat. XIV., v. 101. 

ROYAL SIGNET. 

Esth. iii : 10. — And the king took his ring from his hand and gave it unto Haman. ... In the 
name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring. 

Herodotus. — Then Bagseus caused many letters to be written on diverse 
matters, and sealed them all with the king's signet ; after which he took the 
letters with him, and departed for Sardis. — Herodt., 1. iii., c. 128. 

PERSIAN POSTS. 

Esth. iii : 13, 15. — And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to 
kill, and to cause to perish, a 1 Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one 
day. . . The posts went out, being hastened by the king's commandment. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus originally established couriers, places for post-horses on 
all the high roads, and offices where they might deliver their packets to each 
other. This they did night and day, faster than cranes can fly. — Cyrop., VIII., 
6, § 1-6. 

Herodotus. — Nothing mortal travels so fast as these Persian messengers. 
Tiie entire plan is a Persian invention, and this is the method of it. Along the 
whole line of road there are men stationed with horses, in number equal to the 
number of days which the journey takes, allowing a man and a horse to each 
day; and these men will not be hindered from accomplishing at their best speed 
the distance which they have to go, either by rain, or snow, or heat, or by the 
darkness of night. The first rider delivers his dispatch to the second, and the 
second passes it to the third ; and so it is borne from hand to hand along the 
whole line, like the light in the torch race, which the Greeks celebrate to 
Vulcan. — Herodt., 1. viii., c. 98. 



362 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

GOLDEN SCEPTRE. 

Esth. iv: n. — All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that 
whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not 
called, there is one law of him to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold 
out the golden sceptre, that he may live : but I have not been called to come in unto the king 
these thirty days. 

Herodotus. — Deioces was the first who instituted that kind of pomp which 
forbids access to the royal person, and only admits communication to him by 
intermediate agents, the king himself being never publicly seen. — Herodt., 
1. i., c. 99. 

Idem. — The seven Persian princes who killed the Magian, before electing one 
of themselves to be king, mutually agreed that access to the royal palace should 
be permitted to each of them without the ceremony of a previous messenger, 
except when the king should happen to be in bed. — Herodt., 1. iii., c. 84. 

Xenophon. — Know, Cambyses, that it is not the golden sceptre which can 
preserve your kingdom ; but faithful friends are a prince's truest and securest 
sceptre. — Cyrop., 1. viii., c. 7. 

OBEISANCE. 

Esth. v: 9. — But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved 
for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — This is, indeed, a graphic sketch of Eastern man- 
ners. The colors are so lively and so fresh, that they might have been but the 
work of yesterday. See the native gentleman at. the head of his courtly train : 
he moves along in pompous guise, and all who see him arise from their seats, 
take off their sandals, and humbly move in reverence to him. To some he gives 
a graceful wave of the hand ; to others not a word or a look. Should there be 
one who neither stands up nor moves to him, his name and place of abode will 
be inquired after, and the first opportunity eagerly embraced to gratify the 
proud man's splenitic feeling. . . . The proud Modeliar was one day passing 
along the road, where was seated on his carpet the Reuter of the pearl-fishery. 
He arose not, moved not to him, when passing by ; and the proud Modeliar's 
soul was fired with indignation. He forthwith resolved upon his ruin ; and, 
by deeply-formed intrigues, too well succeeded — his money and his estate were 
taken from him, and himself sold as a bondman. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 247. 

COURT CHRONICLES. 

Esth. vi : I. — On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of 
records of the chronicles : and they were read before the king. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The Royal Chronicles of Persia seem to 
have consisted not only of grand public inscriptions upon pillars, rocks, tombs, 
and palaces, but also of more private and more copious documents, preserved in 
the treasuries of the empire, and written upon skins or parchments, which con- 
tained a variety of details concerning the court and empire, such as all decrees 



ESTHER VI. 363 

made by the king, all signal services of any subject, etc. The royal scribes 
seem to have been in constant attendance upon the king, ready to record any 
remarkable occurrence. — Rawlinson's Herodotus, Vol. I., p. 46. 

Esth. vi : 2. — And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two 
of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king 
Ahasuerus. 

Herodotus. — Xerxes conceived a wish to go himself throughout the forces, 
and with his own eyes behold everything. Accordingly he traversed the ranks 
seated in his chariot, and going from nation to nation, made manifold inquiries, 
while his scribes wrote down the answers ; till at last he had passed from end to 
end of the whole land army, both the horsemen and likewise the foot. This 
done, he exchanged his chariot for a Sidonian galley, and, seated beneath a 
golden awning, sailed along the prows of all his vessels, while he made inquiries 
again, as he had done when he reviewed the land forces, and caused the an- 
swers to be recorded by his scribes. — Herodt., lib. vii., c. 100. 

Idem. —During the whole time of the battle, Xerxes sate at the base of the hill 
called y-Egaleos, over against Salamis ; and whenever he saw any of his own cap- 
tains perform any worthy exploit he inquired concerning him ; and the man' 's 
name was taken down by his scribes, together with the names of his father and 
his city. — Herodt., 1. viii., c. 90. 

TEE KING'S BENEFACTORS. 

Esth. vi : 3. — And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? 
Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The recognition of a distinct class of 
"royal benefactors " appears to have been a special Persian institution. The 
names of such persons were entered upon a formal list ; and it was regarded as 
the bounden duty of the monarch to see that they were adequately rewarded. — 
His tor. II lust., p. 209. 

Herodotus. — Phylacus was enrolled among the king's benefactors, and pre- 
sented with a large estate in land. — Herodt., lib. viii., c. 85. 

Esth. vi: 7—1 1. — For the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let the royal apparel be 
brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the 
crown royal which is set upon his head ; etc. 

Xenophon. — To one whom Cyrus wished to honor he gave one of the horses 
that followed in his train, and ordered one of the staff officers to conduct the 
horse for him wherever he should command. This appeared to those who saw 
it to be a very great honor ; and after this many more people made their court 
to this man. — Cyrop., 1. viii., c. 3. 

Idem. — Demaratus, the Lacedemonian, who was at court, being ordered to 
ask a favor, desired that he might be carried through Sardis in royal state, with 
a diadem upon his head. — Themist., c. 29. 

THE FATAL COVERING. 

Esth. vii : 8. — Then the king returned from the palace garden into the place of the banquet of 



364 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will 
he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, 
they covered Haman' s face. 

Alexander the Great. — Do you not understand how much more fortunate 
you are in your government than the Persians ? For them to sit in the seat of 
their king would be death; for you it has been life. — Q. Curt., 1. viii., c. 4. 

Quintus Curtius. — Philotas having conspired against Alexander, was brought 
before him with his hands tied behind him, and his head covered with an old veil. 
It was evident that they who had but a short time before envied him were now 
touched with pity at his miserable appearance. They had seen him the day 
before the leader of the horse, and knew that he had supped with the king, and 




THE KING'S HORSE — FROM A SCULPTURE ON A ROCK NEAR SHAPOR. 

now suddenly they beheld him not only accused, but condemned and bound. — ■ 
Q. Curt., 1. vi., c. 9. 

ROYAL APPAREL. 

Esth. viii : 15.— And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue 
and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple. 
Xenophon. — Cyrus appeared without the gates wearing a turban raised high 
above his head, with a vest of a purple color half-mixed with white; and this 
mixture of white no one else is allowed to wear. — Cyrofi., 1. viii., c. 3. 

FEAST OF PURIM. 

Esth. ix : 28.— And that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the 
memorial of them perish from their seed. 

Prof. Moses Stuart. — The fact that the feast of Purim has come down to us 
from time almost immemorial proves as certainly that the main events of the 
book of Esther happened, as the Declaration of Independence and the celebration 
of the Fourth of July prove that we separated from Great Britain and became an 
independent nation. The book *>{ Esther is an essential document to explain 
the feast of Purim. — As quoted in Rawlinson's Hist Illust,j>. 218. 



Book of Job. 



ORIENTAL WEALTH. 

Job i : 3. — Job's substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five 
hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The inhabitants of the Hauran, beyond Jordan, in or near 
which was the very country of Job, still estimate the wealth of a person by the 
number of his oxen, sheep, etc. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S— The rich country of Gilead, 
Ammon and Moab was pre-eminently the land of sheep pasture, as it is to this 
day. ... I have sat under the tent of a Beni Sakk'r sheikh, who pastures his 
sheep in the ancient plains of Moab, and boasts of counting 30,000 in his flocks. 
•—Nat Hist, of Bib., p. 134. 

Aristotle. — Now some men in upper Asia possess as many as three thousand 
camels.— Hist. Animal, ix., 37, § 5. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — We have seen in the north of Palestine herds of 
several hundred she-asses kept together for breeding. — Nat. Hist, of Bib., p. 41. 

DIVINE HEDGE. 

Job i : 10. — Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he 

hath on every side ? 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — In the East, it is said of a man who cannot be injured, 
"Why attempt to hurt him? is there not a hedge about him?" "Yes, yes; 
the Modeliar has become his hedge." — Orient. Illust., p. 254. 

JOB'S CALAMITIES. 

Job i: 14, 15. — And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and 
the asses were feeding beside them : and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; 
yea, and they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped 
alone to tell thee. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — And, by the way, this Jaulan was Job's country. 
His flocks and herds roamed over these same wild "walks," and were exposed 
to the very same dangers that now task the courage of these Arab shepherds. 
In these inaccessible ravines were the lion's den, the tiger's lair, and pits for 
. bears and wolves ; and across these vast plateaus the flying bands of Sabean 
robbers roved in search of plunder. The country, the people, the manners and 
customs, remain unchanged from remote antiquity. Job was a great emeer of 
the Hauran ; and if he were there now, he might find the same kind of enemies 
to plunder and kill, and even natural phenomena very similar to the great fire 
23 (365) 



366 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

that burnt up the sheep, and the mighty wind from the wilderness that over- 
turned the houses of his children. Destructive fires often sweep over the desert, 
and angry hurricanes hurl to the ground the habitations of man. — The Land and 
the Book, II., 1 6. 

Job i : 1 6. — While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is 
fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them ; and 
I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — Danger sometimes comes from another source : 
when one of those sudden storms of rain arises which characterize the autum- 
nal season in Western Asia, the helpless flock of sheep, frightened by the voice 
of thunder, huddle together under the nearest tree, and are not unfrequently 
killed by the lightning. We have repeatedly known a large number of them 
to be thus destroyed ; and the shepherd has himself sometimes met the same 
fate. — Bible Lands, p. 184. 

Job i : 17. — While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans 
made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain 
the servants with the edge of the sword ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus asked Tigranes which were the mountains from whence 
the Chaldeans made their incursions to plunder the country. Tigranes showed 
them to him. Cyrus looking around, observed a great part of the Armenian 
territory to be desert and uncultivated by reason of the war. One of the 
Chaldeans said to CyrUs that there were some of the Chaldeans who lived by 
plunder, and who neither knew how to apply themselves to work nor were able 
to do it. — Cyropcedia, lib. iii., c. 2. 

Job i : 20. — Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the 

ground, and worshipped. 

Rev. J. Roberts. — To "shave the head" in token of distress or grief, is a 
custom in all parts of the East at this day. A son on the death of his father, 
or a woman on the decease of her husband, has the head shaved in token of 
sorrow. — Orient. Lit. , p. 118. 
Job i : 21. — The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 

Epictetus.- — Why do I wish to retain what is granted only for a time? He 
who gave, takes away : why then do I resist ? — Epictet., 1. iv., c. 1. 

Idem. — deceive back again the things which thou hast given me, and assign 
them to whatever place thou wilt ; for they were all thine, and thou gavest them 
me. — Ibid., c. 10. 

Idem.— Never say of anything, "I have lost it," but "I have restored it." 
" Is your child dead ? It is restored. Is your wife dead ? She is restored. Is 
your estate taken away? Well, and is not that likewise restored ? " — Enchir., 

JOB'S WIFE. 

Job ii : 9, 10.— Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, 
and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What ? 
shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? 



JOB in. 367 

Homer. — From God's own hand descend our joys and woes, 
These he decrees, and he but suffers those. 

— Odyss., 1. xiv., v. 444. 
Pythagoras. — Whatever misfortunes may afflict you by the will of the gods, 
bear your fate patiently, and submit without anger. — Aur. Car., v. 18. 

JOB'S FRIENDS. 

Job ii : 11. — Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him . . . they 
came to mourn with him, and to comfort him. 

Aristotle. — The presence of friends is agreeable both in prosperity and 
adversity ; for those who are in pain feel lightened when their friends grieve 
with them. — Eth., 1. ix., c. 11. 

Job ii : 13. — So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and 
none spake a word unto him ; for they saw that his grief was very great. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — In the East, those who go to sympathize with the 
afflicted, are often silent for hours together. As there were seven days for 
mourning in the Scriptures, so is it here ; and the seventh day is always the 
most sorrowful. The chief mourner, during the whole of these days, will never 
speak, except when it is absolutely necessary : when a visitor comes in, he 
simply looks up, and then bows down his head. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 256. 

JOB CURSING THE DAY OF HIS BIRTH. 

Job iii ; 3, 4. — Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, 
There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness ; let not God regard it from above, 
neither let the light shine upon it. 

Ovid. — Behold my birth-day comes round at its appointed time ; but to no 
purpose, for of what use was it to me to be born ? Why didst thou come, 
cruelly bringing with thee an additional year of misery to the exile ? If thou 
had'st any care of me, in that place where first I was born an infant, thou 
would'st have tried to be my last day as well as my first. — Trist., lib. iii., 
Eleg. 13. 

Plutarch. — The Athenians having invented a foolish story about a quarrel 
between Neptune and Minerva, joined with it another fable, as if to correct the 
inconsistency of it. For they blotted out of the calendar the second day of 
the third Attic month, on which this quarrel took place. Why should not we, 
if we have any difference with our kinsfolks, condemn that day to oblivion, and 
reckon it among the inauspicious days never to be mentioned? — De. Frat. Am., 
c. 18. 

Job iii : 1 1.— Why died I not from the womb ? 
Homer. — Would heaven, ere all these dreadful deeds were done, 
The day that showed me to the golden sun 
Had seen my death ! Why did not whirlwinds bear 
The fatal infant to the fowls of air? — Iliad, VI., 345. 



368 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Job iii : 17. — There the wicked cease from troubling ; and there the weary be at rest. 

Herodotus. — Death is the most delightful refuge of the unfortunate. — 
Herodt., 1. vii., 46. 

Sophocles. — To those who die, there is no more toil. — Track., v. 1175. 
Euripides. — The tearless dead forget their troubles. — Troad., v. 602. 
Pliny. — So numerous are the evils of life that death is given to man as his 
chief good. — Hist. Nat., 1. ii., c. 5. 

Horace. — But death the unhappy wretch receives, 

And from the toils of life relieves. — Hor., 1. ii., c. 18. 

EVIL PASSIONS. 

Job v : 2. — For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. 

Thomas Watson, M. D. — Very many diseases have a mental origin: and per- 
haps there is no cause of corporeal disease more clearly made out, or more cer- 
tainly effective, than protracted anxiety and distress of mind. — Our passions and 
emotions also, nay, even some of our better impulses, when strained or perverted, 
tend to our physical destruction. — Principles and Practice of Physic, p. 59. 

George Moore, M. D. — Our passions are the grand conservators as well as 
disturbers of the healthy action of our bodies. Indeed, they often act with no 
less power than the most heroic medicines, and are as rapid, and sometimes as 
fatal in their operation, as prussic acid, or any other deadly poison. — Power of 
the Sou! over the Body, p. 224. 

HEIR OF TROUBLE. 

Job v : 7. — Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. 

Homer. — But ah, what is there of inferior birth 

That breathes or creeps upon the dust of earth; 
What wretched creature, of what wretched kind, 
Than man more weak, calamitous and blind? 
A miserable race. — Iliad, lib. xvii., v. 446. 

Menander. — Thou art a man — reason enough for being miserable. — Slob., 98. 

Anacreon. — What avails heart-rending care, 

Since mortal man is sorrow's heir. — Carmen, 41. 

GOD'S WORKS. 

Job v: 9. — Who doeth gr at things and unsearchable ; marvelous things without number ! 

Rev. Alkert Barnes. — How soon does man get to the extent of his faculties; 
and what vast oceans of knowledge lie now unexplored, as in the time of Newton ? 
— On what points, outside of the small circle of the mathematical demonstrations, 
is Science certain? What is light? What is matter? What is galvanism? 
What is gravitation? What is attraction? What is heat? What is life? How 
many are the original elements of matter? In what proportions do they com- 
bine? and by what power are they held in combination? How many are the 




(369) 



370 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

worlds that roll ^bove us? What is the duration of our globe? When and how 
was it formed and moulded? And what exact changes has it undergone? Is 
there any one of these and, numberless kindred points on which the views of 
scientific men are settled and certain? Is there any one on which there are not 
many and shadowy opinions 1-^Evidences of Christianity in the Nineteenth Century, 
p. 88, 89. 

Goldwin Smith. — The sum of Physical Science- — compared with the compre- 
hensible universe and with conceivable time, not to speak of infinity and eternity, 
it is the observation of a mere point, the experience of an instant. — Lectures on 
the Study of History, p. 86. 

Herbert Spencer. — After no matter how great a progress in the colligation 
of facts, and the establishment of generalizations ever wider and wider — after the 
merging of limited and derivative truths, in truths that are larger and deeper, 
has been carried on no matter how far; the fundamental truth remains as much 
beyond reach as ever. The explanation of that which is explicable, does but 
bring out into greater clearness the inexplicableness of that which remains behind. 
Alike in the external and the internal worlds, the man of science sees himself in 
the midst of perpetual changes of which he can discover neither the beginning 
nor the end. In all directions his investigations eventually bring him face to 
face with an insoluble enigma; and he evermore clearly perceives it to be an 
insoluble enigma. — First Principles, I., 3, § 21. 

Prof. John Tyndall, LL. D., F. R. S. — If you ask me whether Science has 
solved, or is likely to solve, the problem of this universe, I must shake my head 
in doubt. We have been talking of matter and force; but whence came matter, 
and whence came force? Who made all these starry orbs? Science makes no 
attempt to answer. As far as I can see, there is no quality in the human intel- 
lect which is fit to be applied to the solution of the problem. Tb~ phenomena 
of matter and force lie within our intellectual range, and as far as they reach we 
will at all hazards push our inquiries. But behind, and above, and around all, 
the real mysteries of this universe remain unsolved : and here the true philoso- 
pher will bow his head in humility, and admit that all he can do in this direction 
is no more than what is within the compass of an ordinary child. — Lecture to 
Working Men, at Dundee, 1867. 

Job v: 10. — Who giveth rain- upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields. 

Prof. J. P. Cooke. — From the whole surface of the globe water is constantly 
evaporating into the aqueous atmosphere which surrounds it. The heated air 
from the tropics, heavily charged with moisture, is continually moving towards 
the colder regions, both of the north and of the south ; and as the current thus 
becomes chilled, the vapor is slowly condensed, and the water showered down 
in fertilizing rains on the land. Thus it is that those beautiful provisions, which 
we see in the rain, all depend on the presence of the air, and result from a 
careful adjustment of the properties of aqueous vapor to the exact density of 
our atmosphere. "Hath the rain a father?" Science, by discovering these 






job vi. 371 

evidences of skilful adaptation, has most conclusively answered this question, 
and the answer is the same now as in the days of Job. " Behold, God is great. 
... He maketh small the drops of water : they pour down rain according to 
the vapor thereof." — Religion and Chemistry, p. 131. 

POISONED ARROWS. 

Job vi : 4. — For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drink^eth up my 

spirit. 

Wm. Aldis Wright, M. A. — Here reference seems to be made to the custom 
of anointing arrows with the venom of a snake, a practice the origin of which 
is of very remote antiquity, (as appears from Homer and others.) The Soanes, 
a Caucasian race mentioned by Strabo, were especially skilled in the art. 
Pliny mentions a tribe of Arab pirates who infested the Red Sea, and were 
armed with poisoned arrows like the Malays of the coast of Borneo. For this 
purpose the berries of the yew-tree were employed. The Gauls used a 
poisonous herb ; and the Scythians dipped their arrow points in vipers' venom 
mixed with human blood. These were so deadly that a slight scratch inflicted 
by them was fatal. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 2561. 

DECEITFUL FRIENDS. 

Job vi : 15-20. — My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they 

pass away, etc. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — The phenomena of streams in this country 
aptly illustrate the character of false friends. In winter, when there is no need of 
them, they are full, and strong, and loud in their bustling professions and 
promises; but in the heat of summer, when they are wanted, they disappoint 
your hope. You think your fields will be irrigated, and yourself and your 
flocks refreshed by them, when lo ! they deal deceitfully and pass away. 
Nearly all the streams of this country, "what time they wax warm," thus 
vanish, go to nothing, and perish. Such were Job's friends. There is another 
illustration equally pertinent. You meet a clear, sparkling brook, and, so long 
as you follow it among the cool mountains, it holds cheerful converse with you 
by its merry gambols over the rocks ; but, as soon as you reach the plain, 
"where it is hot," it begins to dwindle, grow sad and discouraged, and finally 
fails altogether. Those which suggested the comparison of Job probably flowed 
down from the high lands of Gilead and Bashan, and came to nothing in the 
neighboring desert; for it is added that "the troops of Teman looked, the 
companies of Sheba waited for them, and were confounded because they 
had hoped." It was in those high mountains only that Job would become 
familiar with the winter phenomena, where the streams are "blackish by reason 
of ice; " for not only are Lebanon and Hermon covered with snow in winter, 
and the brooks there frozen, but the same is true also of the higher parts of the 
Hauran, and of the mountains to the south of it, where Job is supposed to have 
resided. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 231. 



372 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

WATCHING THE SHADOW. 

Job vii r 2. — As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as a hireling looketh for the 

reward of his work ; etc. 

Rev. J. Roberts. — The people in the East measure time by the length of * 
their shadow. Hence, if you ask a man what time it is, he immediately goes 
into the sunshine, stands erect, then looking where his shadow terminates, he 
measures the length with his feet, and tells you the time with tolerable exactness. 
Thus they earnestly desire the shadow, which indicates the time for leaving their 
work. A person wishing to leave his toil, often cries out, "How long my 
shadow is coming." When asked, "Why did you not come sooner?" his 
answer is, " Because 1 waited for my shadow." — Orient. Jllust.,p. 261. 

THE DEAD RETURN NOT. 

Job vii : 10. — He shall return no more to his house; neither shall his place know him any more. 

Egyptian Papyrus. — No man comes from thence who tells of their sayings, 
who tells of thei r affairs, who encourages our hearts. Ye go to the place whence 
they return not. — Festal Dirge ; See Records of the Past, Vol. IV., p. 117. 

Assyrian Inscriptions. — To the house men enter — but cannot depart from : 
to the road men go — but cannot return. — Legend of Ishtar ; See Records of the 
Past, Vol. I., p. 143. 

MAN'S FRAILTY AND CORRUPTION 

Job ix : 25, 26. — My days are swifter than a post ; they flee away, they see no good. They are 
passed away as the swift ships ; as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. 

Anacreon. — Ah, with what unwearied pace 

The ceaseless wheel of life runs on ! 

Just like the chariot's rapid race, 

How swift the course, how quickly run ! 

Yet thus, alas, our moments fly, 

Thus pass our fleeting years away ; 

And soon shall we neglected lie, 

A little dust, a lump of clay. — Carmen, 4. 
Plutarch. — All our life is but a moment of time. — De Lib. Ed., c. 17. 
Idem. — The whole course of man's life is as nothing. — DeSer. Num. Find., c. 9. 

Job ix : 30, 31. — If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean ; yet 
shalt thou plunge me in the ditch ; and mine own clothes shall abhor me. 

^Eschylus. — Were all the mighty streams that wind 
Their mazy progress to the main, 
To cleanse this odious spot, in one combined, 
The streams combined would flow in vain. 

— Choeph., v. 70. 
GOD UNSEARCHABLE. 

Job xi : 7, 8. — Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto 
perfection? It is as higa a» heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou 
know? 



JOB xil. 373 

Philemon. — Believe in God and worship ; but do not investigate, for you 
will then have nothing but investigation for your pains. — Philem. apud Stob. 

Cicero. — If you should ask me what God is, or what his character and nature 
are, I should follow the example of Simonides, who, when Hiero, the tyrant, 
proposed the same question to him, desired a day to consider it. When he 
required his answer the next day, Simonides begged two days more ; and as he 
kept constantly desiring double the number which he had required before, 
instead of giving his answer, Hiero with surprise asked him his meaning in doing 
so. '• Because," says he, "the longer I meditate on it the more obscure it 
appears to me." — De Nat. Deor., lib. L, cap. 22. 

Prof. Charles Hodge, D. D., LL. D. — As the human mind is finite, and 
conceives by defining the limits of its thought, and as God is known to us to be 
infinite, it is evident that the human mind can never be capable of conceiving 
God adequately as he is, or of defining his being. — Syst. of Theol. 

Bishop R. Watson, D. D., F. R. S. — What think you of an uncaused cause 
of everything ? of a Being who has no relation to time, not being older to-day 
than he was yesterday, nor younger to-day than he will be to-morrow ? who has 
no relation to space, not beiilg a part here, and a part there, or a whole any- 
where? What think you of an omniscient Being who cannot know the future 
actions of a man ? Or, if his omniscience enables him to know them, what 
think you of the contingency of human actions? And if human actions are not 
contingent, what think you of the morality of actions, of the distinction between 
vice and virtue, crime and innocence, sin and duty? What think you of the 
infinite goodness of a Being who existed through eternity without any emana- 
tion of his goodness manifested in the creation of sensitive beings? Or, if you 
contend that there has been an eternal creation, what think you of an effect 
coeval with its cause, of matter not posterior to its Maker ? What think you 
of the existence of evil, moral and natural, in the work of an Infinite Being, 
powerful, wise and good ? What think you of the gift of freedom of will, when 
the abuse of freedom becomes the cause of general misery ? I could propose to 
your consideration a great many other questions of a similar tendency. — Reply 
to Thomas Paine, Letter X. 

Job xii: 7-10. — But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and 
they shall tell thee : or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee ; and the fishes of the sea 
shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath 
wrought this ? in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. 

Dr. John Mason Good, F. R. S., F. R. S. L. — Everything in nature— the 
beasts of the field, the fowls of heaven, every inhabitant of the earth and sea, 
and everything that befalls them, are the work of his hands; and everything 
feels and acknowledges Him to be the universal Creator and Controller. This 
is the common doctrine of all nature. — Note, in loco. 

Dr. William B. Carpenter, M. A. S. — God is the efficient cause alike for 
the simplest and most minute, and of the most complicated and most majestic 
phenomena of the universe. — General and Comparative Physiology, J). 1080. 



374 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prof. William Whewell, F. R. S. — The agency of the Divine Being pervades 
every portion of the universe, producing all action and passion, all permanence 
and change. — IVth Bridg. Treat., p. 185. 

Sir John Herschel. — We would no way be understood to deny the con- 
stant exercise of God's direct power in maintaining the system of nature, or the 
ultimate emanation, of every energy which material agents exert, from his im- 
mediate will, acting in conformity with his own laws.— Discourse on the Study 
of Natural Philosophy, p. 3 7 . 

Sir Isaac Newton. — The various portions of the world, organic and inor- 
ganic, can be the effect of nothing else than the wisdom and skill of a powerful 
ever-living Agent, who being in all places, is more able by his will to move the 
bodies within his boundless uniform sensorium, and thereby to form and reform 
the parts of the universe, than we are by our will to move the parts of our 
own body.— - Optics, in fine. 

MAN'S MORTALITY. 

Job xiv : 7-10. — For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that 
the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and 

. the stock thereof die in the ground ; yet through the scenfof water it will bud, and bring forth 
boughs like a plant. But man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and 
where is he? 

Plutarch. — Pericles wishing to restrain his soldiers from an attack which 
seemed to him too hazardous, endeavored to bring* them to reason by observing 
that trees when lopped will soon grow again, but when men are cut off, the loss 
cannot be repaired. — Pericles, c. 33. 

Moschus. — Though fade crisp Anise and Parsley's green 
And vivid Mallows, from the garden scene, 
The balmy breath of spring their life renews, 
And bids them flourish in their former hues : 
But we, the great, the valiant, and the wise, 
When once the seal of death hath closed our eyes, 
Lost in the hollow tomb, obscure and deep, 
Slumber, to wake no more, one long unbroken sleep. 

— Idyl., iii., %. 106. 
HUMAN DEPRAVITY. 

Job xv : 14. — What is man that he should be clean ? and he which is born of a woman, that he 

should be righteous ? 

Xenophon. — I cannot see any mortal alive who goeth through life without 
committing some offence. — Hist. Grcec, 1. vi., c. 3. 

Plato. — I am led to wonder whether there are any men really good ; and if 
there are, what can be the manner of producing good men ? — Meno., c. 37. 

Job xv : 20, 21. — The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days. ... A dreadful sound is 

in his ears. 

Plato. — Socrates. And is not he who does ill miserable? 
Alcibiades. Yes, very. — Alcib., L, c. 29. 



job xix. 375 

Isocrates. — Never imagine that you can conceal a bad action, for though 
you hide it from others, your conscience will remind you of it. — Oral., i. 

Job xv : 23- — He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the 

olive. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — The olive is the most prodigal of all fruit- 
bearing trees in flowers. It literally bends under the load of them. But then 
not one in a hundred comes to maturity. The tree casts them off by millions, 
as if they were of no more value than flakes of snow, which they closely resemble. 
So it will be with those who put their trust in vanity. Cast off, they melt away, 
and no one takes the trouble to ask after such empty useless things. — The Land 
and the Book, i., 72. 

THE COUNSEL OF ONE AT EASE. 

Job xvi : 4. — I also could speak as ye do : if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap 
up words against you, and shake mine head at you. 

Terence. — How readily do men at ease prescribe 

To those who're sick at heart ! distressed like me, 
You would not talk thus. — Andr., Act II., sc. 1. 

INSCRIPTIONS IN ROCK AND LEAD. 

Job xix : 23, 24. — Oh that my words were now written ! Oh that they were printed in a book ! 
That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever ! 

Dr. John Kitto. — All our existing information points to stone, as the sub- 
stance on which the art of writing was first employed ; and men continued to 
engrave important documents on stone in times long subsequent to that in which 
writing was made subservient to the intercourse of life and the service of litera- 
ture. Ancient inscriptions on the surface of perpendicular rocks are still found 
in different parts of Asia, many of them of such early date, that the knowledge 
of the characters in which they were written is lost. — Pict. J?io., Vol. I., p. 
272. 

M. Goguet. — There was nothing in all antiquity more famous than the 
columns erected by Osiris, Bacchus, Sesostris, and Hercules, to perpetuate the 
remembrance of their respective expeditions. Still more renowned were the 
pillars or tables of stone on which Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes, is said to have 
written his theology and the history of the first ages. In Crete there existed 
very ancient columns, charged with inscriptions detailing the ceremonies prac- 
ticed in the sacrifices of the Corybantes. In the time of Demosthenes (b. c. 
350) there still existed at Athens a law of Theseus inscribed on a stone pillar. — 
Origine des Lois, Vol. L, p. 204. 

Ibn Mokri. — The inhabitants of southern Arabia were accustomed, in the 
remotest ages, to inscribe laws and wise sayings on tables and pillars of stone. 
And, " more durable than what is engraven on stone," became at length a com- 
mon proverb among them. — Burder's Oriental Literature, Vol. I., p. 198. 

W. Aldis Wright, M. A. — Job seems to allude to the ancient practice of 



376 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



carving inscriptions upon stone, and pouring molten lead into the cavities of 
the letters, to render them legible, and at the same time preserve them from 
the action of the air. Frequent references to the use of leaden tablets for 
inscriptions are found in ancient writers. Pausanias saw Hesiod's " Works and 
Days" graven on lead, but almost illegible with age. Public proclamations, 
according to Pliny, were written on lead ; and the name of Germanicus was 
carved on leaden tablets. Eutychius relates that the history of the Seven 
Sleepers of Ephesus was engraved on lead by the Cadi. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, 
p. 1619. 




ENGRAVED ROCKS IN THE WADY MOKATTEB. — LABORDE. 

MAN CANNOT PROFIT GOD. 

Job xxii : 2, 3. — Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto 
himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteou* ? or is it gain to him, that 
thou makest thy ways perfect ? 
Plato. — Tell me what advantage the gods derive from the gifts which they 

receive from us? The advantage arising from what they give is clear to every 

one; for we have no good at all which they do not impart. But how are they 

benefited by what they receive from us? — Euthyph., c. 18. 

HEIGHT OF THE STARS. 

Job xxii : 12. — Is not God in the height of heaven ? and behold the height of the stars, how high 

they are ! 



job xxviii., 377 

Dr. John Henry Kurtz. — The human mind is filled with wonder in con- 
templating the grand scale on which magnitude, motion, and distance are dis- 
played even in the planetary heavens. Jupiter lies at the distance of 495,000,- 
000 miles, Saturn at 906,000,000 miles, Uranus 1822,000,000 miles, and Nep- 
tune at 3000,000,000 miles. . . But mounting up to higher spheres . . . Struve 
chose for observation the brilliant star Vega, and found its distance to be no less 
than 75,000,000,000,000 of miles. Bessel calculated the star 61 Cygni to lie 
at the distance of 56,000,000,000,000 of miles. And Peters has estimated the dis- 
tance of the Pole star to be more than 280,000,000,000,000 of miles — a distance 
which light cannot traverse in less than forty-three years. And Madler has com- 
puted that it would require 2,934 years for light to pass from the nearest point 
in the Milky Way to the earth, and from its most distant point no less than ^,8^6 
years! — The Bible and Astronomy, chap, v., § 2, 6. 

HOUSE-BREAKING. 

Job xxiv : 16. — In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in 

the dayiime. 

Aristophanes. — Some wall-digger has crept into the house. — Pint., v. 204. 

Menander. — You dig through your neighbor's walls. — Apud. Eurip. 

Strabo. — Autolycus, who lived on Parnassus, was in the habit of digging 
through the houses of his neighbors, which is the common practice of every 
house-breaker. — Strab., 1. ix., c. 5. 

THE EARTH'S POSITION. 

Job xxvi : 7, 8. — He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon 
nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. 

Dr. William Fraser. — Sir Isaac Newton could not have more succinctly 
stated the position of the earth, nor could any of our meteorologists give fitter 
outline of our cloud system than this and similar descriptions given in this book. 
— Blending Lights, p. 80. 

TREASURES OF THE EARTH. 

Job xxviii : 1-12. — Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it. 
Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone. He selteth, etc. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S., etc. — This passage brings before 
us the repositories of the valuable metals and gems, and the wonderful structure 
of the earth itself; green and productive at the surface, rich in precious minerals 
beneath, and deeper still the abode of intense subterranean fires. . . How true is 
all this! A poet of to-day could scarcely say more of subterranean wonders or 
say it more truthfully and beautifully ; nor could he arrive at a conclusion more 
pregnant with the highest philosophy than the closing words: 

The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; 

And to depart from evil is understanding. 

— Nature and the Bible, p. 103. 



378 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THE WIND AND RAIN AND LIGHTNING. 

Job xxviii : 24-26. — For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven ; 
to make the weight for the winds ; and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made 
a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder; then did he see it, and de- 
clare it ; he prepared it, and searched it out. 

The Compiler. — In these verses, modern investigations are, to a remarkable 
degree, anticipated by the pen of Inspiration. Here are clearly recognized the 
grand principles upon which are built our whole science of Meteorology: 1. The • 
pressure of the "wind" or atmosphere. 2. The "weight and measure" of 
water. 3. The "decree," or law, according to which rain is formed and dis- 
tributed. 4. The " way " followed by the currents of the lightning of thunder. 

The weight for the winds. — People, in general, are not aware, because they are 
not conscious, of any weight resting upon them from the atmosphere, yet reliable 
experiments prove that at the sea-level it presses with a force equal to 14-J 
pounds on every square inch, or 2,100 pounds on every square foot, or more 
than 29,000,000 of tons on every square mile ; or, on the whole surface of the 
earth, with a weight equal to that of a solid globe of lead 60 miles in diameter. 
■ — See my work entitled Work Days of God, p. 208. 

He weigheth the waters by measure. — Water, in its natural state, is 800 times 
heavier than atmosphere. — Ibid., p. 222. 

He made a decree for the rain. — Exact and beautiful, indeed, is the "decree," 
or law, according to which rain is formed and distributed over the face of the 
earth. That such a weighty element as water should rise and float in thin air, 
but for our experience, would appear to us as unlikely and impossible as that the 
gravel at the bottom of a lake should rise and swim on its surface. Yet God 
contrived a method, "yea, He searched it out and prepared it," by which this 
is effected with infinite ease every day. In what way, then, does water climb 
into the firmament, and float at the rarefied altitudes of three or four miles, and 
even six miles, where cloudlets are sometimes seen ? The atmosphere is so con- 
stituted as to be capable of absorbing moisture and retaining it in an invisible 
state ; the warmer the air, the greater is its capacity for this. The air in a room 
measuring sixty feet each way, and at a temperature of 68° Fhr., is capable of 
taking up and holding no less than 252 pounds of water. Now, by the action 
of heat, water is converted into steam or vapor; and in this state, it occupies 
a space 1,600 times greater than in its liquid state, and is, therefore, much lighter 
than the atmosphere : consequently it readily floats and ascends into its higher re- 
gions. In this way vast quantities of water, in the form of invisible vapor, are 
continually ascending from sea and land, and even from the regions of perpetual 
ice and snow. This vapor having reached the higher and cooler altitudes of the 
firmament, gradually condenses into visible clouds, which are sometimes thou- 
sands of feet in thickness, and tens of thousands of acres in extent, and suspendl 
in their dark folds immense quantities of water, ever ready to return to the earth 
from whence it arose. — Ibid. , p. 223. 



job xxviii. 379 

And now let us look at the working of the divine "decree" in releasing 
and bringing down this water from the clouds. As water is converted into 
vapor by heat, so by the loss of heat vapor is reconverted into water. Hence, 
when a cloud of vapor, either by entering a chillier stratum of air, or by com- 
ing in contact with colder currents, loses any portion of its former heat, a corres- 
ponding proportion of its aqueous contents is condensed into what may be called 
water-dust. And these dust-like particles, by coming into contact, unite; and 
these again, in a similar manner, coalesce with others still, till visible globules 
or drops are formed. And all this process is conducted with the exactness of 
" weight " and " measure." A cloud, for example, floats in a current of air of 
8o° temperature ; if that current loses 9 of its heat, the cloud must cast over- 
board, in the form of a shower, one-quarter of its load; and if it loses 21 of its 
heat, then it must part with one-half its tonnage. Thus as the heat gradually 
decreases, the condensation of the vapor gradually increases, forming, as just 
stated, the drops and the showers which refresh and renew the face of the earth. 
— Ibid., p. 224. 

And he made a way for the lightning of the thunder. — The subtle and mysterious 
element of Electricity may be generated and collected by artificial means; for 
example, by rubbing a revolving plate of glass with a piece of silk. After a 
manner similar to this Nature herself is constantly carrying on the same process 
on a grand scale. The currents of air are ever generating electricity as they 
sweep or rub over the surface of the globe ; and the fluid thus evolved passes 
partly into the earth and partly into the atmosphere. When very dry, the por- 
tion passing into the air may accumulate in excess. And it is pleasing to con- 
template the "way" provided, the provisions made to prevent danger and 
destruction from an undue accumulation of electricity in the atmosphere. The 
Creator has so constituted every tree, every bush, and every blade of grass, as 
to be a conductor of electricity from the atmosphere into the earth. A leaf 
pointed with nature's exquisite workmanship is three times as effectual as the 
finest needle ; and a single living twig far more efficient than the metallic points 
of the best constructed rod. What then must be the agency of an extended 
forest in disarming the thunder-storm of its power for destruction ? The rain- 
drops and the snow-flakes also have been made good conductors ; so that during 
the storms a bridge for the lightning is thrown across from the clouds to the 
earth. Hence we see with what care Providence has guarded us by making "a 
way" for this destructive element to pass harmlessly into the bowels of the globe 
under our feet. — It occasionally occurs, however, that electricity is developed 
more rapidly than it can be dissipated through all these channels ; the atmos- 
phere becomes surcharged with it ; but even this excess is a specific arrangement 
to turn it another " way" to accomplish important ends. Fierce flashes now 
dart from cloud to cloud, or from cloud to the ground below ; and it is when 
the volleys of these bursting clouds cleave the firmament, and the thunders of 
the discharge are pealing their dreadful notes above our heads, that the chem- 
ical combinations of the noxious exhalations arising from decaying animal and 



880 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

vegetable substances are effected, and the elements, fitted for the purposes of 
animal health and vegetable growth, are formed and brought to the ground in 
the heavy rains which usually attend these storms. It is by these convulsions 
that the atmosphere regains its balance, and renews its salubrity. Thus Science 
unites with Revelation in teaching us, that our Father in heaven is no less lov- 
ing and kind in launching forth the " winged bolt," than in sending down the 
gentle sunbeam. — Such are some .of the "ways" which the Great God " has 
made for the lightning of the thunder." — Ibid., p. 239. 

JOB IN HIS PROSPERITY. 

Job xxix : 6. — When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — These are figurative expressions, constantly employed 
in the East, to denote great prosperity. M The man is so rich, he washes him- 
self with ney; " i. e., "clarified butter." " O the charitable man ! milk and 
honey accompany his feet." — Oriental Illustrations, p. 293. 

Pliny. — We have known the very soles even of their feet to be sprinkled with 
perfumes. — Hist. Nat., 1. xiii., c. 4. 

Plautus. — In the houses of the nobles are balsam-shoemakers, or makers of 
unguents for the feet. — AuluL, Act III., sc. 10. 

Job xxix : 7-9. — When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the 
street, the young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose and stood up; the 
princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — What a graphic scene is this ! When a man of rank 
passes a crowd, the young people and children conceal themselves behind their 
seniors, and the aged always arise from their seats. See the respectable man 
in a court of justice, who is listening to the address of the judge : his hand is 
placed on his mouth. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 293. 

Job xxix : 1 5. — I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — The man who bestows great charities is said to be 
" the eyes of the blind," and " the feet of the cripples." " True, my lord, I 
am blind ; but you are my eyes." " O king, are you not my staff! " — Oriental 
Illustrations, 294. 

Plutarch. — Soon after Cyrus expired, an officer, who was called "the king's 
eye," passed that way. — Artax., c. 12. 

Job xxix : 23.— And they waited for me as for the rain ; and they opened their mouth wide as 

for the latter rain. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S— " The former rain " rarely failed; 
but "the latter rain " was more uncertain, and has ever been looked for with 
anxiety by the inhabitants of the country, for on its copiousness depend the 
hopes of the harvest, since it falls at the time when the corn is just pushing into 
ear, and without it the crop is either deficient or fails altogether : " They waited 
for me as for the rain ; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain." 
—Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 31. 



job xxxii. 381 

JOB'S UPRIGHTNESS. 

Job xxxi : 13, 14. — If I despised the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they 
contended with me, what then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what 
shall I answer him ? 

Epictetus. — If you chance to be placed in some superior station, will you 
presently set up yourself for a tyrant ? Will you not remember what you are, 
and over whom you bear rule ? That they are by nature your relations, your 
brothers; that they are the offspring of God? — Epict., 1. i., c. 13. 
Hesiod. — The man of sin is he confessed, 

Who spurns the suppliant and who wrongs he guest. 

— Op. et Dies, v. 325. 
Job xxxi: 15. — Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us 

in the wombs ? 

Declaration of Independence. — We hold these truths to be self-evident : 
That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. 
Job xxxi : 26-28. — If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness ; and 

my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand : this also were an 

iniquity. 

Prof. Charles Rollin, M. R. A. I. — The most ancient and general idolatry 
in the world was that wherein the sun and moon were the objects of divine 
worship. In all ages mankind have been sensibly convinced of the necessity of 
an intercourse between God and man : and adoration supposes God to be both 
attentive to man's desires and capable of fulfilling them. But the distance of 
the sun and the moon is an obstacle to this intercourse. Therefore foolish men 
endeavored to remedy this inconvenience, by laying their hands upon their 
mouths, and then lifting them up to those false gods, in order to testify that 
they would be glad to unite themselves to them, but that they could not. This 
was that impious custom so prevalent throughout all the East, from which Job 
esteemed himself happy to have been preserved. — Ancient History, Vol. I., p. 
160. (Harper's Ed.) 

Pliny. — When paying adoration we kiss the right hand. — Hist. Nat., 1. 
28, c. 5. 

Lucian. — A poor man perhaps comes off for a hand-kiss to the god. — De 
Sacrif., c. 12. 

Idem. — Seeing him put his hand to his mouth, I concluded that he was pray- 
ing. — Demosth., Enconi., c. 49. 

THE REASONING SOUL OF MAN. 

' Job xxxii : 8. — There is a spirit in man : and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him under- 
standing. 

St. George Mivart, F. R. S. — The soul of man was created in a very 

different way from his body — not by any pre-existing means, external to God 
24 



382 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

himself — but by the direct action of the Almighty, symbolized by the term 
" breathing : ' ' the very form adopted by Christ, when conferring the super- 
natural powers and graces of the Christian Dispensation. — Genesis of Species, p. 
300. 

M. Louis Figuier. — Intelligence and speech, these are really the attributes 
which constitute man; these are the qualities which make him the most com- 
plete being in creation, and the most privileged of God's creatures. — V Homme 
Primitif, p. 30. 

Rev. Joseph P. Thomson, D. D., LL. D. — Man has been denned as "an 
Intelligence served by organs ; " and his reasoning intelligence is a characteristic 
that separates him from the brute creation by a chasm that they can never cross. 
Whence then came this intelligence? What shall we say of this Mind of man? 
its power of reasoning, which grasps the facts of the external world, and the truths 
of the inner world of consciousness, and weaves them into consecutive chains of 
ideas, and builds up fabrics of thought that will stand though the physical 
universe shall fall ? What shall we say of this mind that, from a few arbitrary 
characters and a few articulate sounds, constructs a language that expresses 
thought, that stirs emotion, that kindles passions or allays them — language that 
makes the printed page glow with the fire and beauty of poetry, that makes the 
air pulsate with the throbs of eloquence ? this mind that from a few arbitrary 
figures, that you may count upon your fingers, constructs the abstract science 
of mathematics, by which it weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a 
balance ; by which it measures the velocity of light, and the distances and magni- 
tudes of the stars ? this mind of man that with unfaltering confidence, deter- 
mines by mathematical law that the equilibrium of our solar system demands the 
existence of another planet yet unseen, then points the telescope and finds it 
where it ought to be ? this mind that takes the wings of the morning and out- 
travels light ; that flies backward to the beginning and forward to the unknown; 
that counts all time and space its home, and dares look forth upon the Infinite? 
From, a few letters of the alphabet Homer made a poem whose rhythm still beats 
upon the shores of Time, while the sea washes a desolate beach where Troy once 
stood ; Plato gave shape to thoughts that live, while Athens is falling to decay ; 
the creations of mind survive, though temples and pyramids perish ; and though 
the heavens should pass away, and the stars be seen no more, the .system of 
mathematical order and beauty, that Newton formed from a few abstract lines 
and numbers, would remain for the admiring contemplation of the mind, over- 
arching it with a firmament of its own. This mind of man, with its powers of 
reason, imagination, memory, will, — with its hopes and fears, joys and loves, — 
this mind that knows itself, and that dominates all matter and all life without 
itself, can it be less than the immediate offspring of God ? or any other than the 
inspiration of the Almighty ? — Man in Genesis and Geology, p. 68-70. 

DREAMS. 

[oh xxxiii: 15—18. — In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in 
slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, 



job xxxiii. 383 

that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his 
soul from the pit, and hi<= ,; <e from perishing by the sword. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — To decry all dreams, or visions of the night, because 
there are many vain dreams, would be nearly as much wisdom as to deny the 
Bible, because there are many foolish books. . . . Many warnings in this way 
have come from God : and the impression they made and the good effect pro- 
duced were the proofs of their Divine origin. To deny this would be to call 
into doubt the testimony of the best, wisest, and holiest men in all ages of 
the church By taking the warning thus given, some have been pre- 
vented from perishing by the ///, some sudden accident ; and others from the 
sword of the assassin, or nocturnal murderer. It would be easy to give examples, 
numerous examples in all these kinds. — Note, in loco. 

Dr. Abercrombie. — A Scotch lady dreamed that a company of young people 
had made arrangements to go out sailing on the Frith of Forth, that her nephew 
had engaged to accompany them, and that they went out and were all drowned. 
Impressed by her dream, in the morning she sent for her nephew, and with 
great difficulty prevailed on him to give up the engagement. All the rest went 
out, and were all drowned just according to the dream. This occurrence, how- 
ever it is to be accounted for, is authentic and reliable. — Intellectual Philosophy. 

Rev. Horace Bushnell, D. D. — Captain Yount, of California, in a mid- 
winter's night, had a dream, in which he saw what appeared to be a company 
of emigrants arrested by the snows of the mountains, and perishing rapidly by 
cold and hunger. He noted the very cast of the scenery, marked by a huge 
perpendicular front of white rock cliff; he saw the men cutting off what 
appeared to be tree-tops rising out of deep gulfs of snow; he distinguished 
the very features of the persons, and the look of their particular distress. He 
woke, profoundly impressed with the distinctness 'and apparent reality of his 
dream. At length he fell asleep and dreamed exactly the same dream again. 
In the morning he could not expel it from his mind. Falling in, shortly, with 
an old hunter comrade, he told him the story, and was only the more deeply 
impressed by his recognizing, without hesitation, the scenery of the dream. 
This comrade came over the Sierra by the Carson Valley Pass (in California), and 
declared that a spot in the Pass answered exactly to his description. By this 
the unsophisticated patriarch was decided. He immediately collected a com- 
pany of men with mules and blankets, and all necessary provisions. The neigh- 
bors were laughing, meantime, at his credulity. " No matter," said he, "I am 
able to do this, and I will ; for I verily believe that the fact is according to my 
dream." The men were sent into the mountains 150 miles distant, directly to 
the Carson Valley Pass ; and there they found the company in exactly the con- 
dition of the dream, and brought in the remnant alive. A gentleman present, 
when the Captain told me, said: "You need not doubt this, for we Californians 
all know the facts, and the names of the families brought in, who look upon our 
venerable friend as a kind of saviour." Their names he gave, and the places 
where they resided ; and I found, afterwards, that the California people were 
ready everywhere to second his testimony. — The Natural and Supernatural. 



384 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prof. Thomas Upham. — Benjamin Franklin has made the remark, that the 
bearings and results of political events, which had caused him much trouble 
while awake, were not unfrequently unfolded to him in dreaming. — Mental 
Philos.,p. 1 08 (abridgment). 

MAN'S SUPERIORITY. 

Job xxv : 11. — God teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and malceth us wiser than the 

fowls of heaven. 

Prof. Thomas Huxley. — A great gulf intervenes between the lowest man and 
the highest ape in intellectual power. — Man's Place in Nature, p. 120. 

Idem. — The immeasurable and practically infinite divergence of the Human 
from the Simian Stirps. — Man' s Place in Nature, p. 122. 

Idem. — No one is more strongly convinced than I am. of the vastness of the 
gulf between civilized man and the brutes. — Man's Place in Nature, p. 129. 

Charles Darwin, M. A., F. R. S. — No doubt the difference in respect to 
man's mental power is enormous, even if we compare the mind of one of the 
lowest savages, who has no words to express any number higher than four, 
and who uses no abstract terms for the commonest objects or affections, with 
that of the most highly organized ape. — Descent of Man, Vol. I., p. 33. 

FORMATION OF RAIN. 

Job vxxvi: 27, 28. — For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to 
the vapor thereof: which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly. 

The Compiler. — As water is converted into vapor by heat, so by the loss of 
heat vapor is reconverted into water. Hence when a cloud of vapor, either by 
entering a chillier stratum of air, or by coming in contact with colder currents, 
loses any portion of its former heat, a corresponding proportion of its aqueous 
contents is condensed into what may be called water dust. And these dust-like 
particles, by coming in contact, unite ; and these again in a similar manner 
coalesce with others still, till visible globules or drops are formed. And all 
this process is conducted with the exactness of number, weight and measure. 
A cloud, for example, floats in a current of air of 8o° temperature; if that 
current loses 9 of its heat, the. cloud must cast overboard, in the form of a 
shower, one-quarter of its load ; and if it loses 21 of its heat, then it must part 
with one-half its tonnage. Thus, as the heat gradually decreases, the conden- 
sation of the vapor gradually increases, forming, as just stated, the drops and 
the showers, which refresh and renew the face of the earth. 

And how admirable the way in which the clouds of vapor discharge their 
contents, viz., in soft and gentle showers. If, instead of this, they poured out 
their prodigious contents at once, in streams and floods, the consequences, fre- 
quently, would be destructive and lamentable in the extreme, as is evident from 
instances of this kind, which, at distant intervals, have taken place. Vegetation 
would be destroyed, crops would be beaten into the ground, the trees stripped 
}f their leaves and fruits, the fields ploughed into trenches, and the soil washed 



job xxxvii. 385 

away, the streams suddenly swelled into impetuous and destructive torrents ; so 
that presently every gathering or passing cloud would become, like an avalanche, 
an object of terror to all who beheld it. Viewed in contrast with all this, how 
beautiful, how beneficent is the existing arrangement ! Instead of descending 
like this, in ruinous cascades, we see the water trickling down in gentle and 
fertilizing drops, as if the nether side of the clouds were finely perforated into 
a sieve, and these drops alighting upon the earth, without bruising a flower, or 
destroying a blade of grass. Softly the work begins, and softly it is carried on 
as the cloudy cisterns sail slowly over field and forest, hill and dale, leaving no 
district unvisited, no spot unwatered. Who that intelligently contemplates 
all this, but must be rapt into admiration and gratitude, in view of the designing 
wisdom and diffusive goodness of God, as seen in every passing shower ! How 
true to Nature, and to Nature's God and Governor are the words of Scripture, 
"He maketh small the drops of water; they pour down rain according to the 
vapor thereof : which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly." — 
See Work Days of God, p. 225, 226. 

UNIVERSAL AGENCY OF GOB. 

Job xxxvii : 2—24. — Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his 

mouth. He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the 

earth : etc. 

The Compiler. — The various meteoric phenomena so graphically described 
in this chapter — the spread of lightning, the roar of thunder, the fall of 
rain, the formation of snow, the breath of frost, the progress of whirlwinds, 
the balancing of the clouds, the cold of the North, and the heat of the 
South — these phenomena which human science regards as simply the workings 
of the "Laws of Nature," are here ascribed immediately to God Himself; He 
is represented as the Doer of all that takes place under the whole heaven. And 
this is true — the scriptural representation is absolutely correct. The laws of nature 
do nothing, and can do nothing. Laws are not agents, but rules for agents. 
Power, ail power resides in the Divine Law-Giver. His active omnipotence, 
each moment, floods all Nature. The whole order and activity of the universe 
are simply the effects of His infinite power and wisdom. See this subject 
amply illustrated in my work, entitled Prese'nl Conflict of Science with the Chris- 
tian Religion, p. 62-78. 

Prof. William Whewell, M. A., F. R. S. — Wherever the laws of material 
nature appear, we have a manifestation of the Intelligence by which they were 
established. But a law supposes an agent, and a power ; for it is the mode 
according to which the agent proceeds, the order according to which the power 
acts. Without the presence of such an agent, of such a power, conscious of 
the relations on which the law depends, producing the effects which the law 
prescribes, the law can have no efficacy, no existence. Hence we infer that the 
Intelligence by which the law is ordained, the Power by which it is put in action, 
must be present at all times and in all places where the effects of the law occur; 



386 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and thus the knowledge and the agency of the Divine Being pervade every por- 
tion of the universe, producing all action and passion, all permanence and change. 
The laws of nature are the laws which He, in his wisdom, prescribes to his own 
acts; his universal presence is the necessary condition of any course of events, 
his universal agency the only origin of any efficient force.— Astronomy and 
Physics, Book III., c. 8. 

Dr. Wjlliam. B. Carpenter, M. B. A.— All our science is but an investigation 
of the mode in which the Creator acts ; its highest laws are but expressions of 
the mode in which He manifests his agency to us. He is the efficient cause 
alike for the simplest and most minute, and of the most complicated and most 
majestic phenomena of the universe. — General and Comparative Physiology, 
p. 1080. 

ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH, AND RECENCY OF MAN 

Job xxxviii : 4-7. — Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? declare, if thou 
hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest ? or who hath 
stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid 
the corner-stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God 
shouted for joy ? 

President John Harris, D. D. — Turning to the inspired record to ascertain 
the origin of things, as they now are, we learn, of our earth, that it assumed its 
present state a few thousand years ago, in consequence of a creative process, or 
of a series of creative acts concluding with the creation of man. Possessed of 
this fact respecting the date of man's introduction on the earth, we proceed to 
examine the globe itself. And here we find that the mere shell of the earth 
takes us back through an unknown series of ages, in which creation appears to 
have followed creation at the distance of vast intervals between. By means of 
these the geologist can demonstrate that the crust of the earth has a natural 
history. Let us descend with him, and traverse an ideal section of a portion of 
the earth's crust. Quitting the living surface of the green earth, and entering 
on our downward path, our first step may take us below the dust of Adam, and 
beyond the limits of recorded time. From the moment we leave the surface- 
soil, and touch even the nearest of the Tertiary beds, all traces of human 
remains disappear, so that let our grave be as shallow as it may in even the 
latest stratified bed, we have to make it in the dust of a departed world. For- 
mation now follows formation, composed chiefly of sand, and clay, and lime, 
and presenting a thickness of more than a thousand feet each. As we descend 
through these, one of the most sublime fictions of mythology becomes sober 
truth, for at our every step an age flies past. We find ourselves on a road where 
the lapse of duration is marked — not by the succession of seasons and years, — 
but by the slow excavation, by water, of deep valleys in rock marble ; by the 
return of a continent to the bosom of an ocean in which ages before it had 
been slowly formed ; or by the departure of one world and the formation of 
another. 

Advancing into the Secondary Rocks, we enter upon a new series of worlds. 



job xxxviii. 387 

Taking the chalk formation as the first member of this series, we find a strati- 
fication upwards of a thousand feet thick. Who shall compute the tracts of 
time necessary for its slow sedimentary deposition ! So vast was it, and so widely 
different were its physical conditions from those which followed, that scarcely a 
trace of animal species still living is to be found in it. Types of organic life, 
before unknown, arrest our attention, and prepare us for still more surprising 
forms. Descending into the system next in order — the oolitic — with its many 
subdivisions, and its thickness of about half a mile, we recognize new proofs 
of the dateless antiquity of the earth. For, enormous as this bed is, it was 
obviously formed by the deposition from sea and river water. And so gradual 
and tranquil was the operation, that, in some places, the organic remains of the 
successive strata are arranged with a shelf-like regularity, reminding us of the 
well-ordered cabinet of the naturalist. Here, too, the last trace of animal 
species still living has vanished. Even this link is gone. We have reached a 
point when the earth was in the possession of the gigantic forms of Saurian Rep- 
tiles, — monsters more appalling than the poet's fancy ever feigned; and these 
are their catacombs. Descending through the later Red Sandstone, and salif- 
erous marls of two thousand feet in thickness, and which exhibit, in their very 
variegated strata, a succession of numerous physical changes, our subterranean 
path brings us to the Carboniferous System, or coal formations. These coal 
strata, many thousands of feet thick, consist entirely of the spoils of successive 
ancient vegetable worlds. But in the rank jungles and luxuriant wildernesses 
which are here accumulated and compressed, we recognize no plant of any 
existing species. Nor is there a single convincing indication that these prime- 
val forests ever echoed to the voice of birds. But between these strata, beds of 
limestone of enormous thickness are interposed ; each proclaiming the prolonged 
existence and final extinction of a creation. For these limestone beds are not so 
much the charnel-houses of fossil organisms as the remains of the organisms 
themselves. 

These mountain masses of stone which now surround us, extending for miles 
in length and breadth, were once sentient existences — testaceous and coraline, 
—living at the bottom of ancient seas and lakes. How countless the ages 
necessary for their accumulation ; when the formation of only a few inches of the 
strata required the life and death of many generations. Here, the mind is not 
only carried back through immeasurable periods, but while standing amidst the 
petrified remains of this succession of primeval forests and extinct races of 
animals piled up into sepulchral mountains, we seem to be encompassed by the 
thickest shadow of the valley of death. 

On quitting these stupendous monuments of death, we leave behind us the 
last vestige of land-plants, and pass down to the Old Red Sandstone. Here, too, 
we have passed below the last trace of reptile life. The speaking foot-prints 
impressed on the carboniferous strata are absent here. The geological character 
of this vast formation, again, tells of ages innumerable. For, though many a 
thousand feet in depth, it is obviously derived from the materials of more 



388 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ancient rocks, fractured, decomposed, and slowly deposited in water. The 
gradual and quiet nature of the process, and therefore its immense duration, are 
evident from the numerous "platforms of death," which mark this formation, 
and crowded with organic structures which lived and died where they now are ♦ 
seen. 

Immeasurably far behind us as we have already left the fair face of the extant 
creation, while travelling into the night of ancient time, we yet feel, as we stand 
on the threshold of the next, or Silurian System, and look down towards "the 
foundations of the earth," that we are not half way on our course. Here, on 
surveying the fossil structures, we are first struck with the total change in che 
petrified inhabitants of the sea, as compared with what we found in the moun- 
tain limestone ; implying the lapse of long periods of time, during the formation 
of the intervening Old Red Sandstone which we have just left. But still more 
are we impressed with the lapse of duration, while descending the long succession 
of strata, of which this Primary fossiliferous formation is composed, when .ve 
think of their slow derivation from the more ancient rocks ; of their oft repeated 
elevation and depression ; of the long periods of repose, during which hundreds 
of animal species ran through the cycle of their generations, and became ex- 
tinct ; and of the continuance of this stratifying process, until these thin beds 
had acquired, by union, the immense thickness of a mile and a half. Next 
below this, we reach the Cambrian System, of almost equal thickness and formed 
by the same slow process. Here the gradual decrease of animal remains 
admonishes us that even the vast and dreary empire of death has its limits, and 
that we are now in its outskirts. But there is a solitude greater than that of the 
boundless desert, and a dreariness more impressive than that which reigns in a 
world entombed. On leaving the slate-rocks of the Cambrian and Cumbrian 
formations, we find that the worlds of organic remains are past, and that we have 
reached a region older than death, because older than life itself. Here, at least, 
if life ever existed, all trace of it is obliterated by the fusing power of the 
heat below. But we have not even yet reached a resting-place. Passing down 
through the beds of mica schist, many thousand feet in depth, to the great 
gneiss formation, we find that we have reached the limits of stratification itself. 
The granitic masses below, of a depth which man can never explore, are not 
only crystalized themselves, but the igneous power acting through them, has 
partially crystalized the rocks above. Not only life, but the conditions of life, 
are here at an end. 

Now, looking from our ideal position, backwards and upwards to the ten 
miles height of stratifications from which we have descended, who but must feel 
that we have reached a point of immeasurable remoteness in terrestrial antiquity ! 
Who but must exclaim, "How dreadful is this place ! " And yet this, even this 
is not the beginning — that lies still far back in the dark abyss of unmarked and 
unmeasured departed time ! (From such a standpoint as this, how unutterably 
impressive the demand of the Almighty, "Where wast thou when I laid the 
foundations of the earth ? declare if thou hast understanding. Whereupon are 



job xxxviii. 389 

the foundations thereof fastened ; or who laid the corner-stone thereof, when 
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ?" ) — 
P7-e-Adamite Earth, p. 66-71. 

Prof. William Whewell, M. A. — The scale of man's insignificance is of the 
same order in reference to time, as to space. There is nothing which at all goes 
beyond the magnitude which observation and reasoning suggest for geological 
periods, in supposing that the Tertiary strata occupied, in their deposition and 
elevation, a period as much greater than the period of human history, as the 
solar system is larger than the earth : — that the Secofidary strata were as much 
longer than these in their formation as the nearest fixed star is more distant 
than the sun : — that the still earlier masses, call them Prwiajy, or Protozoic, or 
what we will, did, in their production, extend through a period of time as vast, 
compared with the Secondary period, as the most distant nebula is remoter than 
the nearest star. If the earth, as the habitation of man, is a speck in the 
midst of infinite space, the earth, as the habitation of man, is also a speck at the 
end of an infinity of time. If we are as nothing in the surrounding universe, 
we are as nothing in the elapsed eternity ; or rather, in the elapsed organic 
antiquity, during which the earth has existed and been the abode of life. 
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" — Plurality of 
Worlds, p. 122. 

Job xxxviii: 5. — Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?or who hath stretched 

the line upon it ? 

The Compiler. — The globe of the earth is not the product of chance, but of 
power guided by unerring intelligence. It may be said with literal truth that 
its dimensions were laid out by scale, its materials weighed in a balance, and 
its distances measured by a line. Its oblate sphericity, its parallel zones, its 
great circles and its small, have been described according to the principles of 
strict geometry. The ratio of its polar to its equatorial diameter was so fixed as 
to ensure for it, what was an absolute necessity, namely, an axial rotation per- 
fectly smooth and undeviating. Its mass and its magnitude were so estimated 
and determined as to adapt the force of its gravitation to the structure of the 
vegetation and to the strength of the living creatures that should occupy its 
surface. The angle of its axis with the plane of its orbit, and the speed of its 
rotation upon that axis, were so measured as to produce the pleasing alternation 
of day and night, and all the wonderful variations of the seasons. Its distance 
from the sun wa> so calculated, and the orbit it should pursue around him so 
described, that it should not be exposed to destructive cold on the one hand, 
nor to consuming heat on the other. These and a hundred other applications 
of the principles of mathematics, and of the laws of gravitation and motion, 
light and heat, were made in the construction of our world, ages and eons 
untold, ere the first of human kind had been quickened into consciousness. So 
that the Almighty's demand of Job was a question based upon actual fact: 
"Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched 
the line upon it ? " — See Work Days of God, p. 408-410. 



390 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

BOUNDS OF THE SEA. 

Job xxxviii : 9-1 1. — When I brake up for the sea my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and 
said, Hitherto shall thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? 

Prof. Arnold Guyot. — The forms, the arrangement, and the distribution, 
of the terrestrial masses on the surface of the globe, accidental in appearance, 
yet reveal a plan. The continents are made for human pieties, as the body- 
is made for the soul. The Supreme Intelligence and Goodness has arranged all 
for the great purpose of the education of man, and the realization of the plans 
of mercy for his sake. — Eai'th and Man, p. 34. 

Prof. William Whewell, M. A. — One of the quantities which enters into 
the constitution of the terrestrial system of things is the bulk of the waters of 
the ocean. The sources which water the earth, both clouds, rains, and rivers, 
are mainly fed by the aqueous vapor raised from the sea \ and therefore if the 
sea were much diminished, and the land increased, the mean quantity of moisture 
distributed upon the land must be diminished, and the character of climates, as 
to wet and dry, must be materially affected. Similar but opposite changes 
would result from the increase of the surface of the ocean. It appears, then, 
that the magnitude of the ocean is one of the conditions to which the structure 
of all organized beings which are dependent upon climate must be adapted. — 
Astronomy and General Physics, p. 38. • 

LIGHT AND DARKNESS. 

Job xxxviii: 19. — Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the 

place thereof? 

Robert Hunt. — Newton's theory of light was — that luminous particles dart 
from the surfaces of bodies in all directions — Huyghens, on the contrary, sup- 
poses light to be caused by the waves or vibrations of an elastic medium diffused 
through all space, which waves are propagated in every direction from the 
luminous body. In the one case, a luminous particle is supposed actually to 
come from the sun to the earth ; in the other, the sun only occasions a dis- 
turbance of the ether, which extends with great rapidity, in the same manner 
as a wave spreads itself over the surface of a lake. . . . But what is light ? . . . . 
We know much of the mysterious influences of this great agent, but we know 
nothing of the principle itself. The solar beam has been tortured through 
prismatic glasses and natural crystals. Every chemical agent has been tried 
upon it, every electrical force in the most excited state brought to bear upon its 
operations, with a view to the discovery of the most refined of ethereal agencies; 
but it has passed through every trial without revealing its secrets, and even the 
effects which it produces in its path are unexplained problems still, to tax the 
intellect of man. . . . Science, with her Ithuriel wand, has, however, shown 
that light is itself an effect of a yet more exalted cause, which we can only refer 
to the Source of every good and every perfect gift. — Poetry of Science, p. 94, 
124, 125. 



JOB XXXVIII. 301 

THE SNOW. 

Job xxxviii : 22. — Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? 
Captain Scoresby, R. N. — The extreme beauty and endless variety of the 
microscopic objects perceived in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, are .per- 
haps fully equalled if not surpassed, in both particulars of beauty and variety, 
by the crystals of snow. The principal configurations are the stelliform and 
hexagonal ; though almost every variety of shape of which the generating angle 
of 6o° and 120 are susceptible, may, in the course of a few years' observation,' 
be discovered. Some of the general varieties in the figures of the crystals ma/ 
be referred to the temperature of the air; but the particular and endless modifica- 
tion of similar classes of crystals can only be referred to the will and pleasure 
of the First Great Cause, whose works, even the most minute and evanescent, and 
in regions the most remote from human observation, are altogether admirable. — 
In Pict. Bible. 

PLEIADES AND ORION. 

Job xxxviii : 31. — Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? 
Homer. — The Pleiads, Hyads, with the northern team, 

And great Orion' s more refulgent beam. — Iliad, lxviii., v. 4S6. 
Aratus. — The Pleiads next are roll'd, 

Like seven pure brilliants set in ring of gold ; 

Though each one small, their splendor all combine 

To form one gem, and gloriously they shine. 

Their number seven, though some men fondly say, 

And poets feign, that one has pass'd away. — Phenom., v. 254. 
Thomas Dick, LL. D. — The constellation of Orion forms one of the most 
striking and beautiful clusters of stars in the heavens, and is generally recog- 
nized even by common observers. It is distinguished by four brilliant stars in 
the form of an oblong, or parallelogram ; and particularly by three bright stars 
in a straight line near the middle of the square or parallelogram, which are 
termed the Belt of Orion, and in the book of Job the " Bands of Orion." The 
line passing through these three stars points to the Pleiades. This cluster was 
described by the ancients as consisting of seven stars, but at present only six can 
be distinguished by the naked eye. — Sidereal Heavens, p. 18. 

Rev. Hugh Macmillan. — Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? 
If we examine this text in the original, we find that the Chaldaic word translated 
in our version "Pleiades" is Chimah, meaning literally a Hinge, or Pivot. 
Now, strange to say, M. Mitdler, of Dorpat, by a series of elaborate observa- 
tions and most ingenious calculations, has found that Alcyone, the brightest star 
of the Pleiades, is the centre of gravity to our vast Solar System — the luminous 
Hinge in the heavens round which our sun and his attendant planets are mov- 
ing through space. The very complexity and isolation of the system of the 
Pleiades, exhibiting seven distinct orbs closely compressed to the naked eye, 
but nine or ten times- that number when seen through a telescope — forming a 



392 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

grand cluster, whose individuals are united to each other more closely than the 
general mass of stars — indicate the amazing attractive energy that must be con- 
centrated in that spot. Vast as is the distance which separates our sun from 
this central group — a distance thirty-four millions of times greater than the 
distance between the sun and cur earth — yet so tremendous is the force exerted 
by Alcyone, that it draws our system irresistibly around it at the rate of 422,000 
miles a day, in an orbit which it will take many thousands of years to complete. 
With this new explanation, how remarkably striking and appropriate does the 
original word for Pleiades appear ! What a lofty significance does the question 
of the Almighty receive from this interpretation ! " Canst thou bind the sweet 
influences of Pleiades?" Canst thou arrest, or in any degree modify, that 
attractive influence which it exerts upon our sun and all its planetary worlds, 
whirling them round this pivot in an orbit of such inconceivable dimensions, 
and with a velocity so utterly bewildering? Silence the most profound can be 
the only answer to such a question. — In accordance with this higher interpreta- 
tion, the influence of the Pleiades maybe called ''sweet," as indicating the 
harmonious operation of those great laws by which our system revolves around 
them. In this vast and complex arrangement, not one wheel jars or creaks — 
not a single discordant sound disturbs the deep, solemn quietude of the mid- 
night sky. Smoothly and silently each star performs its sublime revolutions ; 
and all with a rhythm so perfect, that we might almost believe in the old poetic 
fable of " The Music of the Spheres." — Bible Teachings in Nature, p. 7-10. 

Idem. — Or loose the bands of Orion ? In the country of Job, Orion occupies 
a position near the zenith, and therefore is the more brilliant and striking in 
its appearance. Night after night it sheds down its rays with mystical splendor 
over the lonely solitudes through which the Euphrates flows, and where the tents 
of the patriarch of Uz once stood. Orion is not only the most striking and 
splendid constellation in the heavens ; it is also one of the very few clusters 
that are visible in all parts of the habitable world. The equator passes through 
the middle of it ; the glittering stars of its belt being strung, like diamonds, on 
its invisible line. The Bible reader of every clime and country can go out, in 
the appropriate season, and find in his own sky the very constellation, and direct 
his gaze to the very peculiarity in it, to which the Creator alluded in His mys- 
terious converse with Job. The three bright stars which constitute the girdle 
or bands of Orion never change their form ; they preserve the same relative 
position to each other, and to the rest of the constellation, from year to year, 
and age to age. They present precisely the same appearance to us which they 
did to Job. They afford to us one of the highest types of immutability in the 
midst of ceaseless changes. Mysterious triplet of stars ! What answer could 
Job give to the question of the Almighty — " Canst thou loose the bands of 
Orion? " Can man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and who is crushed before 
the moth, unclasp that brilliant starry bracelet which God's own hand has fast- 
ened on the dusky arm of night ? Can man separate these stars, or alter their 
relative positions in the smallest degree? — Bible Teachings in Nature, p. 13-16. 



job xxxix. 393 

ORDINANCES OF NATURE. 

Job xxxviii : 33-35. — Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven ? Canst thou set up the dominion 
thereof in the earth ? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters 
may cover thee ? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we 
are? 

Prof. William Whewell, M. A. — Man, in all his contrivances and combi- 
nations, only takes advantage of laws of nature which already exist; in his most 
exquisite machines he simply applies to his use qualities which matter already, 
possesses. Nor can he by any effort do more. He can establish no new law 
of nature which is not a result of the existing ones. He can invest matter with 
no new properties which are not modifications of its present attributes. He 
navigates the ocean by the assistance of the winds which he cannot raise or still. 
He cannot give the minutest portion of the atmosphere new relations, a new 
course of expansion, new laws of motion. He can set up the dominion of no 
new ordinance in the earth. — Astronomy and General Physics, p. 184. 

THE WILD ASS. 

Job xxxix : 5-8. — Who hath sent out the wild ass free ? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild 
ass? whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth 
the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the 
mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. 

Xenophon. — They (the forces of Cyrus) then proceeded through Arabia, still 
keeping the Euphrates on their right hand ; and, in five days, made, through a 
desert, a distance of thirty-five parasangs. This country appeared to the eye a 
complete flat, and as smooth as the sea. It abounded in absinthium ; and what- 
ever herb or shrub grew there had an aromatic scent : but no trees whatever 
appeared. Of wild creatures, the most numerous were wild asses, with plenty 
of ostriches, besides bustards and roe-deer, which afforded sport to our horsemen. 
The wild ass, however, being swifter of foot than our horses, would, on gaining 
ground upon them, stand still and look around ; and when their pursuers got 
nearly up to them, they would start off, an J repeat the same trick; so that there 
remained to the hunters no other method of taking them, but by dividing them- 
selves into dispersed parties which succeeded each other in the chase. — Anabasis, 
1. i., c. 5. 

Morier. — We gave chase to two wild asses, but which had so much the speed 
of our horses, that when they had got at some distance, they stood still and 
looked behind at us, snorting with their noses in the air, as if in contempt of 
our endeavors to catch them. — -Journey Through Persia. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Though well known byname, the 
wild ass is rarely now found west of the Hauran. I have seen it in the deserts 
of North Africa, in small troops of four or five. They allowed us to approach 
near enough to make them out more clearly, when, snuffing up the wind, they 
dashed off at a speed which the best of our horses could not have approached. 
The Syrian wild ass in no way differs from the African in habits. — Natural Hist, 
of the Bible, p. 43. 




(394) 



WILD ASSES. 



JOB XXXTX. 



395 



THE OSTRICH. 

Job xxxix : 13. — Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks ? or wings and feathers unto the 

ostrich ? 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — The parts of which the feathers of birds are composed, 
afford a beautiful variety of the most exquisite workmanship. There is scarcely 
a feather but contains a million of distinct parts, every one of them regularly 
shaped. In a small fibre of a goose quill, more than 1,200 downy branches or 
small leaves have been counted on each side, and each appeared divided into 
sixteen or eighteen small joints. A small part of the feather of a peacock, one- 




OSTRICH AND NEST. 

thirtieth of an inch in length, appears no less beautiful than the whole feather 
does to the naked eye, exhibiting a multitude of bright shining parts, reflecting 
first one color and then another in the most vivid manner. — Improvement of 
Society, Sec. VI. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The plumage of the male Ostrich 
is a brilliant contrast of black and white, the precious plumes of the wings and 
tail being spotless white. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 239. 

Job xxxix : 14. — Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust, and for- 
getteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The ostrich is polygamous, and 



396 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

several hens deposit their eggs in one place : a hole scraped in the sand. The 
eggs are then covered over, and left during the heat of the day, but sat upon 
through the night, and until the sun has full power, the male also incubating. 
I never but once found an ostrich nest, and then the complement of eggs was 
not completed. Tracing the foot-prints we came to the spot where we had 
(from a distance) seen two birds standing, and which we identified by the sand 
being much trodden. Two Arabs dismounting, began to dig with their hands, 
and presently brought up four fine fresh eggs, from the depth of about a foot 
under the warm sand. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 237. 

Job xxxix : 16. — She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her 

labor is in vain without fear. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— Though I- did not myself see the 
eggs scattered on the surface, yet ail my Arab friends have assured me that it is 
the invariable habit of the bird so to place many of them, and that far more are 
laid than are ever incubated. It is from this habit most probably that the want 
of parental instinct is laid to the charge of the Ostrich ; at the same time, when 
surprised by man with the young before they are able to run, the parent bird 
scuds off alone, and leaves its offspring to their fate. To do otherwise would 
be a self-sacrifice on the open desert. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 238. 

Job xxxix : 17. — Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her 

understanding. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — Stupidity is universally ascribed to the ostrich by 
the Arabs. In some respects this is accurate, for, when surprised, it will often 
take the very course that ensures its capture. The Arabs also consider it stupid, 
from the readiness with which it will swallow stones, nails, bullets, or any other 
hard and indigestible substance; and, in short, they give five particular proofs 
of its stupidity.— Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 238. 

Job xxxix: 18. — What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his 

rider. 

Xenophon. — None could take an ostrich ; the horsemen who pursued them soon 
gave up the attempt ; for they flew far away, making use both of their feet to run 
and of their wings when expanded, as a sail to waft them along. — Anab.., 1. i., c.5. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The ostrich of Arabia runs upon the ground as swiftly as 
if she flew in the air. — Diod. Sic, 1. ii., c. 4. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The capture of the ostrich is the greatest feat of 
hunting to which the Arab sportsman aspires. I have myself, in the Sahara, 
measured its strides, and found them, when bounding at full speed, to be from 
twenty-two to twenty-eight feet. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 236, 237. 

THE WAR HORSE. 

Job xxxix : 19-25. — Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with 
thunder? .... He goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not af- 
frighted ; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glit- 
tering spear and the shield, etc. 



JOB XXXIX. 



397 




ROMAN WAR-HORSE. 



Rev. Thomas S. Mill- 
ington, B. A. — The Arab- 
ians are now, as in the days 
of Job, passionately fond of 
their horses, whose beauties 
and merits they describe in 
most glowing and enthusias- 
tic language. Nothing can 
equal the poetic force and 
beauty of that in the book 
of Job. — Test, of Heath., 
p. 271. 

Virgil. — But at the clash of 

arms, his ear afar 

Drinks the deep sound 

and vibrates to the war: 

Flames from each nostril 

roll in gathered stream ; 

His quivering lips with restless motion gleam; 
O'er his right shoulder floating full and fair, 
Sweeps his thick mane and spreads his pomp of hair; 
Swift works his double spine; and earth around 
Rings to the solid hoof that wears the ground. 

— Georg., lib. iii., v. 83. 
THE EAGLE. 

Job xxxix : 27, 28. — Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? 
She dwelieth and abidelh on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. 

Aristotle. — Eagles build their 'nests in lofty places, especially among steep 
and precipitous rocks. — Hist. Anim., 1. ix., c. 32. 

Pliny. — The melanaetos, or black eagle, is an inhabitant of the mountains. 
Eagles build among rocks and trees. — Hist. Nat., X., 3. 

Job xxxix : 29. — From thence she seeth the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. 
Homer. — The field exploring, with an eye 

Keen as the eagle's, keenest-eyed of all 
That wing the air, whom, though he soar aloft, 
•The lev'ret 'scapes not in thickest shades, 
• But down he swoops, and at a stroke she dies. 

— Iliad, b. xvii., v. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The power of vision in the eagle is amazing 

incredible. No sooner does a kid fall in the wilderness among the thick bushes, 

'than some of these keen-sighted hunters after prey notice it from their pathway 

in mid-heaven, and, circling round and round, they pounce down upon and 

bear it away to their nest. This appears to be done purely by sight. — The Land 

and the Book, Vol. I., 257. 

25 



674. 

almost 



Book of Psalms. 



THE CHIEF GOOD. 

Psalm iv : 6. — There be many that say, Who will show us any good ? Lord, lift thou up the 

light of thy countenance upon us. 

Philemon. — Philosophers inquire, and lose much time in the inquiry, What 
is good? None of them can discover what it is. — Apud. Stob., LV. 

Cleanthes. — Alas for those who perpetually desire and seek some good 
things for themselves, but neither regard nor hearken to the universal laws of 
God. — Hymn, in Jov. 

GOD SUPREMELY EXCELLENT. 

Psm. viii : I. — O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! who hast set thy 

glory above the heavens. 

Cicero. — Nothing is more excellent than God. — De Nat. Deor., II., 30. 
^Eschylus. — Great is the glory of the most high God. — Apud. Euseb. 

DIVINE CONDESCENSION. 

Psm. viii : 3-5. — When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars 
which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him'? and the son of man 
that thou visitest him? 

Maximus Tyrius. — O, Jove and all ye gods, makers of the earth and the sea 
and all things "in them, what is this animal to whom thou hast given this life 
and this abode ? How bold, how rash, how boastful ! He regards not that 
which is good, leaves undone that which he should do, and gives himself 
entirely to pleasure. — Diss., 34. 

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and 

honor. 

Cicero. — This animal — prescient, sagacious, complex, acute, full of memory, 
reason and counsel, which we call Man, has been generated by the supreme God in 
a most transcendent condition. For he is the only creature among all the races 
and descriptions of animated beings who is endowed with superior reason and 
thought, in which the rest are deficient. And what is there, I do not say in 
man alone, but in all heaven and earth, more divine than reason, which, when 
it becomes right and perfect, is justly termed wisdom. — De Leg., 1. i., c. 7. 

VAIN CONFIDENCE. 

Psm. x : 6. — He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved : for I shall never be in adversity. 
Homer. — Man, while the gods 

Grant him prosperity and health, no fear 
Hath, or thought that he shall ever mourn. — Odys., xviii., 32. 
(398) 




(399) 



PSALM XVI. 401 

^Eschylus. — When the fav'ring gale 

Of fortune smooths the current, th' heart expands 
With unsuspecting confidence, and deems 
That gale shall always breathe. — Pers. y V., 597. 

THE GODLY CEASING, 

Psm. xii : I. — Help, Lord ; for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from among the chil- 
dren of men. 
Theognis. — Gone is faith, a mighty goddess; gone from men temperance; 
the graces too, my friend, have quitted earth, and just oaths are no more to 
be relied on among men ; neither does any one reverence the immortal gods. — 
Theogn., v. 1137. 

Statius. — Justice and piety are now no more, 

And slighted faith has fled the Theban shore ! 

— Tkeb., 1. iii., v. 350. 
THE FOOL'S ATHEISM. 

Psm. xiv : 1. — The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. 
Lord Bacon. — I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Tal- 
mud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without Mind; and, 
therefore, God never wrought miracles to convince atheism, because his ordinary 
works convict it. . . They that deny a God destroy a man's nobility, for certainly 
man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and if he be not of kin to God by his 
spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity, and 
the raising of human nature; for take the example of a dog, and mark what a 
generosity and courage he will put on when he finds himself maintained by a man, 
who to him is instead of a God, or melior natura — such courage is manifestly such 
as that creature, without that confidence of a " better nature " than his own, 
could never attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon divine 
protection and favor, gathereth a force and faith which human nature in itself 
could not obtain; therefore, as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, that 
it depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty.- — 
Essay on Atheism. 

DRINK-OFFERINGS OF BLOOD. 

Psm. xvi : 4. — Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer. 
Rosenmuller. — It was a custom with many heathen people, to drink the wine 
of the sacrifice mixed with blood, particularly when they bound themselves by 
dreadful oaths, and to the performance of fearful deeds. In this manner, as Sal- 
lust relates, Catiline took the oaths with his accomplices. "It was said at the 
time that Catiline, after making a speech, calling on the accomplices of his crime 
to take an oath, presented them with human blood mixed with wine, in cups; 
and when every one had drunk of it, after pronouncing an imprecation, as is 
customary in solemn sacrifices, explained his plan." In a similar manner, Silius 
Italicus makes the Carthaginian Hannibal swear, an instance of which is partic- 
ularly suitable to illustrate the above passage, because the Carthaginians were of 
Phenician or Canaanite origin. — Note, in loco. 



402 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THE PATH OF LIFE. 

Psm. xvi : II. — Thou wilt show me the path of life : in thy presence is fulness of joy ; at thy right 
hand there are pleasures for evermore. 

Cicero. — Somehow or other there clings to our minds a certain presage of 
future ages ; and this exists most firmly, and appears most clearly in men of the 
loftiest genius and greatest souls. — Tusc. Disp., 1. i., c. 15. 

THE WORKS OF GOD GLORIOUS. 

Psm. xix : I, 2. — The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handy- 
work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. 

Xenophon. — He who raised this whole universe and still upholds the mighty 
frame, who perfected every part of it in beauty and goodness, suffering none of 
those parts to decay through age, but renewing them daily with unfailing vigor, 
even he the Supreme God, who performeth all these wonders, still holds himself 
invisible, and it is only in his works that we are capable of admiring Him. — 
Mem. Soc, 1. iv., c, 3. 

Plato. — The earth and sun and all the stars, and the arrangements so beauti- 
ful of the seasons, divided into months and years, prove that there are gods. 
And, moreover, all men, both Greeks and Barbarians, believe it. — De Leg., 1. x., 
c. 1. 

Aristotle. — Though God is invisible to every mortal nature, yet he is to be 
known by his works.— De Mundo, c. 6. 

Lucian. — The order that is observable in all nature; the sun and the moon 
which always keep their regular course ; the seasons of the year, always returning 
in like succession ; the vegetation of plants and the propagation of living beings, 
and the fact that they are so artificially organized for feeding, moving, thinking, 
building themselves dwellings, clothing themselves — all this appears to me as the 
work of a providence superintending the world. — De Jov. Frg., c. 38. 

Cicero. — Can any one in his senses imagine that this disposition of the stars, 
and this heaven so beautifully adorned, could ever have been formed by a for- 
tuitous concourse of atoms ? The beauty of the world and the order of all celes- 
tial things compel us to confess that there is an excellent and eternal Nature 
which deserves to be worshipped and admired by all mankind. — De Natura 
Deorum, 1. ii., c. 44, 72. 

Verses 3, 4. — No speech — no language : yet their line is gone out through all the earth, and 
their words to the end of the world. 

Addison. — What though in solemn silence all 

Move round this dark terrestrial ball ; 
What though nor real voice nor sound 
Amid their radiant orbs be found — ' 
In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice; 
Forever singing as they shine, 
"The Hand that made us is Divine." 



PSALM XIX. 403 

Verses 4-6. — In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out 
of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end 
of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The sun makes his appearance above the horizon with 
splendor and majesty ; every creature seems to rejoice at his approach ; and 
during the whole of his course through his whole circuit, his apparent revolution 
from east to west, and from one tropic to the same again, no part of the earth 
is deprived of its proper proportion of light and heat. — Note, in loco. 

The Compiler. — In days not long since past, infidels were wont to ridicule 
the Scriptures because they taught that the sun had a path of its own in the 
heavens, — whereas both its diurnal and annual progress are only apparent 
motions. But the advancement of science has deprived scepticism even of this 
wrested foothold. It is now proved that the sun has his own proper orbit and 
motion, — that he is on a long journey around a far-off centre. And thus the 
ridicule has been brought to an end, and the weapon which the infidel drew 
from the Nineteenth Psalm has fallen from his hand, to be seized and wielded by 
the believer, not only in defence, but in vigorous assault. — See Herschel's 
Outlines of Astronomy, § 858. 

Madler. — The star Alcyone, in the Pleiades, is removed from us about thirty- 
two million times the distance of the sun — a distance requiring 498 years for light 
to traverse. Our sun in its course about Alcyone, the centre of its vast orbit, 
moves at the rate of eight geographical miles in a second, and requires over 
eighteen millions of years to complete one revolution. — Pop. Astr.,p. 427. 

THE DIVINE LAW PERFECT. 

Psm. xix : 7—1 1. — The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the 
Lord is sure, making wise the simple : the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : 
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes: the fear of the Lord is clean, 
enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to 
be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold : sweeter also than honey and the 
honey-comb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned : and in keeping of them there is 
great reward. 

Thomas Dick, LL. D. — The Moral Law, or Ten Commandments, are briefly 
comprehended in these two precepts, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." It could 
easily be shown, that these principles are sufficient to form the basis of a moral 
code for the whole intelligent creation, that they are calculated to unite the 
creature to the Creator, and all rational beings with one another wherever they 
may exist through the boundless empire of the Almighty ; and that peace, order 
and happiness would be the invariable and necessary results wherever their 
influence extended. If the love of God reigned supreme in every heart, there 
would be no superstition or idolatry in the universe, nor any of the crimes and 
abominations with which they have been accompanied in our world, — no 
blasphemy or profanation of the name of Jehovah, — no perjury, hypocrisy, 
arrogance, pride, ingratitude, nor murmurings under the allotments of Divine 



404 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Providence. And, if every moral intelligence loved his fellow-creatures as 
himself, there would be no rivalships and antipathies between nations, and, 
consequently, no wars, devastation, nor carnage, — no tyranny, haughtiness, or 
oppression among the great, nor envy, discontent, or insubordination among the 
lower classes of society, — no systems of slavery, no persecutions on account of 
religious opinions, — no murders, thefts, robberies, or assassinations, — no 
treacherous friendships, no fraud and deceit in commercial transactions, — no 
implacable resentments among friends and relatives, and no ingratitude or 
disobedience among children or servants. On the other hand, meekness, long- 
suffering, gentleness, humility, temperance, fidelity, brotherly-kindness, and 
sacred joy, would pervade every heart and transform our world from a scene 
of contention and misery to a moral paradise. The comprehensive nature of 
these laws or principles, and their tendency to produce universal order and 
happiness among all intelligences, prove that they "are more precious than 
gold, yea, than much fine gold, and that in keeping of them there is great 
reward."— Improv. of Soci., 119. 

WHO SHALL DWELL WITH GOD. 

Psm. xxiv : 3-5. — Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? or who shall stand in his holy 
place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart ; who hath not lifted up his soul unto 
vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness 
from the God of his salvation. 

Lucian. — The inscription on the tablets in the temples of the Greeks sets 
forth that nobody must dare to come within the inclosure of the lustral water- 
vessels who has not clean hands. — De SacHf., c. 13. 

Callimachus. — Being pure, may I also be dear to the pure and holy. — H. in 
Deton., v. 98. 

Ovid. — The good are God's peculiar care, 

And such as honor heaven shall heavenly honor share. 

— Metam., 1. viii., v. 724. 

PURITY AND INNOCENCE. 

Psm. xx vi : 6. — I will wash my hands in mnocency : so will I compass thine altar, O Lord. 

Cicero. — One of the legal maxims I have mentioned states that we should 
approach the gods with purity — that is to say, with purity of mind, for this is 
everything. Not that the law dispenses with purity of body ; but this must be 
understood, inasmuch as the mind is far superior to the body ; and it may be 
observed, that if we are attentive to the purity of our persons, we ought to be 
still more so to the purity of our souls. For the pollution of the body may 
indeed be removed by a few ablutions of water, or in a few days ; but the stains 
upon the conscience cannot be obliterated by any lapse of time, and all the 
rivers in the world cannot wash them out. — De Leg., 1. ii., c. 10. 

BIT AND BRIDLE. 

Psm. xxxii: 9. — Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose 
mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. 



PSALM XLII. 405 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The Assyrian sculptures exhibit 
riding-horses with bells round their necks, and the bridles were profusely 
adorned with tassels, as they are still by the Arabs. The bit and bridle were 
of the same form as those in use to this day. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 107. 

THE DIVINE COMMAND OMNIPOTENT. 

Psm. xxxiii : 9. — For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. 

Cleanthes. — Thee alone this vast universe obeys ; to thee it willingly 
submits itself. — Clean. H., in Jov. 

Verse x: — The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought • he maketh the devices of 

the people of none effect. 

Homer. — But mighty Jove cuts off with just disdain 

The long, long views of poor designing man. 

— Iliad, 1. xviii., v. 328. 
UNCEASING PRAISE. 

Psm. xxxiv : 1. — I will bless the Lord at all times ; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 

Epictetus. — Since I am a reasonable creature, it is my duty to praise God. 

This is my business ; I do it ; nor will I ever desert this post as long as it is 

vouchsafed to me ; and I exhort you to join in the same song. — Epict., 1. i., c. 16. 

WATERS OF AFFLICTION. 

Psm. xlii : 7. — Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts. 
Prof. Eli as Loomis, LL. D. — When a whirlwind is formed over water, con- 
siderable spray is raised from the surface of the water, and this spray is carried up 
in the centre of the whirl, presenting the appearance of a dense solid column. 
This phenomenon is called a water-spout. Water-spouts are of variable 
dimensions, but sometimes they attain a diameter of several rods, and a height 
of half a mile. When the spout is complete, there is heard a roaring noise like 
that of a great waterfall. — Treatise on Meteorology, p. 154, 155. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — There is no part of the Mediterranean in which 
water-spouts are of such frequent occurrence as on the coast of Syria. The 
Jews were, therefore, familiar with the phenomenon ; and it is by no means 
unlikely that David had actually seen water-spouts himself; or if not, it is 
certain that they must have been well known, by the report of those who had seen 
them, to David and to the people generally. A water-spout at sea is a splendid 
sight; in shape it resembles a funnel, with the tube pointed to the water. After 
a time it bursts, and the noise occasioned by the fall of a large body of water 
into the sea is very great. Their bursting near a vessel would involve it in great 
danger of being submerged. — Note, in loco. 

Verse 7. — All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 
^Eschylus. — Wide o'er misfortune's surging tide 
Billows succeeding billows spread ; 
Should one, its fury spent, subside, 
Another lifts its boisterous head, 

Sept. c. T/teb., v. 758. 



403 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



Euripides. — I, unhappy wretch, perceive a sea of troubles so great that never 
again can I emerge from it, nor escape beyond the flood of this calamity. — ■ 
HippoL, v. 822. 

Psm. xliv : 20. — If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a 

strange god. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — The stretching out of the hand towards the 
object of devotion seems to have been an ancient custom of both the Jews and 




KOYMENH .XPONOZ.IMAJ: . O AYZgElAOMHPo^nrofOlfWfM^^ 



LIFTING UP OF HANDS. — FROM AN ANCIENT SCULPTURE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 

heathen. It is still an attitude of devout supplication in the East. — Pict. Bible, 
in loco. 

TYRIAN EMBROIDERY. 

Psm. xlv: 12-14. — And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among 
the people shall entreat thy favour. The king's daughter is all glorious within : her clothing 
is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needle-work : the vir- 
gins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 

Homer. — There lay the vestures of no vulgar art, 
Sidonian maids embroidered every part, 
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore, 
With Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore. 

— Iliad, VI., 289. 
Lucan.- — Cleopatra wears treasures, and pants under the weight of her orna- 
ments. Her white breasts shine through the Sidonian fabric, which, wrought 
in close texture by the Seres, the needle of the workman of the Nile, has sepa- 
rated, and has loosened the warp by stretching out the web. — Phars.> 1. x., y. 

GOB RULES SUPREME. 

Psm. xlvi : 9. — He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth : he breaketh the bow and 
cutteth the spear in sunder ; he burneth the chariot in the fire. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — A medal, struck under Vespasian, to commemo- 



PSALM XLIX. 



407 



rate the termination of his wars, represents Peace holding an olive-branch with 
one hand, and in the other a lighted torch, with which she sets fire to a heap 
of armor. As a symbolical action, representing the conclusion of wars, this is 
very expressive. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Virgil. — A conqueror, I burnt vast heaps of shields. — ^n., 1. viii., v. 560, 

VIOLENCE OF THE EAST WIND. 

Psm. xlviii : 7. — Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — In proof of the accuracy of this 
allusion, it may be observed that from October, 1863, to June, 1864, there were 
but six days in which the wind blew from the East, and on each occasion it 
blew almost a gale.— Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 34. 

RICHES CANNOT SAVE. 

Psm. xlix : 6, 7. — They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their 
riches ; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for 
him. 

Homer. — Fixt is the term to all the race of earth ; 

And such the hard condition of our birth : 
No force can them resist, no flight can save ; 
All sink alike, the fearful and the brave. 
Life is not to be bought with heaps of gold. 
Not all Apollo's Pythian treasures hold, 
Or Troy once held, in peace and pride of sway, 
Can bribe the poor possession of a day. 

—Iliad, VI., 488, and IX., 401. 

Verse II. — Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling- 
places to all generations , they call their lands after their own names. 

Euripides. — Alas ! alas ! how do the evil vaunt, when the deity grants them 
good, as though they were ever to be prosperous ! — SuppL, v. 463. 

Verses 16, 17. — Be not afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; 
for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away • his glory shall not descend after him. 

Lucian. — Cease from toiling and moiling ! you will not live always ; nothing 
of that you treasure up here below is everlasting; none of you can take any- 
thing with him in death ; he must go hence as naked as he came hither ; your 
houses, your estates, your gold, all these must perpetually devolve from one to 
the other, and continually change masters. — Cha?'on, c. 20 

Theognis. — No one goes to Hades with his wealth. — Thcog., v. 725. 

THE PROSPEROUS PRAISED. 

Psm. xlix : 18. — Men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. 

Euripides. — Prosperous men are renowned and conspicuous among all mor- 
tals. — Iph. in Aul.y v. 427. . 



408 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Horace. — Virtue, glory, beauty, all divine 

And human powers, Immortal Gold ! are thine; 
And he who piles the shining heap, shall rise 
Noble, brave, just — 

You will not call him wise? 
Yes; anything; a monarch, if he please. — Hor., 1. ii., sat. 3. 

THE GUILTY FEARFUL 

Psm. liii : 5.— There were they in great fear, where no fear was. 

Juvenal. — In every fearful shape 

Guilt still alarms, and conscience, ne'er asleep, 

Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud but deep, 

While the vexed mind, her own tormentor, plies 

A scorpion scourge, unmarked by human eyes ! 

Trust me, no tortures which the poets feign, 

Can match the fierce, unutterable pain 

He feels, who night and day, devoid of rest, 

Carries his own accuser in his breast. — Sat. xiii., v. 192. 

MAN WOULD FLY FROM TROUBLE. 

Psm. lv : 6. — And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, and be at 

rest. 

Euripides. — O that the God would make me like a winged bird among the 
swift flocks. — Hippol, v. 733. 

Idem. — O that I could be wafted through the yielding air 
Far, very far from Hellas, 
To the inhabitants of the Hesperian region : 
So great is my load of grief. — Ion., v. 796 

LACHRYMATORIES. 

Psm. \v\ : 8. — Thou tellest my wanderings : put thou my tears into thy bottle : are they not in 

thy book ? 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A.— In the Roman tombs are found small bottles 
(lachrymatories) of glass or pottery, which are supposed to have contained tears 
shed by the surviving friends of the deceased, and to have been deposited in the 
sepulchres as memorials of affection and distress. . . . There are still some traces 
of such a usage in the East. Thus, in the annual lamentations of the Persians 
for the slaughtered sons of Ali, their tears are copiously excited by passionate 
discourses and tragical recitations. When at the height of their grief, a priest 
sometimes goes round to each person and collects the tears with a piece of 
cotton, from which he presses them into a bottle, preserving them with the 
greatest care. — Pict. Bib. t in loco. 



PSALM LXVIII. 409 

THE DEAF ADDER. 

Psm. lviii : 4, 5.— They are like the deaf adder that st >ppeth her ear ; which will not hearken to 
the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. 

Lord Arthur C. Hervey. — There can be no question at all of the remarka- 
ble power which, from time immemorial, has been exercised by certain people 
in the East over poisonous serpents. The usual species operated upon both in 
Africa and India are the Hooded Snakes and the horned Cerastes. The skill of 
the Italian Marsi and the Libyan Psylli in taming serpents was celebrated 
throughout the world; and to this day, as we are told by Sir G. Wilkinson, the 
snake-players of the coast of Barbary are worthy successors of the Psylli. — 
Smith's Did. of Bible, p. 2932. 

Virgil. — Umbro, the priest of the Marrubian nation, was able, by his voice 
and his touch, to put to sleep vipers, to soothe their anger, and to cure by his 
art the poison of their bite. — ALneid, lib. vii., v. 753. 

THE MELTING SNAIL. 

Psm. lviii : 8. — As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Few snails can remain long in an 
active state without moisture. In order to prevent the evaporation of the 
moisture of the body all those molluscs which have a thin or a semi-transparent 
shell secrete themselves in dry weather under stones, like the shell-less snails or 
slugs, or else among moss and under leaves, and many species also in the earth. 
But, notwithstanding the care they take to secrete themselves, the heat often 
does dry them up, either by a long-continued drought, or by the sun's rays 
penetrating to their holes. Thus we find in all parts of the Holy Land myriads 
of snail-shells in fissures, still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their 
orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled 
and wasted — "melted away," according to the expression of the Psalmist, — 
-Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 296. 

SILVERY WINGS. 

Psm. Ixviii : 13. — Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove 
covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — David here refers to a kind of dove found at Damas- 
cus still, whose feathers, all except the wings, are literally as yellow as gold; 
they are very small, and kept in cages. I have often had them in my house, 
but their note is so very sad that I could not endure it ; besides, they keep it up 
by night as well as by day. Nothing can exceed the plaintiveness of their mid- 
night lamentation. — The Land and the Book, I., 417. 

HILL OF BASHAN. 

Psm. Ixviii : 15. — The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan ; a high hill as the hill of Bashan. 
Rev. William Fraser, LL. D. — The "poet prophets" of Israel have fully 
described the country of Bashan, — the stateliness of its oaks, the magnificence 



410 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of its scenery, the luxuriance of its pastures, the fertility of its plains, and the 
qualities of its flocks and herds ; — and modern travellers have confirmed to the 
letter the accuracy of their glowing delineations. — Blending Lights, p. 271. 

PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED. 

Psm. Ixxiii : 2-5, and 16, 17. — As for me my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh 
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For 
there are no bands in their death : but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other 
men ; neither are they plagued as other men. . . . When I thought to know this, it was too 
painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary of God ; then understood I their end. 

Plato. — The good fortune of evil and unjust men, both in private and public 
life, who although not truly happy, yet are deemed to be very much so in 
common opinion, and are improperly hymned by the muses, lead you, not very 
sensibly, to impiety. Or, perhaps, on seeing that impious old men, after 
arriving at their end, have left behind them grandchildren in the greatest honors, 
you are disturbed for the present, in all these matters : you conceived that you 
beheld in their doings, as in a mirror, the disregard of all things on the part of 
the gods, not knowing in what way they pay up the full amount of their contri- 
butions to every one. — De. Leg., lib. x., c. 12. 

Verse 19. — How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment ! they are utterly consumed 

with terrors. 

Livy. — The punishments which attend pride and cruelty, though they may 
come late, are not light. — Liv., 1. iii., c. 56. 

THE SEA DIVIDED. 

Psm. lxxiv: 13, 14. — Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou breakest the heads of the 
dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be 
meat for the people inhabiting the wilderness. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The Ichthyophagi (Fish-eaters) occupy the coasts of the 
Red Sea, and the southern parts of Ethiopia. When the tide ebbs, women and 
children collect the little fish near the sea-shore, while the men employ them- 
selves in securing the great and strong fish; for the sea not only casts up great 
lobsters, lampreys, and dog-fish, but also sea-calves, and many other monsters. 
— Diod. Sic., 1. iii. c. 1. 

THE TURTLE-DOVE. 

Psm. lxxiv: 19. — O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the multitude of the wicked. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — While other songsters are heard chiefly in the morn- 
ing, or only at intervals, the Turtle immediately on its arrival pours forth, from 
every garden, grove, and wooded hill, its melancholy yet soothing ditty, unceas- 
ingly from early dawn till sunset. It is from its plaintive and continuous note, 
doubtless, that David, pouring forth his heart's sorrow to God, compares him- 
self to a turtle-dove. — Nat. Hist, of Bib., p. 219. 



PSALM LXXXIV. 411 

GOD THE DISPOSER OF MAN'S LOT. 

Psm. lxxv: 6, 7. — For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the 
south. But God is the judge : He putteth down one, and setteth up another. 

Xenophon. — God, it must be owned, often takes delight in making the little 
great, and the great little. — Hist. Grczc, 1. vi., c. 4. 
Homer. — Jove's high will is ever uncontroll'd, 

The strong he withers, and confounds the bold ; 
Now crowns with fame the mighty man, and now 
Strikes the fresh garland from the victor's brow. 

—Iliad, XVII., 176. 
Verse 8. — For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of 
mixture ; and he poureth out of the same : but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth 
shall wring them out, and drink them. 

Homer. — Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood, 
The source of evil one, and one of good ; 
From thence the cup of mortal man he fills, 
Blessings to these, to those distributes ill. — Iliad, XXIV., 527. 

THE WILD BOAR. 

Psm. lxxx : 13. — The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth 

devour it. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The wild boar is still very com- 
mon, the dread and the abomination of the careful husbandman, whose fields it 
ravages without remorse ; but it seldom visits the neighborhood of towns on the 
coast. — Nat. Hist, of Bib., p. 36. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The wild boars come forth to feed at night, 
plowing up the ground with their powerful tusks in quest of tender roots, bulbs, 
and grubs, preferring the loose soil of cultivated fields ; they break through the 
hedges of the vineyards, and devour and trample down quantities of fruit in a 
single night. — Bible Lands, p. 257. 

POTTERS OF EGYPT. 

Psm. lxxxi : 6. — I removed his shoulder from the burden : his hands were delivered from the 

pots. 

Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M. A. — The Hebrews had been concerned 
in the potters' trade in Egypt; and the wall-paintings minutely illustrate the 
Egyptian process, which agrees with such notices of the Jewish practice as are 
found in the prophets, and also in many respects with the process as pursued in 
the present day. — Smith's Bible Diet., p. 2568. 

THE SPARROW AND THE SWALLOW. 

Psm. Ixxxiv : 3. — Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, 
where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God. 

Rosenmuller. — These words probably refer to the custom of several nations 



412 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of antiquity, that birds which build their nests on the temples, or within the 
limits of them, were not suffered to be driven away, much less killed, but found 
a secure and uninterrupted dwelling. Hence, when Aristodikus disturbed the 
birds' nests of the temple of Kumse, and took the young from them, a voice, 
according to a tradition preserved by Herodotus, is said to have spoken these 
words from the interior of the temple : " Most villanous of men, how darest 
thou do such a thing, to drive away such as seek refuge in my temple? " The 
Athenians were so enraged at Atarbes, who had killed a sparrow which built on 
the temple of ^Esculapius, that they killed him. Among the Arabs, who are 
more closely allied to the Hebrews, birds which have built their nests on the 
temple of Mecca were inviolable from the earliest times. — Note in loco. 

Paxton. — Some of these sparrows and swallows the Psalmist had probably 
seen constructing their nests, and propagating their kind, in the buildings near 
the altar, or in the courts of the temple ; and piously longs to revisit the scene 
so dear to his heart. — Note in loco. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The swallow uses the same nest year after 
year, only repairing it ; and it is worthy of note that both the swallow and the 
sparrow may still be seen fluttering and rearing their broods about the so-called 
Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem, as well as the buildings which occupy the site of 
Solomon's temple. . . . They are busy all summer long rearing their two suc- 
cessive broods, flitting and darting in all directions, collecting materials for their 
nests, or food for their progeny. — Bible Lands, p. 287. 

PLEASURE OF GOD'S HOUSE. 

Psm. lxxxiv: 10. — For a clay in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door- 
keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

Aristotle. — To live one year honorably is better than to live many years in 
the ordinary manner ; and to perform one honorable and great act, better than 
to perform many small ones. — Eth., 1. ix., c. 8. 

Cicero. — Philosophy, thou guide of life ! one day spent well, and agreeably 
to thy precepts, is preferable to an eternity of error. — Tusc. Disp., 1. v., c. 2. 

TABOR AND HERMON. 

Psm. Ixxxix: 12. — Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Approaching Nain, the foreground 
was singularly uninteresting, but the distant landscape on the way was of striking 
beauty. Hermon, clad in spotless snow, was now clear of Tabor, and the two 
thus stood forth side by side ; Tabor with its bright green foreground, dotted 
all over with gray trees, contrasted finely with the dazzling white of the former. 
Somewhere near this spot the sacred poet may have passed when he exclaimed, 
" Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name." They are eminently the two 
mountain features of Galilee. — Land of Isr., p. 129. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, LL. D. — Tabor lies about six or eight miles almost 
due east from Nazareth. The Saviour must have passed often at the foot of this 






PSALM XCII. 413 

mount in the course of his journeys in differents parts of Galilee. It is not sur- 
prising that the Hebrews looked up with so much admiration to this glorious 
work of the Creator's hand. The same beauty rests upon its brow to-day, the 
same richness of verdure refreshes the eye, in contrast with the bleaker aspect 
of so many of the adjacent mountains. The Christian traveller yields sponta- 
neously to the impression of wonder and devotion, and appropriates as his own 
language that of the Psalmist, "The north and the south thou hast created 
them; Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name." — Smith's Diet, of Bib., 
p. 3164. 

LIFE FRAIL AND FLEETING. 

Psm. xc : 5, 6. — In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it 
flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth. 

Homer.— Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, 

Now green in youth, now withered on the ground ; 

Another race the following spring supplies ; 

They fall successive, and successive rise : 

So generations in their course decay ; 

So flourish these, when those are pass'd away. — Iliad, VI., 146. 

Verse 10. — The days of our years are three-score years and ten. 
Solon. — I will suppose the term of human life to extend to seventy years. — 
Herodt., 1. i., c. 32. 

DIVINE PROTECTION. 

Psm. xci : 4, 5. — He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust : 
his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor 
for the arrow that flieth by day. 

Homer. — Some guardian of the skies 

Involved in clouds, protects him in the fray, 
And turns unseen, the frustrate dart away. 

—Iliad, V., v. 185. 
THE PALM-TREE. 

Psm. xcii : 12. — The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The life of a righteous man may 
be compared to the palm-tree for many reasons. It flourishes in a barren soil; 
it requires constant moisture ; it is a lofty tree, a straight tree ; it is always 
growing so long as it lives, and is always green, and always bears fruit, as far as 
possible from earth, and as near as possible to heaven. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, 
p. 384. 

Paxton. — The palm is one of the most beautiful trees in the vegetable 
kingdom ; it is upright, lofty, verdant, and embowering. It grows by the 
brook or well of living water; and resisting every attempt to press or bend it 
downward, shoots directly towards heaven. For this reason, perhaps, it was 
regarded by the ancients as peculiarly sacred, and therefore most frequently 



414 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

used in adorning their temples. The chosen symbol of constancy, fruitfulness, 
patience, and victory; the more it is oppressed, the more it flourishes, the 
higher it grows, and the stronger and broader the top expands. To this 
majestic and useful tree the child of God is compared in the holy Scriptures 
with singular elegance and propriety. — In Bush's Illust., p. 405. 

FORMATION OF THE EAR. 

Psm. xciv : 9. — He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? 

Prof. P. M. Roget, F. R. C. P., etc. — The concha, or external ear, is formed 
of an elastic plate of cartilage, covered by integument, and presenting various 
elevations and depressions, which form a series of parabolic curves, apparently 
for the purpose of collecting the sonorous undulations of the air and of directing 
them into a funnel-shaped canal, termed the meatus auditorius, which leads to 
the internal ear. This canal is composed partly of cartilage, and partly of bone ; 
and the integument lining it is furnished with numerous small glands, which 
supply a thick oily fluid, of an acrid quality, apparently designed to prevent the 
intrusion of insects : the passage is also guarded by hairs, which appear intended 
for a similar purpose. 

The meatus is closed at the bottom by a membrane, which is stretched across 
it like the skin of a drum, and has been termed, from this resemblance, the 
membrane of the tympanum, or the ear-drum. It performs, indeed, an office 
corresponding to its name ; for the sonorous undulations of the air, which have 
been collected, and directed inwards by the grooves of the concha, strike upon 
the ear-drum, and throw it into a similar state of vibration. The ear-drum is 
composed of an external membrane, derived from the cuticle which lines the 
meatus; an internal layer, which is continuous with that of the cavity beyond 
it; and a middle layer, which consists of radiating muscular fibres, proceeding 
from the circumference toward the centre, where they are inserted into the 
extremity of a minute bony process, presently to be described. This muscular 
structure appears designed to vary the degree of tension of the ear-drum, and 
thus adapt the rate of its vibrations to those communicated to it by the air. 
There is, also, -a slender muscle, situated internally, which by acting on this 
delicate process of bone, as on a lever, puts the whole membrane on the stretch, 
and enables its radiating fibres to effect the nicer adjustments required for 
tuning, as it may be called, this part of the organ. 

Immediately behind the membrane of the ear-drum there is a hollow space, 
called the cavity of the tympanum, of an irregular shape, scooped out of the most 
solid part of the temporal bone, which is here of great density and hardness. 
This cavity is always filled with air; but it would obviously defeat the purpose 
of the organ if the air were confined in this space; because unless it were allowed 
occasionally to expand or contract, it could not long remain in equilibrium with 
the pressure exerted by the atmosphere on the external surface of the ear-drum; 
a pressure which, as is well known, is subject to great variations, indicated by the 
rise and fall of the barometer. These variations would expose the membrane of the 



PSALM XCIV. 415 

ear-drum to great inequalities of pressure at its outer and inner surfaces, and en- 
danger its being forced, according to the state of the weather,' either outwards or 
inwards, which would completely interfere with the delicacy of its vibrations. 
Nature has guarded against these evils by establishing a passage of communica- 
tion between the tympanum and the external air, by means of a tube, termed the 
Eustachian Tube, which begins by a small orifice from the inner side of the cav- 
ity of the tympanum, and opens by a wide mouth at the back of the nostrils. 
This tube performs the same office in the ear, as the hole which it is found ne- 
cessary to make in the side of a drum, for the purpose of opening a communica- 
tion with the external air; a communication which is as necessary for the func- 
tions of the ear, as it is for the proper sounding of the drum. We find accord- 
ingly that a degree of deafness is induced whenever the Eustachian tube is 
obstructed, which may happen either from the swelling of the membrane lining, 
during a cold, or from the accumulation of secretion in the passage. 

On the side of the cavity of the tympanum, which is opposite to the opening 
of the Eustachian tube, is situated the beginning of another passage, leading 
into numerous cells, contained in the mastoid process of the temporal bone, and 
therefore termed the mastoid cells ; these cells are likewise filled with air. The 
innermost side of the same cavity, that is, the side opposite to the ear-drum, is oc- 
cupied by a rounded eminence, of a triangular shape, termed the promontory ; 
on each side of which there is an opening in the bone, closed, however, by the 
membrane lining the whole internal surface of the cavity. The opening situ- 
ated at the upper edge of the promontory is called the fenestra ovalis, or oval win- 
dow ; and that near the under edge is the fenestra rotunda, or round window. 

Connected with the membrane of the ear-drum, at one end, and with the fen- 
estra ovalis at the other, there extends a chain of very minute movable bones, 
four in number, which may be called the tympanic ossicula. The names these 
bones have received are more descriptive of their shape than of their office. 
The first is the malleus, or hammer; and its long handle is affixed to the centre 
of the ear-«drum; the second is the incus, or anvil; the third, which is the small- 
est in the body, being about the size of a millet seed, is the orbicular bone ; 
and the last is the stapes, or stirrup, the base of which is applied to the mem- 
brane of the fenestra ovalis. These bones are regularly articulated together, with 
all the ordinary apparatus of joints, and are moved by small muscles provided 
for that purpose. Their office is apparently to transmit the vibrations of the 
ear-drum to the membrane of the fenestra ovalis, and probably, at the same time, 
to increase their force. 

The more internal parts of the ear compose what is designated, from the intri- 
cacy of its winding passages, the labyrinth. This consists of a middle portion, 
termed the vestibule, from which, on its upper and posterior side, proceed three 
tubes, called, from their shape, semicircular canals ; while to the lower anterior 
side of the vestibule there is attached a spiral canal, resembling in appearance 
the shell of a snail, and on that account denominated the cochlea. All these 
bony cavities are lined with a very delicate membrane, or periosteum, and are 
26 



416 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

filled with a transparent watery or thin gelatinous fluid, which is termed by 
Breschet the perilymph. 

Within the cavity of the osseous labyrinth, now described, are contained mem- 
branes having nearly the shape of the vestibule and semicircular canals, but not 
extending to the cochlea. These membranes, which compose what has been 
termed, for the sake of distinction, the membranous labyrinth, form one contin- 
uous but closed sac containing a fluid, perfectly similar in appearance to the peri- 
lymph, which surrounds it on the outer side, and intervenes between it and the 
sides of the osseous labyrinth, preventing any contact with those sides. 

The Cochlea, again, is an exceedingly curious structure, being formed of the 
spiral convolutions of a double tube, or rather of one tube, separated into two 
compartments by a partition, called the lamina spiralis, which extends its whole 
length, except at the very apex of the cone, where it suddenly terminates in a 
curved point, or hook, leaving an aperture by which the two portions of the tube 
communicate together. The central pillar, round which these tubes take two 
and a half circular turns, is termed the modiolus. The trunk of the auditory 
nerve occupies a hollow space immediately behind the ventricle, and its branches 
pass through minute holes in the bony plate which forms the wall of that cav- 
ity, and being finally expanded on the different parts of the membranous laby- 
rinth. Such are the principal parts of the complex apparatus which constitutes the 
organ of hearing. — A?iimal and Vegetable Physiology, Vol. II., p. 298-306. 

Prof. T. H. Huxley, LL. D., F. R. S. — The vibrations or aerial waves, 
which enter the meatus all impinge upon the membrane of the drum and set it 
vibrating. The vibrations thus set up in the membrane of the tympanum are 
communicated, in part, to the air contained in the drum of the ear, and, 
in part, to the malleus, and thence to the other auditory ossicles. The dis- 
position of these bones, and the mode of their articulation, are extremely favor- 
able to vibration en masse. The long processes of the malleus and incus 
swing, like a pendulum, upon the axis furnished by the short processes of these 
bones; while the mode of connection of the incus with the stapes, and* the latter 
with the edges of the fenestra ovalis, allows that bone free play, inwards and 
outwards. Every pull and push thus given imparts a corresponding set of shakes 
to the perilymph, which fills the bony labyrinth and cochlea, external to the 
membranous labyrinth and scala media. These shakes are communicated to the 
endolymph and fluid of the scala media, and, by the help of the otolithes and 
the fibres of the Corti, are finally converted into impulses, which act as irritants 
of the ends of the vestibular and cochlear divisions of the auditory nerve. The 
membranous labyrinth may be regarded as an apparatus whereby sounds are 
appreciated and distinguished according to their intensity or quantity : the 
cochlea, on the other hand, it is supposed, enables the mind to discriminate the 
quality rather than the quantity or intensity of sound. — Elementary Physiology, 
t>. 209-212. 

Charles Brooke, M. A., F. R. S. — The Cochlea in form resembles a snail- 
shell, the spiral chamber being divided into two parts by a membrane stretched 



PSALM XCIV. 417 

Across it, the transverse fibres of which are capable of being rendered more or 
less tense by a muscle extending throughout the length of the chamber. As the 
diameter of this spiral chamber decreases gradually from the base to the apex, it 
is obvious that the transverse fibres of the spiral lamina must also gradually de- 
crease in length. On this membrane rest the free ends of a series of remarkable 
organs called the " Rods of Corti," placed parallel to each other like the keys 
of a manual, and their attached ends are embedded in nerve cells. There is 
little room for doubt that sounds of a given pitch, or frequency of vibration, 
specially affect a corresponding fibre of this membrane (just as the shorter 
strings of a harp or piano correspond respectively to higher tones), and that the 
nerve-tissue adjacent to the rod resting on this fibre feels the sonorous vibration, 
and transmits to the brain its perception of it : and thus that the special function 
of the cochlea is to appreciate the frequency of the vibrations ; that is to say, the 
pitch of musical sounds, and also probably their timbre, or quality. 

The three Semicircular Canals are chiefly remarkable for their invariable rela- 
tive position : they are, without exception, found to lie in three planes, each of 
which is perpendicular to the other two ; or in the language of geometry, in 
three rectangular co-ordinate planes. By means of these canals, positioned thus 
in relation to one another, the ear can appreciate the direction f?'om which sound 
proceeds — a most important power. 

But the evidence of design in the structure of the ear does not end here. It 
is an obvious necessity that the ear should possess some means of adaptation to 
the intensity of the vibrations reaching it, in order that while the feeblest 
sounds may be appreciated, its delicate mechanism may not be deranged by the 
most powerful ones ; just as the eye is adapted to the intensity of incident light 
by the contraction and dilation of the iris. For this purpose there is a little 
muscle by which the tympanic membrane can be tightened ; a second by which 
is regulated the tension of the membrane which connects the base of the stapes, 
the innermost of the ossicles, with the margin of the oval aperture in the wall 
of the vestibule ; and a third muscle, or rather a series of muscles, by which the 
tension of the spiral lamina of the cochlea is regulated. But how is this exquisite 
mechanism brought into play? how, in fact, is the ear itself informed of the 
adjustment required ? The foremost member of the chain of ossicles is firmly 
attached to the tympanum, and is carried to and fro by its vibrations : proceed- 
ing laterally from this bone, and in a direction nearly parallel to the plane of 
the adjacent portion of the tympanum, is a slender and taper bony filament, in 
its relative proportions resembling a lady's riding-whip ; and immediately be- 
hind this slender process lies the tympanic nerve, a branch of the ganglionic 
system, which pursues a very tortuous course, for no other assignable reason than 
that of coming into relation with the filament of bone just mentioned. What 
happens then ? The very first sound-wave that strikes on the tympanum makes, 
by means of this tiny bone, an impression of corresponding intensity on the 
nerve, which is flashed to an adjacent centre of nerve power, and the mandate 
to "make taut " or "let go," as the case may be, is returned and acted on, ere 



418 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

a second wave can impinge upon the tympanum. — The train of actions just 
described is altogether removed from the domain of the will ; it is, moreover, so 
far from being obvious, that it is believed to have escaped the notice of every 
writer on physiology. If, then, the mere explanation so far .taxes the powers 
of the human mind, what shall be said of the infinite wisdom by which the whole 
was designed? Well, indeed, may we be prompted to declare with the sacred 
Psalmist: "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear?" — Faith and Free 
Thought, p. 78. 

FORMATION OF THE EYE. 

Psm. xciv: 9. — He that formed the eye, shall He not see? 
The Compiler. — The eye is the choicest and most enchanting of all our cor- 
poreal endowments, and offers in its wondrous structure the clearest demon- 
stration that it is the work of an Almighty and Omniscient Being. To be 
convinced of this it will be sufficient to glance at a few of its prominent and 
remarkable features. 

1. The eye is constructed with evident and distinct reference to an element 
without itself, and an element the most ethereal and sublime in all nature — 
Light. 

2. Its form is that of an ellipsoid, just that shape, out of ten thousand pos- 
sible shapes, which mathematicians have demonstrated to be the only one that 
can refract all the rays of light to a single surface, and tnus afford distinct 
vision. 

3. It consists of a great number of parts, differing in their material and their 
forms and their offices, yet so related and so skilfully combined as to compose 
an instrument of exactness and efficiency which no human effort can hope to 
approach, far less to attain. 

4. To qualify it for its important function, the eye is encompassed with 
three membranes or coats ; the outermost (sclerotic) is exceedingly firm and 
dense, and gives to it the mechanical support necessary for the preservation of 
its form ; within this is another coat (choroid) whose main office is to supply it 
with nourishment, and by its black interior to absorb any scattered rays that 
might interfere with clear sight; within this again is spread the retina, the only 
part of the whole nervous system susceptible of impression from luminous rays. 

5. The interior of the eye is occupied with three transparent media, called 
the aqueous, the crystalline, and vitreous humors ; these form lenses of different 
character for the convergence of the rays of light, so as to meet and form 
pictures of external objects on the retina. 

6. The retina is an exceedingly thin and delicate layer of nervous matter sup- 
ported by a fine membrane, and is spread in the form of just such a concave 
and just at such a distance behind the lenses as are indispensable to distinct 
vision — any change, even the slightest, in the amount of this distance, or in the 
character of this concave, would infallibly result in a defective sight. 

7. The lenses are formed of substances having different refractive powers, so 
as to prevent the light from being resolved into prismatic colors, and so give to 



PSALM XCIV. 419 

objects a tinge which does not belong to them ; for this purpose the crystalline 
lens is constructed of an infinite number of concentric layers, which increase in 
their density as they succeed one another from the surface to the centre ; by this 
means an optical difficulty is overcome in a way quite inimitable to human art. 

8. The perforation of the Iris, or the pupil, by which the light is admitted 
into the eye, is a very remarkable arrangement : the Iris is composed of two 
layers of contractile fibres, the one forming concentric circles ; the other, dis- 
posed like radii between the outer and inner margin ; when the former act, the 
pupil is contracted ; when the latter act, the breadth of the Iris is diminished, 
and the pupil is, of course, dilated. By this refinement of ingenuity, acting 
spontaneously, the quantity of light admitted into the interior of the eye is 
regulated, and accommodated to the extreme sensibility of the retina. What 
structure can be more artificial, what machinery can be more exquisite, in its 
operation, than this? 

9. The eye is furnished with a complete system of muscles, six in number, by 
which it can be rapidly turned at will in any direction, so as to vary the field 
of vision, as necessity, pleasure or fancy may dictate. Four of these act by 
direct contraction, turning the eye up or down, to the right or the left ; the other 
two serve to give it an oblique direction — one of these is remarkable for the 
artificial manner in which its tendon passes through a cartilaginous pulley in the 
margin of the orbit, and then turns back again to be inserted into the eye-ball, 
to give it a degree of rotation on its axis j in no other way could the tendon pull 
in the required direction. 

10. In the hollow of the orbit, above the eye, is planted the lachrymal gland, 
a self-acting fountain of tears, which gently spread and flow over its pellucid 
surface, to lubricate its motions, and to wash away any particle of dust, or other 
irritating substance that may happen to be introduced. 

11. Each eye is furnished with a well-contrived conduit to carry off the super- 
fluous moisture into the nostril, to be evaporated with the warm breath. 

12. Each eye is furnished with lids, like curtains, to close over it in sleep, to 
wipe it, to cut off the outer rays of light that would confuse vision, and to pro- 
tect it against blows, or dust, or any other means of injury ; and the rapidity 
with which these lids open and close is past all admiration. 

13. The eye is furnished with a most delicate yet most efficient system of 
pulleys and ligaments, that without a moment's delay alter its convexity and 
relative position of parts, so as to adapt it to perceive objects at different dis- 
tances — an operation slowly and with some difficulty effected by man in his 
telescope by lengthening or shortening the tube. 

14. The eye is endued with a refinement and acuteness of perceptivity that 
is utterly beyond the reach of human imagination. This will plainly appear 
from a moment's reflection upon the manner in which different colors are pro- 
duced. According to the present and generally accepted theory, light consists 
in vibrations excited by the sun in a medium called luminiferous ether, and im- 
pressions of different colors are produced in the eye by the different rates and 



420 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

lengths of these vibrations, as reflected by various bodies or substances. Thus, 
to produce red color, the ray of light must give 37,640 undulations in an inch, 
and 458,000,000,000,000 in a second ; yellow requires 44,000 in an inch, and 
535,000,000,000,000 in a second; blue, 51,110 in an inch, and 622,000,000,- 
000,000 in a second. Such facts at once astonish and overwhelm the mind. 
The minuteness and velocity expressed by these high numbers immeasurably 
transcend the sublimest efforts of the imagination, and yet they do not transcend 
the power of the eye to distinguish as readily between them as between color 
and color, for it is the difference in these rates that constitutes color. How 
supremely exquisite, then, this endowment of the eye ! 

15. And what is equally, if not more, wonderful than the preceding fact, the 
eye is provided in some inscrutable manner with the means of expressing the in- 
dwelling mind itself, so that one may look into its crystal depths, and see love 
and hatred, intellect and stupidity, scorn and wrath, horror and shame, and 
almost every other spiritual state and action. 

Such, in brief, is the human eye — an organ scarce an inch in diameter, yet 
embracing all these wonderful parts, these marvels of optical laws, and these 
contrivances of inimitable skill ! If anything could deepen our impression or 
enhance our admiration of its structure, it would be to contemplate this living 
mechanism in the very act of taking its enchanting pictures — for pictures perfect 
and complete of all objects and scenes that stand out before it, it does continu- 
ally form on the canvas of its retina. 

For illustration of this, let us suppose a man to stand on the summit of Bunker 
Hill Monument. Here a landscape ten miles square, embracing a large city 
with its harbor and shipping, streets and parks, thronged roads and converging 
railways, are brought into the chamber of his eye, and on the interior of its 
further wall, within a space not exceeding half an inch in diameter, is a perfect 
picture of the whole prospect to its minutest details. The multitude of objects 
which the scene contains are all preserved, are all discriminated in their magni- 
tudes, positions, figures, colors, and even motions. The clouds drifting along 
the blue heavens, the departing ships with their whitened sails, the green waves 
curling and breaking upon the shore, the approaching trains enveloped in dust, 
the trees bending before the breeze, and the vanes trembling on the spires, 
vehicles hurrying along the streets and men darting across to escape them — 
these, all these are as really and distinctly in motion in our fairy picture on the 
retina as they are on the face of nature itself. How small the space, yet how 
correct the representation — how subtle the touches — how fine the lines — how 
ethereal the coloring — how instinct the whole with life ! 

And now, let the shades of night gather around our supposed spectator of this 
earthly scene — and lo, presently every one of those countless and stupendous orbs 
of fire in the heavens, whose light, after traversing immeasurable regions of space, 
at length reaches his eye, is collected on its narrow curtain into a luminous focus 
of inconceivable minuteness ; and yet this almost infinitesimal point shall be 
sufficient to convey to his mind, through the medium of the optic nerve and the 



psalm cm. 421 

brain, a knowledge of the existence and position of the far distant luminary, 
from which that light emanated years, perhaps ages, before. 

Who can contemplate such a marvellous organ but must be convinced that it 
is the product of an Omniscient Being, familiar with all the laws and principles 
which sustain and regulate the universe? Or who can doubt that He who can 
thus endow His creatures of every grade with the power of vision must possess 
that power Himself, in infinite and transcendent perfection? Who can impart 
what he does not possess? "He that formed the eye, shall He not see? " — See 
my work entitled Present Co?iflict of Science with Christian Religion, p. 238-247. 

THE GIFT OF INTELLIGENCE. 

Psm. xciv : 10. — He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know ? 
Agassiz. — If there is anything which places man above all other beings in 
Nature, it is precisely the circumstance that he possesses those noble attributes 
without which, in their most exalted excellence and perfection, not one of these 
general traits of relationship so characteristic of the great type of the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms can be understood, or even perceived. How, then, 
could these relations have been devised without similar powers ? If all these 
relations are almost beyond the reach of the mental powers of man, and if man 
himself is part and parcel of the whole system,, how could this system have been 
called into existence if there does not exist One Supreme Intelligence as the 
Author of all things? — Essay o?i Classification, Sections II. and IV. 

GOD ALONE UNCHANGEABLE. 

Psm. cii: 25-27. — Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth : and the heavens are the 
work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure : yea, all of them shall wax 
old like a garment :* as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed : but 
thou art the same, and thy ears shall have no end. 

Rev. William Fraser, LL. D. — In the measureless past, in which millions 
on millions of ages have sunk and been lost, as pebbles in the ocean, there may 
have been other universes before ours, which have historically run their course, 
fulfilled their ends, and perished. Brought out of nothing, they may have 
again been reduced to nothing. The fact is conceivable, though not the pro- 
cess, unless we assume the eternity of matter ; or that when God has created 
a world out of nothing, he has done what he cannot undo. Universes may 
have come, run their history and gone. Their histories may be Creation- 
seasons. — Blending Lights, p. 36. 

THE LESSON OF FLOWERS. 

Psm. ciii: 15, 16.— As a flower of the field so he flourisheth : for the wind passeth over it, and 
it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 
Pliny. — Nature has produced other plants for our use and nutriment, and to 
these, accordingly, she has granted years and even ages of duration ; but as for 
flowers and their perfumes, she has given them birth but for a day ; a mighty 
lesson to man, to teach him that that which in its career is the most beau- 



422 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

teous and most attractive to the eye, is the very first to fade and die. — Hist. JVaf., 

xxi., i. 

GOD'S ACTIVE PRESENCE SEEN IN ALL NATURE. 

Psm. civ : 10-13. — He sencleth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They 1 
give drink to every beast of the field : the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the 
fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the 
hills from his chambers : the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. 

G. Chapin Child, M. D. — Scarcely has the bare rock of the coral island 
risen above the waves before it begins to possess its well of water. The salt 
ocean is without, and the salt ocean fills the lagoon within, yet, on the mere rim 
of coral rock that lies between, fresh water is to be obtained when a hole is 
bored— a striking example of providential forethought in thus creating wells for 
the sake, not only of the mariner who casually may touch there, but also for the 
settlers who in process of time come to occupy the island. 

Of the rain that drops from the clouds, a large portion sinks down into the 
porous earth, and commences by subterraneous routes its return homeward to the 
sea — creeping among rocks, and caverns, and fissures, and windings in the secret 
paths of the earth. And thus the rill may journey on until, wearied with sub- 
terra lean gloom, it regains the light of day as the useful well or gushing spring, 
nourishing the earth as it flows, and refreshing both man and beast with a con- 
stancy of supply which often contrasts with the fitful rainfall. 

When it is desired to supply our towns with water we do not rest satisfied with 
converging upon them the contents of numerous rills by means of an ample con- 
duit. During the hot summer days these sources might dry up, and the people 
might thus be left in want. So the danger is warded off by storing up water 
abundantly during the rainy season in a reservoir, from which supplies may be 
drawn for the town in times of drought. In this manner a liberal allowance of 
water is securely maintained independently of the vicissitudes of weather. Now 
in this arrangement we are only imitating the wise example of providence. The 
town which Nature has to supply is the whole earth. For this purpose the rain- 
fall is undoubtedly her " main," and does the chief part of the work ; but rain, 
though wonderfully regular on the whole, is sometimes capricious in single 
seasons, and oftener still in the different periods of a season. Something sup- 
plementary was, therefore, needed to husband and equalize the supply, and to 
provide for its regularity independently of the varying rainfall. So Nature 
formed reservoirs of water in the earth, which, taken on the whole, are subject to 
very little change. The superficial layers of the crust of the earth are in fact 
one vast storehouse of water, for moisture pervades them through and through. 
We habitually speak of " the dry rock;" but even the dryest rock contains 
water lodged in it as in a sponge, of which nothing less potent than the furnace 
can deprive it. "Some granites," says Professor Ansted, "in their ordinary 
state contain a pint and a half in every cubic foot." Limestone and marble 
find room for considerable more. Chalk is also highly absorbent, many of its 
strata being able to take up half their bulk of water without even appearing to 



PSALM CIV. 423 

be moist. Ordinary sandstones hold nearly a gallon in a cubic foot ; and in the 
best building-stones belonging to the sandstone group, from four to five pints of 
water are contained in each cubic foot of the stone. ' ' The quantity of water capa- 
ble of being held by common loose sea-sand amounts to at least two gallons in a 
cubic foot. But the great tanks of the earth are formed more especially by 
layers of sand, which everywhere alternate with the harder rocks. Into these 
the water is constantly soaking and accumulating for the supply of wells and 
springs all over the world. While rainy seasons fill these reservoirs, the dryest 
season does not exhaust them ; and hence the springs in connection with them 
appear, like the conduits of a well-supplied town, to be independent both of 
rain and drought. — Benedicite, p. 124-126. 
Verse 15. — And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine. 
Pliny. — There are two liquids that are particularly grateful to the human 
body, wine within and oil without, both of them the produce of trees, and 
most excellent in their respective kinds. — Hist. Nat., lib. xiv., c. 29. 

Verses 16, 17. — The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath 
planted ; where the birds make their nests : as for the stork the fir trees are her house. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The cedars of Lebanon are not too 
close, nor are they entirely confined to the grove. Though the patriarchs are 
of an enormous girth, they are no higher than the younger trees, many of which 
reach a circumference of eighteen feet. In the topmost boughs, ravens, hooded 
crows, kestrels, hobbys, and wood-owls were secreted in abundance ; yet so 
lofty are the trees that the birds were out of reach of ordinary shot. But before 
leaving we added many interesting specimens to our collection. The breeze, as 
it soughed through the dark boughs, seemed to breathe sounds of solemnity and 
awe, and to proclaim these to be " the trees of the Lord, the cedars of Lebanon 
which he hath planted." — Land of Israel, p. 630. 

Verse 18. — The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The wild goat of Arabia and Pal- 
estine is a species of ibex very similar to those of the Alps and Pyrenees. It 
inhabits exclusively the more desolate and rocky parts of the country. — Nat. 
Hist, of the Bible, p. 95. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — These wild goats are of a fawn color, shading 
off into dark red. They climb the steepest acclivities with amazing speed, 
leaping from rock to rock with admirable agility, and balancing themselves most 
unconcernedly along stupendous precipices. — Bible Bands, p. 201. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The stony rocks are a refuge for the conies, and 
tolerably secure they are in such rocks as these. No animal ever gave us so 
much trouble to secure. They are far too wary to be taken in traps, and the only 
chance of securing one is to be concealed patiently, about sunset or before sun- 
rise, on some overhanging cliff, taking care not to let the shadow be cast below, 
and there to wait till the little creatures cautiously peep forth from their holes. 
- — Land of Israel, p. 253. 



424 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Verse 19. — He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knoweth his going down. 
Cicero. — Could the earth at one season be adorned with flowers, at another 
be covered with snow ; or, if such a number of things regulated their own 
changes, could the approach and retreat of the sun in the summer and winter 
solstices be so regularly known and calculated ; could the flux and reflux of the 
sea and the height of the tides be affected by the increase or wane of the moon; 
could the different courses of the stars be preserved by the uniform movement 
of the whole heaven ; could these things subsist, I say, in such a harmony of 
all the parts of the universe without the continued influence of a Divine Spirit? 
— De Nat. Deor., lib. ii., c. 9. 

Verse 20. — Thou makest darkness, and it is night ; wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep 

forth. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The day had been silent, the voice of the 
birds even being hushed by the heat, and the "cicada" alone heard in a 
monotonous concert from every shady grove ; even this sound grew gradually 
silent as the mountain shadows lengthened across the plain, and sunlight died 
away. The rays of the moon, however, were hardly perceptible before the 
song of the cricket commenced ; the cry of a solitary jackal was heard from 
the edge of the wood, and was presently answered by one, then by another and 
another of his companions, until the grand chorus was repeated by the mountain 
echoes ; the fox barked close by, the owl screeched, and the great owl in the 
wood uttered its mourning cry as it watched for the hare that darted through 
the shadows. We could hear the footsteps, and occasionally catch a glimpse 
of a whole troop of wild boars, old and young, as they came hastening down 
from the woody coverts of the mountains to wallow in the mire, and dig among 
the roots of the plain. Truly it seemed as though Nature herself was keeping 
Ramazan — fast asleep all the long day, and waking up at eve to spend the 
entire night in work, revelry, and fun. — Bible Lands, p. 251. 

Verses 24, 25. — O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all : the 
earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innu- 
merable, both small and great beasts. 

Prof. Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D. — It is impossible to give an exact 
estimate of the number of species of animals on the globe that have been 
actually named, up to the present moment, as new ones are being continually 
discovered and described. A few years since, however, the numbers were as 
follows : 1 

Mammalia ------ 2,030 

Birds ------ - 7,000 

Chelonians, or Tortoises, etc. - 120 

Saurian Lizards - - - - * - 460 

Serpents ------ 300 

Batrachians, or Frogs, etc. - - - 175 
Fishes ------ 8,000 

Vermes, or Worms, etc. - - - - 770 



PSALM CIV. 425 

Crustacea, or Lobsters, etc. - 792 

Hexapoda, or Insects ... 500,000 

Mollusca, or Shells - 11,482 

Radiata, or Phytozoa - - - -4,818 

Now it is certain that this estimate must be very far below the actual number of 
species on the globe, especially in respect to the smaller animals. Indeed, 
judicious naturalists suppose that the species of animals existing on the globe 
cannot be less than a million — perhaps more. 

And as to the number of individuals embraced in each species — these 
transcend all enumeration. Here the recollection immediately recurs to those 
vast swarms of locusts that have laid waste entire kingdoms, shutting out the 
sun as their innumerable armies flew through the air — to the vast shoals of fish 
which annually migrate southward from the Arctic Seas, moving in columns 
that are several leagues in width, and many fathoms thick, and so close together 
that they touch one another, and this living stream continuing to move past 
any particular spot nearly all summer long — and to the myriads on myriads of 
the feathery tenants of the air. A single flock of petrels has been estimated to 
embrace no less than 150,000,000; and a single flock of pigeons has been 
observed which numbered more than 1,000,000,000,000 individuals. And 
descending to ammalcula, the numbers become more overwhelming still. 
Among these Ehrenberg has disclosed new worlds of wonders. The smallest of 
these animals are not more than one forty-thousandth of an inch in diameter ; 
and so thickly are they sometimes crowded together, that a small drop of fluid 
contains 500,000,000. Formerly it was supposed that these animals were little 
more than simple particles of matter, endowed with vitality. But Ehrenberg 
has ascertained that they possess mouths, teeth, stomachs, muscles, nerves, 
glands, eyes — and in short, all the important organs of the more perfect animals. 
O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! In wisdom hast thou made them all. — 
The Wonders of Science Compared with the Wonders of 'Romance. 

Thomas Dick, LL. D. — On the surface of the earth there is not a patch of 
ground or a portion of water, a single shrub, tree, or herb, and scarcely a single 
leaf in the forest, but what teems with animated beings. How many hundreds 
of millions have their dwellings in caves, in the clefts of rocks, in the bark of 
trees, in ditches, in marshes, in the forests, the mountains and the valleys ! 
What innumerable shoals of fishes inhabit the ocean and sport in the 
seas and rivers ! What millions on millions of birds and flying insects, in 
endless variety, wing their flight through the atmosphere above and around us ! 
Besides these, there are multitudes of animated beings which no man can 
number, invisible to the unassisted eye, and dispersed through every region of the 
earth, air and seas. In a small stagnant pool which in summer appears covered 
with a green scum, there are more microscopic animalcules than would out- 
number all the inhabitants of the earth. How immense then must be the 
collective number of these creatures throughout every region of the earth and 



426 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

atmosphere ! It surpasses all our conceptions ! " How manifold are his works." 
Improvement of Society, Sec. VI 

Verses 27, 28. — These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 
That thou givest them they gather : thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. 

Thomas Dick, LL. D. — Now, it is a fact that, from the elephant to the mite, 
from the whale to the oyster, and from the eagle to the gnat, or the microscopic 
animalcula, no animal can subsist without nourishment. Every species, too, 
requires a different kind of food. Some live on grass, some on shrubs, some on 
flowers, and some on trees. Some feed only on the roots of vegetables, some on 
the stalk, some on the leaves, some on the fruit, some on the seed, some on the 
whole plant ; some prefer one species of plants or grass, and some another. 
Yet such is the unbounded munificence of the Creator, that all these countless 
myriads of sentient beings are amply provided for and nourished by his 
bounty ! " The eyes of all these look unto Him, and He openeth His hand and 
satisneth the desire of every living thing." He has so arranged the world, that 
every place affords the proper food for all the living creatures with which it 
abounds. He has furnished them with every organ and apparatus of instru- 
ments for the gathering, preparing and digesting of their food, and has endowed 
them with admirable sagacity in finding out and providing their nourishment, 
and in enabling them to distinguish between what is salutary and what is per- 
nicious. "That thou givest them they gather." — Improve?7ient of Society, 
Sec. VI. 

Verse 30. — Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created ; and thou renewest the face of the 

earth. 

Seneca. — Let us admire the universal forms of things flying on high, and 
God in the midst of them, disposing all things as it seemeth best to him. For 
all things remain, not because they are eternal, but because they are made 
the care and protection of an Almighty Governor : things immortal in their 
own nature stand not in need of a guardian ; but mortal things are preserved by 
the hand that made them, surmounting the frailty of the materials by his 
almighty power. — Senec. Epist., 58. 

GRATITUDE. 

Fsm. cxvi: 12. — What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? 
Xenophon. — I shall never be wanting in my acknowledgments to the gods ; 
and it even troubleth me that I cannot make a suitable return for the benefits 
they have conferred upon us. — Mem. Soc, lib. iv., c. 3. 

STABILITY OF CREATION. 

Psm. cxfx: 89-91. — For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto 
all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day 
according to thine ordinances : for all are thy servants. 

Dr. John Henry Kurtz. — Supported by the experience and observation of 
thousands of years, science may boldly maintain that in spite of all antagonistic 



PSALM CXX. 427 

forces which are at work, in spite of a wonderfully involved whirl of movements, 
yea, in spite of all perturbations and disturbances which may here and there 
occur (themselves controlled by unchangeable laws), the present order of our solar 
system bears the character of a stability the most unshaken and abiding. Ever 
since ali fei that the world might be destroyed by coming in contact with 
some revolving comet has been got rid of, through a knowledge of the light 
physical properties of these bodies, no agency or discoverable accident within 
the whole compass of our system has been known to astronomy, by which the 
order of this system might be destroyed, or even materially changed. — Bible 
and Astronomy, p. 345. 

Prof. William Whewell, M. A. — Change , indeed, are taking place in the 
motions of the heavenly bodies, which have gone on progressively from the first 
dawn of Science. The eccentricity of the earth's orbit has been diminishing 
from the earliest observations to our times. The moon has been moving quicker 
and quicker from the time of the first recorded eclipses, and is now in advance, 
by about four times her own breadth, of what her place would have been if it 
had not been affected by this acceleration. The obliquity of the ecliptic also is 
in a state of diminution, and is now about two-fifths of a degree less than it was 
in the time of Aristotle. Yet for all this, the arrangements of the solar system, 
as has been demonstrated, are stable : in the long run the orbits and motions re- 
main unchanged ; and the changes in the orbits, which take place in shorter 
periods, never transgress certain very moderate limits. Each orbit undergoes 
deviations on this side and on that of its average state; but these deviations are 
never very great, and it finally recovers from them, so that the average is pre- 
served. The planets, by their mutual gravitation, produce perpetual .perturbations 
in each other's motions, but these perturbations are not indefinitely progressive, 
they are periodical : they reach a maximum value and then diminish. The 
periods which this restoration requires are, for the most part, enormous; not 
less than thousands, and, in some instances, millions of years; and hence it is 
that some of these apparent derangements have been going on in the same direc- 
tion since the beginning of the history of the world. But the restoration is in 
the sequel as complete as the derangement; and in the meantime the disturb- 
ance never attains a sufficient amount seriously to alter the adaptations of the 
system. — Astronomy and General Physics, p. 90. 

THE JUNIPER TREE. 

Psm. exx : 4. — Coals of juniper. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The juniper tree, or rothem, is ruth- 
lessly uprooted by the Arabs, who collect it wherever it is tolerably abundant^ 
for the manufacture of charcoal, which is considered of the finest quality, and 
fetches a higher price in Cairo than any other kind. The roots are far thicker 
and more massy than the stems. This explains the allusion of the Psalmist, 
"Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper." — Natural History of tin 
Bible, p. 360. 



428 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

SUNBEAMS AND MOONLIGHT, 

Psm. cxxi : 6. — The sun shall not smite thee by clay, nor the moon by night. 

Rev. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — The effect of the powerful sunbeams of 
the East is frequently manifested in what is called ^sun-stroke. Those on whom 
this visitation falls sometimes perish instantly, others die soon from its effects, 
some live on in a state of idiocy — and there are comparatively few who survive 
and perfectly recover. — Note, in loco. 

Rev. Vere Monro. — My kind host (at Aleppo) allowed me to occupy a flat 
upon his house-top during my stay, in preference to being confined in a room; 
but the influence of the moon upon my head was so powerful, that whenever its 
beams reached me I was compelled to get up and move my mattress to some 
part of the hypaethral chamber, which was in the shade : and it was easy to com- 
prehend the full force of the Psalmist's prophetic promise — "The sun shall not 
smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." — Summer Rambles in Syria, II., 222. 

Carne. — The effect of the moonlight on the eyes in this country (Egypt) is 
singularly injurious. The natives tell you, as I found afterwards they also did 
in Arabia, always to cover your eyes when you sleep in the open air. It is 
rather strange that the above passage in the Psalms should not have been thus 
illustrated, as the allusion seems direct. The moon here really strikes and 
affects the sight when you sleep exposed to it, much more than the sun: a fact 
of which I had a very unpleasant proof one night, and took care to guard against 
it afterwards. Indeed, the sight of a person who should sleep with his face ex- 
posed at night, would soon be utterly impaired or destroyed. — Letters from the 
East, L, 88. 

DEW OF HERMON. 

Psm. cxxxiii : 3. — As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended on the mountains of 

Zion. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— We could here (at Rasheiya) but 
recall the Psalmist's expression, "As the dew of Hermon," etc. ; for more copious 
dew we never experienced. Everything was drenched with it, and the tents were 
small protection. The under sides of our macintosh sheets were in water, our 
guns were rusted, dew-drops were hanging everywhere. The copiousness of the 
dew is easily accounted for by the geographical configuration. The hot air in 
the day-time comes streaming up the Ghor from the Huleh, while Hermon arrests 
all the moisture and deposits it congealed at nights. — Land of Israel, p. 208. 

PROCESS OF EVAPORATION. 

Psm. cxxxv : 6, 7. — Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the 
seas and all deep places. He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he 
maketh lightnings for the rain ; he bringeth the winds out of his treasuries. 

Prof. James F. Johnston, M. A., F. R. S., F. G. S. — As soon as the clear 
sky permits the sun's rays once more to warm the surface of the earth, vapors 
begin to rise anew, and the sweeping winds dry up the rains and dews from its 
moistened surface. There are regions of the globe, also, where unending sum- 



PSALM CXXXIX. 429 

mer plays on the surface of the wide seas, and causes a perpetual evaporation to 
lift up unceasing supplies of water into the air. These supplies the wind wafts 
to other regions; and thus the water which descends in rain or dew in one spot, 
is replaced by that which mounts up in vapor from another. And all this to 
maintain unbroken that nice adjustment which fits the constitution of the atmos- 
phere to the wants of living things. 

How beautiful is the arrangement by which the water is thus constantly evap- 
orated or distilled, as it were, into the atmosphere — more largely from some, 
more sparingly from other spots — then diffused equally through the wide and 
restless air, and afterwards precipitated again in refreshing showers which cleanse 
the tainted air, or in long-mysterious dews. But how much more beautiful the 
contrivance — I might almost say, the instinctive tendency — by which the dew 
selects the objects on which it delights to fall ; descending first on every living 
plant, copiously ministering to the wants of each, and expending its superfluity 
only on the unproductive waste ! 

And equally kind and beautiful, when understood, nature is seen to be in all 
her operations. Neither skill nor materials are ever wasted ; and yet she un- 
grudgingly dispenses her favors apparently without measure, and has subjected 
dead matter to laws which compel it to minister, and yet with a most ready 
willingness, to the wants and comforts of every living thing. — Chemistry of 
Common Life, Vol. L, p. 17. 

THE CAPTIVES OF BABYLON. 

Psm. cxxxvii : 1-3. — By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remem- 
bered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they 
that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us 
mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 

Rev. Daniel March, D. D. — It seems like the first strain of the captive 
Hebrews' song of exile which has been sounding through the world for seventy, 
generations when we see upon the walls of the palace of Sennacherib the repre- 
sentation of a company of captives led by a military officer and compelled to 
play upon harps for the entertainment of their conquerors. This tablet, which 
is preserved in the British Museum, is as old as the memorable Psalm, in which 
the Hebrew captives poured forth the sorrows of exile in the strange land. — 
Research and Travel in Bible Lands, in " Wood's Animals of the Bible," p. 705. 

GOD'S OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE. 

Psm. cxxxix : 1-4. — O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down- 
sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path 
and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my 
tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. 

Hesiod. — Jove's all-seeing, and all-knowing eye 

Discerns at pleasure things that hidden lie. 

— Oper. et Dies, v. 265. 



430 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Plautus. — There is undoubtedly a god who both hears and sees the things 
which we do. — Capt., Act II., sc. 2. 

Cicero. — The gods know what passes in our minds, without the aid of eyes, 
ears, or tongues ; on which divine omniscience is founded the feeling of men 
that, when they wish in silence, or offer up a prayer for anything, the gods hear 
them. — De Divin., I., 57. 

Idem. — The gods know what sort of person every one really is ; they observe 
his actions, whether good or bad ; they take notice with what feelings and with 
what piety he attends to his religious duties, and are sure to make a difference 
between the wicked and the good. — De Leg., II., 7. 

Verses 7-1 1. — Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; even there 
shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall 
cover me ; even the night shall be light about me. 

Homer. — It is not possible to flee from God. — Odyss., XVI., 447. 

Xenophon. — Whoever becomes the object of divine wrath, I know no swift- 
ness can save him, no darkness hide him, no strong place defend him ; since in 
all places, all things are subject to the power of the gods, and everywhere they 
are equally lords of all. — Anal?., lib. ii., c. 5. 

Plato. — You will never be neglected by the deity, though you were so small 
as to sink into the depths of the earth, or so lofty as to fly up to heaven; but 
you will suffer from the gods the punishment due to you, whether you abide 
here, or depart to Hades, or are carried to a place still more wild than these. — 
De Leg., X.-, 12. 

President T. Dwight, S. T. D., LL. D. — In every part of the Universe, to 
which we turn our eyes, we discern in the inanimate, animated, and intelligent 
worlds, most evident proofs of an agency, which it is impossible rationally to 
attribute to any other being but God. In the motions and powers of the ele- 
ments ; in the growth, structure, and qualities of vegetables and animals ; and 
in the thoughts, volitions and actions of minds, we perceive a causal influence 
and efficiency totally distinguished from every other ; as distinct from that of 
man, as the agency of man from the movements of an atom. This agency is 
conspicuous in all places, at all times, and in all things ; and is seen in the earth, 
the ocean, the air, and the heavens, alike. Equally evident is it in the splendor 
and life-giving influences of the sun ; in the motions, order and harmony of the 
planetary system ; and in the light and beauty of the stars ; as in the preserva- 
tion, direction and control of terrestrial things. No agent can act where he is 
not. As, therefore, God acts everywhere, he is everywhere present. In this 
agency, contrivance and skill, to which no limits can "be set, are everywhere 
manifested ; it is, of course, equally and unanswerably a proof of the omniscience 
of God. As God exists everywhere, so he is in all places the same God, all 
eye, all ear, all intellect. Hence it is impossible that he should not know 
everything, in every place, and at every time. — System of Theology, Vol. I., 
p. 141. 




27 



(431) 



432 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Dr. William Paley. — In every part and place of the universe, with which 
we are acquainted, we perceive the exertion of a power, which we believe, 
mediately or immediately, to proceed from the Deity. For instance : In what 
part or point of space, that has ever been explored, do we not discover attrac- 
tion ? In what regions do we not find light ? In what accessible portion of our 
globe do we not meet with gravity, magnetism, electricity ; together with the 
properties also and powers of organized substances, of vegetable, or of animated 
nature? Nay, further, we may ask, What kingdom is there of nature, what 
corner of space, in which there is anything that can be examined by us, where 
we do not fall upon contrivance and design? The only reflection, perhaps, 
which arises in our minds from this view of the world around us, is that the laws 
of nature everywhere prevail ; that they are uniform and universal. But what 
do we mean by the laws of nature, or by any law ? Effects are produced by 
power, not by laws. A law cannot execute itself. A law refers us to an agent. 
Now, an agency so general, as that we cannot discover its absence, or assign 
the place in which some effect of its continued energy is not found, may 
be called universal, and the person or being, in whom that power resides, or 
from whom it is derived, may be taken to be omnipresent. He who upholds all 
things by his power may be said to be everywhere present. — Nat. Theol.> 
chap. XXIV. 

FORMATION OF MAN'S BODY. 

Psm. cxxxix : 14-16. — I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous 
are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, 
when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine 
eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect ; and in thy book all my members were written, 
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — As an illustration of the numerous parts and functions 
which enter into the construction of our frames, it may be stated, that, in the 
human body there are 445 bones, each of them having forty distinct scopes or 
intentions ; and over 400 muscles, each having ten several intentions ; so that 
the system of bones and muscles alone include above 20,000 varieties, or different 
intentions and adaptations. But besides the bones and muscles, there are hun- 
dreds of tendons and ligaments for the purpose of connecting them together ; 
hundreds of nerves ramified over the whole body to convey sensation to all its 
parts ; thousands of arteries to convey the blood to the remotest extremities, and 
thousands of veins to bring it back to the heart ; thousands of lacteal and 
ly??iphatic vessels to absorb nutriment from the food; thousands of glands to 
secrete humors from the blood, and of emunctories to throw them off from the 
system, and besides many other parts of this variegated system and functions 
with which we are unacquainted, there are more than sixteen hundred millions of 
membranous cells or vesicles connected with the lungs, more than two hundred 
thousand millions of pores in the skin, through which the perspiration is inces- 
santly flowing, and above a thousand millions of scales, which, according to 
Leeuwenhoek, Baker and others, compose the cuticle or outward covering of the 



psalm cxxxix. 433 

body. We have also to take into the account the compound organs of life, the 
numerous parts of which they consist, and the diversified functions they perform 
— such as the brain, with its infinite number of fibres and numerous functions ; 
the heart, with its auricles and ventricles ; the stomach, with its juices and mus- 
cular coats ; the liver, with its lobes and glands ; the spleen, with its infinity of 
cells and membranes ; the pancreas, with its juice and numerous glands ; the 
kidneys, with their fine capillary tubes ; the intestines, with all their turnings and 
convolutions ; the organs of sense, with their multifarious connections ; the 
mesentery, the gall-bladder, the ureters, the pylorus, the duode?iu?n, the blood, 
the bile, the lymph, the saliva, the chyle, the hairs, the nails, and numerous 
other parts and substances, every one of which has diversified functions to per- 
form. We have also to take into consideration the number of ideas included in 
the arrangement and connection of all these parts, and in the manner in which 
they are compacted into one system of small dimensions, so as to afford free 
scope for all the intended functions. Well might the Psalmist have exclaimed, 
" How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God ! how great is the sum of 
them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand." — 
Improvement of Society, Sec. VI. 

John Murray, F. S. A., F. L. S., F. G. S.— What a miracle of creation is 
man ! — truly " fearfully and wonderfully made ! " — a monument reared by infinite 
wisdom — a prodigy of parts. Could the unrivalled mechanism of man be un- 
veiled, or its thousand movements be seen through a transparent medium, what a 
scene for contemplation, wonder and astonishment ! and what a medium for 
adoration of "the Ancient of Days," who made and adjusted the mechanism, 
and put all its parts and powers in motion ! What a vision would it be to see 
the ganglia shooting their electric influences along the lines of the nerves — the 
pneumatic machinery of the lungs discharging the envenomed air, and receiving 
in exchange a fresh supply of pure medium. The pause and interval in respira- 
tions to divide the gases agreeable to their relative specific gravities. The 
hydraulic engine of the heart propelling the vital fluid of the blood, its contrac- 
tions and dilations ; the flapping of the mitral, semilunar and tricuspid valves, 
acting like the valves of the steam-engine ; the vibrations of the muscles, the 
pulling of the cordage of the tendons ; the synovial or lubricating secretions 
of the joints, and their balls, and their sockets ; the chronometry of the pulse, 
and the calorimeter which measures out heat to the system, and apportio ■ its 
quantity according to circumstances — a principle of compensation to equalize 
the temperature, and preserve an equilibrium under all changes and every 
variability. The absorbing vessels sucking up the several assimilated materials 
with a skilful selection, and with rare discrimination appropriating all ; the 
functions of the skin cooling the surface when required, and the orifices acting as 
the waste pipes also of the system. The optical wonders of that perfect achro- 
matic instrument, the eye; its window, and its curious curtain and its lens, and 
the media in contact with it ; its reticular canvass in the back-ground of a 
camera-obscura, with all its microscopic and telescopic furniture. The 



434 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

acoustic paraphernalia of the ear, with its hammer, its stirrup, and its drum, 
and its chambers and beautifully convoluted recesses. The movements of the 
brain and its membranes, the secreting and assimilating organs engaged in re- 
cruiting the waste and rearing the goodly structure; the sensitive, irritable, and 
jealous epiglottis, guarding like a faithful sentinel the viaduct of the trachea ; the 
refined sensibility of the papillae and fibrillse of the tongue, and the delicate 
functions of the sneiderian membrane. These and myriads more of secreting and 
assimilating organs, with the secretions of the kidneys, mammae, gall-bladder, 
salivary glands, pancreas, conglobated glands and lacteals, may well demand our 
wonder and admiration. What a miracle of skill and complication, and yet 
how calm and unobtrusive their harmony ! All that is beautiful in design and 
wonderful in the reciprocal adaptation of parts, with their mutual aptitudes, are 
here concentrated in one luminous focus of almighty wisdom. — Truth of ReveL 
Demonst., p. 32. 

THE EVIL TONGUE. 

Psm. cxl: 3. — They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their 

lips. 

Pliny. — Is it not a fact, that there are many men, the very existence of whom 
is a baneful poison, as it were? They dart their livid tongue like the tongue of 
a serpent ; and the venom of their disposition corrodes every object upon which 
it concentrates itself; ever vilifying and maligning, like the ill-omened bird of 
night. — Hist. Nat., lib. xviii., c. 1. 

TRUE FRIENDSHIP. 

Psm. cxli ; 5. — Let the righteous smite me ; and it shall be a kindness : and let him reprove me; 
it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head. 

Plutarch. — I have no need of a friend who changes as I do, and follows me 
hi everything ; for my shadow can do that much better ; but of one who will 
follow the truth and judge according to it. — De Adul. et Amic, c. 8. 

DIVINE GOODNESS. 

Psm. cxlv : 9. — The Lord is good to all : and his tender mercies are over all his works. 
Pope. — For man kind Nature wakes her genial power, 

Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower; 
Annual for him, the grape, the rose renew, 
The juice nectareous and the balmy dew; 
For him the mine a thousand treasures brings; 
For him health gushes from a thousand springs; 
Seas roll to waft him, suns to light him, rise; 
His footstool Earth, his canopy the Skies. 
Dr. Thomas Dick. — God has endowed all the creatures his hands have made 
with the power and with the means of enjoyment after their kind. In the 
exercise of their faculties, and in all their movements, they appear to experience 
a happiness suitable to their nature. The young of all animals in the exercise 



PSALM CXLVII. 435 

of their newly acquired faculties, the fishes sporting in the waters, the birds 
skimming beneath the sky and warbling in the thickets, the gamesome cattle 
browsing in the pastures, the wild deer bounding through the forests, the insects 
gliding through the air and along the ground, and even the earth-worms wrig- 
gling in the dust, — proclaim by the vivacity of their movements and the various 
tones and gesticulations, that the exercise of their powers is connected with 
enjoyment. In this boundless scene of beneficence, we behold a striking illus- 
tration of the declarations of the Inspired Writers, that " the Lord is good to 
all " — that "the earth is full of his riches," — and that "His tender mercies are 
over all his works." — Improvement of Society, p. 92. 

Verse 10. — All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord. 

Dr. John Harris. — Whatever excellence, natural or moral, the created 
universe may ever contain, was contained previously in the Divine Nature. The 
amnifestation of his glory, by which we mean his all-sufficiency, is the great 
purpose or ultimate end of creation. There is not a particle of being or of 
excellence in existence now more than existed potentially from eternity, since 
the whole objective universe is the manifestatio7i of the Divine being and excel- 
lence. This is the right key to the volume of the universe. Properly under- 
stood, every material particle is impressed with His seal. Every atom is a 
letter, and every work a word. Every element lectures on his attributes, and 
each globe is a messenger ever moving in his service. Man himself was made in 
his image. The stars come forth nightly on their solemn embassy to " proclaim 
the glory of God." And the earth daily affirms with voices innumerable the 
eternal power and Godhead. — Pre-Adcunite Earth, p. 18, 20, 24, $$. 

THE NUMBER OF THE STARS. 

Psm. cxlvii : 4, 5. — He telleth the number of the stars ; He calleth them all by their names. Grea 
is our Lord, and of great power : His understanding is infinite. 

The Compiler. — Vast and wonderful, indeed, is that family of planetary 
worlds embraced in the Solar System ; yet when we have reached the orbit of 
the remotest of all the planets, 3,000 millions of miles from the centre, we have 
scarcely set foot on the threshold of the Temple of Creation. While we remain 
among the planetary worlds, we are among our near neighbors ; and while we 
continue within the limits of the solar system, we are comparatively at home 
in the boundless universe of God. If now we would advance to the study of 
the "fixed stars," those myriads of lights which nightly sparkle in our firma- 
ment, we must leave far behind the utmost bound of our own system, pass through 
dark and pathless regions, and pierce into depths of space, the very thought of 
which awes and overwhelms the mind. 

The distance of the nearest of the fixed stars, Alpha Centauri, has been calcu- 
lated to be no less than 20,000,000,000,000 of miles, a space which it would 
occupy light, travelling at the rate of twelve millions of 'miles a minute, more than 
three years and a half to pass over ! Sirius, though appearing as the brightest 



436 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of all the stars, is still at a distance six times greater. Yet these are among the 
nearest of the stars ; " the hosts of heaven " lie still immeasurably further in the 
depths of space. 

Distant as the stars are, astronomers have contrived to detect a number of 
interesting phenomena connected with them. Some stars are observed to in- 
crease and decrease in brightness within fixed and definite periods. Others 
seem to vary fitfully in their magnitude and brilliancy. But the most wonderful 
revelations of sidereal astronomy are what have been called double, triple and 
multiple stars. When a telescope of considerable power is directed to certain 
stars, which appear single to the naked eye, they are found double, one star 
being quite adjacent to the other. Others, again, are found triple; etc. These 
are found to revolve around each other ; that is, two, three, or four suns, to- 
gether with their respective systems, revolve round one another, or around their 
common centre of gravity. This assuredly is a most sublime conception ! What 
can be more august and overwhelming than the idea of resplendent suns revolv- 
ing around other equally resplendent suns ; of suns encircled with numerous 
retinues of planetary bodies, all in rapid motion, around other similar suns, 
over immeasurable circumferences, and with a velocity surpassing all human 
comprehension, and carrying all their planets with them in swift career. Yet 
nearly 6,000 such systems of double stars have been discovered. A most curious 
and interesting fact connected with these multiple systems is, that one sun differs 
in color from the other suns in the same system. In some instances, one sun 
is yellow and another blue ; in other cases, one is of a crimson hue, while an- 
other is of vivid green. What a variety of illumination two, three, or four such 
suns must afford to the planetary worlds circling around them ; what charming 
contrasts and grateful vicissitudes — a red, a green, and a yellow day alternating 
with a white one, and with darkness ! 

The immense distances of the stars prove their dimensions to be immense like- 
wise, otherwise they would be altogether invisible from our world. Experi- 
ments and calculations go to prove that were the star Sirius and our Sun placed 
at equal distances, that star would impart an amount of light 14 times greater 
than that of the sun. The diameter of the star Vega has been calculated to be 
38 times that of the sun ; consequently its bulk must be 55,000 times that of the 
sun. What a stupendous orb must such a star be ! The earth we call a large 
globe; other of the planet's are hundreds of times larger; and the sun is 500 
times larger than all the planets and satellites put together — what then must that 
body be which is 55,000 times larger than the sum of the whole solar system! 

The number of the stars is equally astonishing. Ordinarily, indeed, there are 
not more than 1,000 visible to the naked eye at one time; and not more than 
6,000 in both hemispheres under the most favorable circumstances. But these 
are only the beginnings of the glories of the heavens. When the telescope is 
turned toward the sky, stars before unseen come forth by myriads from the dark 
depths of space ; and as the power of that instrument is increased, other myriads 
still come to view. The whole Milky Way is but a cluster of stars. "This 



PROVERBS I. 437 

remarkable belt," says the Elder Herschel, "when examined through a powerful 
telescope, is found to consist entirely of stars scattered by millions, like glitter- 
ing dust, on the black ground of the general heavens." The number of stars 
that can be distinctly counted in the Milky Way exceeds 5,500,000. But this 
Belt is only o?ie of those clusters of stars, called nebulce, of which there have been 
observed and examined no less than 3,000. Each of these appears to be com- 
posed of stars as thickly crowded as the Milky Way. Of one of them, Sir John 
Herschel says: "Ten or twenty thousand stars appear to be compacted or 
wedged together in a space not larger than a tenth part of that covered by the 
moon, and presenting in its centre one blaze of light." What, then, must be 
the number in the whole of that nebula ? And if to all the foregoing we add 
the stars of 3,000 other nebulae, or Milky Ways, what a boundless scene is pre- 
sented to the mind ! 

It has been calculated that there are within the reach of the best telescopes 
more than two billio?is of worlds — a number so vast that, counting a hundred 
per minute, it would take no less than 40,000 years to enumerate them ! Yet 
men of sober minds and profound intellects have advanced the supposition, that 
were even all these to be swept away into nothingness and oblivion, the universe 
of God would be still left in its greatness, and that its glory would suffer no more 
by the event, tremendous as it seems to us, than would the forest by the drop- 
ping of a single leaf. — How significant, then, and how appropriate and true the 
adoring language of the Psalmist: "He telleth the number of the stars; He 
calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power : His 
understanding is infinite." — See Work Days of God, p. 466-483. 



Proverbs. 



Proverbs i : 24-27. — Because I have called, and ye refused : I have stretched out my hand, and 
no man regarded: but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 
I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your fear cometh ; when your fear Com- 
eth as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish 
cometh upon you. 

^Eschylus. — He, that to virtue's heavenly power 

Unforced his willing soul shall bow, 

Nor ruin's tyrant rage shall know, 
Nor keen affliction's torturing hour. 
But he that dares her sacred laws despise, 

Trampling on justice to amass his prey, 
Appall'd shall hear the rushing whirlwinds rise, 

And tremble at the storms that swell the sea, 



438 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Wild with despair 
He pours his prayer, 
Whirled in the giddy tempest round ; 
His blasted pride 
The gods deride 
And all his daring hopes confound; 
Smile as they view him rack'd with pain 
Bound in misfortune's iron chain; 
As 'on the pointed rock they see him thrown, 
To perish there unpitied and alone. — Eumen., v. 550. 

Prov. i : 32. — The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 

Theognis. — Excess has ruined many a foolish man ; for it is difficult to keep 
the mean when good things abound. — Theog., v. 693. 

Demosthenes. — Great and unexpected success is apt to hurry weak minds into 
extravagances. — Olynth., III., 9. 

Quintus Curtius. — Your prosperity begins to make you mad. — Quint. Curt., 
x., 2. 

Prov. iii : 13, 14. — Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understand- 
ing. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof 
than fine gold. 

Plato. — Righteousness — a matter far more valuable than gold. — De Rep., lib. 
i., c. 10. 

Prov. iii : 16. — Length of days is in her right hand. 

Martial. — A good man lengthens his term of existence. To be able to enjoy 
the recollection of our past life is to live twice. — Mart., lib. x., epigr. 23. 

Prov. iii : 16. — And in her left hand riches and honor. 

Plautus. — A man's reputation is his way to money. Let me but maintain a 
good character, and I shall be rich enough. — Mostell, Act I., sc. 3. 

Prov. iii : 17. — Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 

Pindar. — Those who seek with high emprise, 

The steep where virtue's guerdon lies, 
The brightest walks of life await. — Olymp., vi. 122. 
Juvenal. — The only path that surely leads to a life of peace, lies through vir- 
tue. — Sat. x., v. 363. 

Prov. iii : 28. — Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give ; when 

thou hast it by thee. 

Lucian. — Swift favors charm; but when too long they stay, 
They lose the name of kindness by delay. — Epigr. 

Prov. iii : 32. — His secret is with the righteous. 
Callimachus. — Not to every one doth Apollo manifest himself; but to the 
good only. — H. in Apoll., v. 9. 



PROVERBS VI. 439 

Prov. iv : 14, 15. — Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 
Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away. 

Plato. — Flee without turning back, from the society of the wicked. — De Leg., 
lib, ix., c. 1. 

Prov. iv: 18, 19. — The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto 
the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness, they know nut at what they stumble. 

Hesiod. — But thou to justice cleave, from v/rong forbear. 
Wrong, if he yield to its abhorr'd control, 
Shall pierce like iron into the poor man's soul: 
Wrong weighs the rich man's conscience to the dust, 
When his foot stumbles on the way unjust. 
Far different is the path, a path of light, 
That guides the feet to equitable right: 
The end of righteousness enduring long, 
Exceeds the short prosperity of wrong. — Oper. et Dies, v. 211. 

Prov. v : 3-5. — For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honey-comb, and her mouth is smoother 
than oil : but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go 
down to death, her steps take hold on hell. 

Plautus. — Your tongues and talk are steeped in honey; your doings and 
dispositions in gall and sour vinegar. From your tongues you utter sweet 
words; you make y.our lovers to have bitter hearts, if they fail to give you pres- 
ents. — TrucuL, Act I., sc. 2. 

Pindar. — A bitter end remains to forbidden pleasures. — Apud Plut. de 
audiend. poet., c. 3. 

Prov. vi : 6-8. — Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways and be wise : which having no 
guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the 
harvest. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The natural interpretation of this 
passage is, that the ant proves her industry and wisdom' by storing up in summer 
a supply for winter use. Many difficulties have been raised respecting this, 
from the fact that the ant tribe are, excepting in hot climates, for the most part 
dormant in winter, and that their food is not corn, but flesh, insects, and 
saccharine matter from trees, which cannot be stored. They do, however, fill 
their nests with all kinds of substances, chiefly for the purpose of lining them and 
keeping them free from damp; and I have not only seen them in the Holy 
Land busily engaged in carrying quantities of barley to hoard, but have found 
the nests full of corn, mingled with chaff, grass, seeds, and all sorts of dried 
vegetable husks. Elsewhere they have been observed, not only to carry seeds 
to their nests, but, after the rains, when the moisture has penetrated their 
dwellings, to bring them up again* to the surface to dry. The ancients 
unanimously believed that the ant stored up food for winter consumption ; and 
who that has watched the incessant activity of these little creatures, issuing in 
long files from their subterranean labyrinths by a broad beaten track, and 



440 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

gradually dispersing in all directions by pathways that become narrower and 
fainter as they are subdivided and diverge, while a busy throng is uninter- 
ruptedly conveying back by the same paths every movable object which they are 
able to drag with their powerful forceps, would not at once arrive at the same 
conclusion? — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 320. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — It has been asserted by some that ants do not 
gather grains of wheat and barley, and lay them up in store; but that is 
nonsense. Tell it to these farmers, and they will laugh in your face. Ants 
not pilfer from the floor and the granary ! They are the greatest robbers in 
the land. Leave a bushel of wheat in the vicinity of one of their subterranean 
cities, and in a surprisingly short time the whole commonwealth will be 
summoned to plunder. A broad black column stretches from the wheat to their 
hole, and you are startled by the result. As if by magic, every grain seems 
to be accommodated with legs, and walks off in a hurry along the moving 
column. The farmers remorselessly set fire to every ant city they find in the 
neighborhood of their threshing-floors. — Land and the Book, II., 262. 

Prov. vi; 13. — He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — It should be remembered, that in the East, when 
people are in their houses, they do not wear sandals; consequently their feet 
and toes are exposed. When guests wish to speak with each other, so as not to 
be observed by the host, they convey their meaning by their feet and toes. Does 
a person wish to leave a room in company with another, he lifts one of his feet; 
and should the other refuse, he also lifts a foot, and then suddenly puts it down 
on the ground. " He teacheth with his fingers : " when merchants wish to make 
a bargain in the presence of others, without making known their terms, they sit 
on the ground, have a piece of cloth thrown over the lap, and then put each a 
hand under, and thus speak with the fingers. When the Brahmins convey 
religious mysteries to their disciples, they teach with their fingers, having the 
hands concealed in the folds of their robes. — Orient. Illust., p. 355. 

Prov. vi : 16-19. — These things doth the Lord hate: a proud look, a lying tongue, a false 

witness that speaketh lies. 

Maximus Tyrius. — Diseases of the body God relieves ; diseases of the mind 
he hates. — Dissert., 41. 

Phocylides. — The immortal God hates every false swearer. — PhocyL, v. 15. 

Prov. vii : 27. — Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. 
Hesiod. — Let no strange woman e'er seduce thy mind 
With robe up-gathered in a knot behind : 
She prattling her soft things, asks, sly, thy home ; 
But trust a woman, and a fhief is come. — Oper. et Dies, v. 371. 
Cicero. — Many men, because they are enfeebled and subdued the moment 
pleasure comes in sight, give themselves up to be bound hand and foot by their 
lust, and do not foresee what will happen to them. — De Jin., lib. i., c. 14. 



PROVERBS XIV. 441 

Plautus. — Lydas (at the door of a harlot's house) — Open and throw back this 
gate of hell, I do entreat; for really I deem it nothing else ; inasmuch as no 
one comes here but he who has lost all hope that he may yet become a decent 
person. — Bacch., Act III., sc. i. 

Prov. ix : 17. — Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 
Amatorius. Sweet is the fruit which is gathered when the keeper is absent. 
— Amat., c. 5. 

Prov. xii : 10. — A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the 

wicked are cruel. 

Plutarch. — Kindness and beneficence should be extended to creatures of 
every species ; and these still flow from the breast of a well-natured man, as 
streams that issue from the living fountain. A good man will take care of his 
horses and dogs, not only when they are young, but when they are old and past 
service. We certainly ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or house- 
hold goods, which when worn out with use, we throw away : and were it only to 
teach benevolence to human kind, we should be merciful to other creatures. — 
Cat. Maj., c. 5. 

Prov. xiii : 12. — Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. 

Statius. — There is no heavier grief to a man than hope that is long in 
coming. — Theb., II., 320. 

Prov. xiii : 20. — He that walketh with wise men shall be wise ; but a companion of fools shall 

be destroyed. 

Theognis. — Consort not with bad men, but ever cleave to the good : with 
them eat and drink ; sit with them, and please them ; of whom there is a large 
force. For from the good thou shalt learn good, but with the bad, if thou 
shouldst mix, thou wilt lose even the mind thou hast. — Theog., v. 31. 

Epictetus. — It is impossible to touch a chimney-sweep without being partaker 
of his soot. — Epic, lib. iii., c. 16. 

Prov. xiv : 14. — A good man shall be satisfied from himself. 

Aristotle. — The life of a good man is not at all in want of pleasure, as a 
certain appendage, but contains pleasure in itself; for he is not a good man who 
does not rejoice in beautiful actions ; and actions according to virtue will be in 
themselves delectable. — Nicomachean Ethics, lib. i., c. 8. 

Prov. xiv: 17. — He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly. 

Euripides. — Medea. I know indeed the ills that I am about to dare ; but 
my rage is master of my councils, which is indeed the cause of the greatest 
calamities to men. — Med., v. 1078. 

Prov. xiv : 20. — The poor is hated even of his own neighbor ; but the rich man hath many 

friends. 

Theognis. — Every one honors a rich man, but dishonors a poor; yet in al] 
men there is the same mind. — Theog., v. 621. 



442 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prov. xiv : 30. — A sound heart is the life of the flesh : but envy the rottenness of the bones. 

Menander. — Things are consumed and corrupted, each by its own particular 
evil; and the destroyer of everything is contained within itself; as for instance, 
rust in iron, if you reflect ; the worm or dry-rot in wood; the moth in garments. 
Thus envy, which is the worst of all evils, has caused, does cause, and will 
cause, atrophy and consumption ; for it is the impious associate of an evil mind. 

Prof. Thomas Watson, M. D. — Very many diseases have a mental origin ; 
and perhaps there is no cause of corporeal disease more clearly made out, or more 
certainly effective, than protracted anxiety and distress of mind. Our passions 
and emotions also, nay, even some of our better impulses, when strained or per- 
verted, tend to our physical destruction. — Lectures on the Principles and Practice 
of Physic, p. 59. 

Dr. George Moore, M. R. C. P. — There is but one cause of misery, disease 
and death to man. Let us shun that, and we need not be very nice about the 
choice of our diet, or our doctor, for, after all, the grand secret of health is to be 
happy at heart. — Health, Disease and Remedy, p. 140. 

Prov. xiv : 34. — Righteousness exalteth a nation : but sin is a reproach to any people. 

Plautus. — If the inhabitants have good morals, I think the city is properly 
fortified ; but if vices prevail there, a hundred walls would be of no avail for 
preserving its interests. — Pers., Act IV., sc. 4. 

Rev. Thomas Scott, D. D. — "Righteousness" — genuine piety — is insep- 
arably connected with industry, sobriety, equity, mercy and frugality ; and these 
conduce to health, population, union and competency. The prevalence of vice 
and impiety is a national reproach, conduces to disunion, weakness and disgrace. 
Note, in loco, 

Prov. xv : 1. — A soft answer turneth away wrath : but grievous words stir up anger. 
Plutarch. — One of the maxims of the Pythagoreans was not to stir the fire 
with a sword, the meaning of which was not to irritate an angry man. — 
Num., c. 14. 

Prov. xv : 8. — The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the 

upright is his delight. 

Plato. — The divine nature is not such as to be seduced by presents, like 1 
knavish judge. It would be a dreadful thing indeed if the gods looked to gifts 
and sacrifices, and not to the soul, whether a person be holy or just. Nay, they 
look much more to this than to expensive processions and sacrifices, which there 
is nothing to prevent them from having the power to pay, each year, who have 
sinned greatly against the gods, and greatly too against men. But they, as not 
receiving bribes, disdain all such things as these, as says the god and the prophet 
of the gods. — Alcib., lib. ii., c. 13. 

Cicero. — Let not the wicked dare to think of appeasing the anger of the gods 
by gifts. — De Leg., lib. ii., c. 9. 

Prov. xv : 16. — Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble 

therewith- 



proverbs xvi. 443 

Theognis. — Choose rather to live religiously with small means, than to be 
rich, having gotten riche c unjustly.- Theog., v. 145. 

Prov. xvi : 9. — A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. 

Homer. — Mighty Jove cuts short, with just disdain, 

The long, long views of poor designing man. 

—Iliad, XVII., 328. 
Xenophon. — Human wisdom knows no more how to choose the best trm 
oix who should determine to act as chance and the lot shall decide^ The gods, 
who are eternal, know all things that have been, all things that are, and all that 
shall happen in consequence of everything; and when men consult them, they 
signify to those to whom they are propitious, what they ought to do, and what 
to leave undone. — Cyrop., lib. i., c. 6. 

Prov. xvi: 18. — Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 
Menander. — When you see any one highly elated, glorying in his birth and 
riches, and exalting himself above measure, you may expect a sudden retribution. 
The higher he soars, the greater will be his fall. — Apud. Strob., xxii. 

Prov. xvi : 29. — A violent man enticeth his neighbor, and leadeth him in the way that is not 

good. 

Aristotle. — The wicked man injures both himself and his neighbors by 
following evil passions. — Eth., IX., 8. 

Cicero. — Men of vicious life are doubly pernicious to the state, as being not 
only guilty of immoral practices themselves, but likewise of spreading them far and 
wide among their fellow-citizens. Nor are they mischievous to it inasmuch as 
they cherish vices themselves, but also because they compel others ; and they do 
more harm by their example than by the crimes which they commit. — De Leg., 
lib. iii.. c. 14. 

Prov. xvi : 31. — The hoary head is a crowr. of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. 

Philo. — A hoary head with sense combined, 
Claims veneration from mankind : 
But if with folly join'd, it bears 
The badge of ignominious years. — Apud. Anthol. Grcec. 

Prov. x\ 7 i : 32. — He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth his spirit 

than he that taketh a city. 

Cicero. — You (Caesar) have subdued nations, savage in their barbarism, 
boundless if we regard the extent of country peopled by them, and rich in 
every kind of resource ; but still you were only conquering things, the nature 
and condition of which were such that they could be overcome by force. But 
to subdue one's inclinations, to master one's angry feelings, to be moderate in 
the hour of victory, to not merely raise from the ground a prostrate adversary, 
eminent for noble birth, for genius and for virtue, but even to increase his pre- 
vious dignity, — these are actions of such a nature that the man who does them 



444 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

I do not compare to the most illustrious man, but I consider him equal to a 
god. — Pro. Marcel., c. 3. 

Martial. — To Domitian. Conqueror of many leaders; conqueror also of 

thyself. — Mart., lib. viii., epigr. 54. 

Prov. xvii : 17. — A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. 

Isocrates. — Judge of your friends in the misfortunes of life, and their 
voluntary sharing of danger ; for we prove gold by fire ; but we know best our 
real friends in affliction and distress. — Orat. 1. 

Cicero. — Friends are loosened, as it were, by happy events, and drawn 
together in distress. — De Amic, c. 13. 

Prov. xviii : 14. — The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who ccn 

bear? 

Cicero. — In proportion as the vigor of the mind exceeds that of. the body, 
so also are the sufferings which rack the mind more terrible than those which 
are endured by the body. He, therefore, who commits a wicked action is 
more wretched than he who is compelled to endure the wickedness of another. 
—Philip., XL, c. 4. 

Prov. xviii : 24. — There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 

Euripides. — A man who is congenial in manners, though a stranger in blood, 
is a better friend for a man to have than ten thousand relatives. — Orest., v. 

805. 

Prov. xix : 6. — Every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. 

Euripides. — Gifts, they say, persuade even the gods; and gold is more 
powerful with men than a thousand arguments. — Med., v. 964. 

Prov. xix : 7. — All the brethren of the poor do hate him : how much more do his friends go far 
from him? He pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him. 

Menander. — It is difficult to find the kinsman of a poor man ; no one will 
confess relationship with him who is in need ; for he fears to be asked for some- 
thing.— Ap. Stob., X. 

Prov. xix : II. — The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a 

transgression. 

Plutarch. — Plato, having lifted his staff against a servant who had provoked 
him, stood in that posture for a long time, in order, as he said, to restrain his 
anger. — De Ser. Num. vino 1 ., c. 5. 

Ovid. — The greater any one is, the more placable is he in his anger ; and a 
noble disposition is easily affected. — Prist., 1. iii., eleg. 5. 

Prov. xix : 14. — A prudent wife is from the Lord. 

Hesiod. — No better lot hath providence assigned 

Than a fair woman with a virtuous mind. — Op. et Dies., v. 700. 
Simonides. — A man can obtain nothing better than a good wife, and nothing 
more horrible than a bad one. — In Brunck, p. 99. 



PROVERBS XXVI. 445 

Prov. xix: 17. — He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath 

given will he pay him again. 

Martial. — The riches you give away are the only riches you will possess for- 
ever. — Ma?'t., lib. v., epigr. 42. 

Prov. xx : I. — Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is 

not wise. 

Homer. — Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind, 

Unnerves the limbs, and dulls the noble mind. — Iliad, V., 263. 
Isocrates. — When the understanding is disordered by wine, it is like a chariot 
which has flung off its driver ; for a chariot wanting a directing hand is hurried 
without order ; and the soul is full of error and deception when the mind is 
darkened by strong liquor. — Oration 1. 

Prov. xxii : 6. — Train up a child in the way he should go : and when he is old, he will not 

depart from it. 

Euripides. — Such things as a boy learns, these he is wont to remember till 
old age. Do ye then educate your children well. — Supply v. 916. 

Plato. — The instruction given in earliest age is wonderfully lasting and 
impressive. — Ti?nams, c. 4. 

Quintilian. — Train but the tender age, you form the man. — Lib. i., c. 3. 
Prov. xxiv : 9. — The thought of foolishness is sin. 

Juvenal. — He who meditates within his breast a crime that finds not vent 
even in words, has all the guilt of the act. — Sat. xiii., v. 209. 

Prov. xxiv: 30, 31. — I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void 
of understanding; and lo it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face 
thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Yes, that is true to nature, and to actual life in all 
its details. The stone terraces and garden walls soon tumble down when 
neglected, and this, beyond any country I have seen, is prolific in thorns and 
thistles. All your vineyards in this region are covered with them, and so thou- 
sands of your valuable olive-trees are completely choked up with briers and 
thorns, and their owners are too shiftless and indolent to clear them away. — The 
Land and the Book, Vol. L, p. 522. 

Prov. xxv : 2. — It is the glory of God to conceal a thing. 

Solon. — The mind of the immortals is always hidden from men. — In Bru'nck, 

P- 73- 

Prov. xxv: 17. — Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so 

hate thee. 
Arabic Proverb. — Rare visits increase love. — Erperf s. Arab. Gram. 
Prov. xxvi : 1. — As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The occurrence of rain (in Pales- 
tine) after the corn is ripe is scarcely known, and thus we find it suggested as 
an image of what is most incongruous: "As snow in summer, and as rain in 
harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool." — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 31. 



446 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prov. xxvi : 14. — As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. 
Rev. H. W. Phillott, M. A., — In Syria, and especially the Hauran, there 
are many ancient doors consisting of stone slabs with pivots carved out of the 
same piece, inserted in sockets above and below, and fixed during the building 
of the house. The allusion in Proverbs is thus clearly explained. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 1077. 

Prov. xxvii : I. — Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring 

forth. 

Theognis. — Never speak boastingly in public ; for no man knows what a 
night and a day may bring about for a man. — Theog., v. 159. 

Demosthenes. — He whose condition is most prosperous, whose fortune seems 
most favorable, knows not whether it is to remain unchanged, even for a day. — 
De Corona. 

Theocritus. — We are mortals, and cannot look forward to the morrow. — 
Carm., XIII. , v. 4. 

Prov. xxvii : 6. — The kisses of an enemy are deceitful. 

Sophocles. — True is the adage — From the hands of foes 

Gifts are not gifts, but injuries most fatal. — Ajax, v. 664. 

Prov. xxvii : 17. — Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. 

William Aldis Wright, M. A. — In the sepulchres at Thebes butchers are 
represented as sharpening their knives on a round bar of metal attached to their 
aprons, which from its blue color is presumed to be steel. — Smith's Diet, of the 
Bible, p. 1 143. 

Prov. xxvii : 22. — Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet 
will not his foolishness depart from him. 

William Aldis Wright, M. A. — Corn may be separated from its husk and 
all its good properties preserved by such an operation, but the fool's folly is so 
essential a part of himself, that no analogous process can remove it from him. — 
Sm i th ' s Diet, of Bible, p. 2015. 

Plutarch. — Nicocreofi caused Anaxarchus to be pounded and brayed to pieces 
with iron pestles. — De Virt. Mural., c. 10. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — Large mortars are used in the East for the purpose 
of separating the rice from the husk. When a considerable quantity has to be 
prepared, the mortar is placed outside the door; and two women, each with a 
pestle of five feet long, begin the work. They strike in rotation, as blacksmiths 
do on the anvil. — Cruel as it is, this is a punishment of the state : the poor victim 
is thrust into the mortar and beaten with the pestle. The late king of Kandy 
compelled one of the wives of his rebellious chief thus "to beat her own infant 
to death — Orient. Jllust., p. 368. 

Prov. xxvii ; 27. — And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy 
household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — In all the districts of Palestine 
where goats are kept, their milk is an important item of food, and is used both 



proverbs xxx. 447 

fresh and curdled, or manufactured into butter and cheese. In the mountainous 
regions no other milk is used, and the goats are the sole wealth of many villages.. 
Here they are profitable enough to maintain the farmer's family. — Nat. Hisi. of 
Bibh, p. 91. 
Prov. xxviii : I. — The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. 

Cicero. — The power of conscience is very great, O judges, and is of great 
weight on both sides: so that they fear nothing who have done no wrong: and 
they on the other hand, who have done wrong, think that punishment is always 
hanging over them. — Pro Milon, c. 23. 

Statius. — O wickedness, ever cowardly! — Theb., 1. ii., v. 490. 

Prov. xxviii: 10. — Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall him* 

self into his own pit. 

Hesiod. — He harms himself that plans another's ill, 

And evil counsels plague their authors still. — Op. et Dies, v. 263. 
Prov. xxviii : 20. — He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. 
Horace. — He who is always in a hurry to be wealthy, and immersed in the 
study of augmenting his fortune, has lost the art of reason and deserted the post 
of virtue.— Epist, XVI., v. 67. 

Juvenal. — He who covets riches would also grow rich speedily. But what re- 
spect for laws, what fear or shame is ever found in the breast of the miser hast-, 
ing to be rich. — Sat. XIV., v. 176. 

Prov. xxx : 8. — Remove far from me vanity and lies : give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed! 
me with food convenient for me. 

Theognis. — I neither wish nor pray to be rich ; but be it mine to live onmy- 
little store, and find no hurt. — Theog., v. 1153. 

Plato. — May I deem the wise man rich, and may I have such a portion oft- 
gold as none but a prudent man can either bear or employ. — Phcedriis^o,... 6.4^ 

Alexis. — Enough, and just enough, how good is it ! 

Prov. xxx : 24, 25. — There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they -are exceed- - 
ing wise. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in, the summer. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Modern research has proved tfte 
wisdom and instinct of these little creatures to be far in advance of any other 
known insect, not even excepting the Bee. Their skill in architecture is wonder- 
ful and varied. Some species build their labyrinths of pellets of kneaded clay, 
arched and fitted like the most solid masonry ; others employ rafters and beams 
for their roofs ; others excavate the trunks of trees. They fortify their passages 
against rain and enemies, closing them every night, and" opening them in the 
morning. Like the bees and wasps, their communities are composed of males, 
females and neuters, the latter being both the workers and the rulers. These 
receive the eggs, watch over them with unceasing care, bring the larvce to enjoy 
the heat of the sun, and then carry them back- to their chambers as the day de- 
clines. They gather food for them, and supply them incessantly ; they tear- 
away the cases from the cocoons when thfe perfect insect- is ready to emerge; 
28 



448 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

they spread and dry the wings, which the males and females alone possess, and 
that only in the perfect state; they afterwards tend the females, feed them, wash 
them, and keep continual guard. They rear myriads of aphides, or small plant 
parasites, from the egg, to supply food for the young, and keep them like cows. 
Some species, as the Amazon Ants, organize regular marauding expeditions, at- 
tack the colonies of other ants, and carry off the larvae to be their slaves. In 
fact, had not the habits of the ants been verified by the observations of the most 
careful and truthful naturalists, they would have been incredible. Truly, indeed, 
did Agur pronounce them to be "exceeding wise." — Natter al History of the 
Bible, p. 321. 

Dr. Lincecum. — The species named "Agricultural" is a large brownish Ant. 
When it has selected a situation for its habitation, if on ordinary dry ground, it 
bores a hole, around which it raises the surface three and sometimes six inches, 
forming a low circular mound having a very gentle inclination from the centre 
to the outer border, which on an average is three or four feet from the entrance. 
But if the location is chosen on low, flat, wet land, liable to inundation, though 
the ground may be perfectly dry at the time the ant sets to work, it nevertheless 
elevates the mound, in the form of a pretty sharp cone, to the height of fifteen 
or twenty inches, and makes the entrance near the summit. Around the mound 
in either case the ant clears the ground of all obstructions, levels and smooths 
the surface to the distance of three or four feet from the gate of the city, giving 
the space a handsome appearance. Within this area not a blade of any green 
thing is allowed to grow, except a single species of grain-bearing grass. Having 
planted this crop in a circle around, and two or three feet from, the centre of 
the mound, the insect tends and cultivates it with constant care, cutting away 
all other grasses and weeds that may spring up amongst it and all around outside 
of the farm-circle to the extent of one or two feet more. 

The cultivated grass grows luxuriantly, and produces a heavy crop of small, 
white, flinty seeds, which under the microscope very closely resemble ordinary 
rice. When ripe, it is carefully harvested and carried by the workers, chaff and 
all, into the granary cells, where it is divested of the chaff and packed away. 
The chaff is taken out and thrown beyond the limits of the area. During pro- 
tracted wet weather, it sometimes happens that the provision stores become 
damp, and are liable to sprout and spoil. In this case, on the first fine day the 
ants bring out the damp and damaged grain, and expose it to the sun till it is 
dry, when they carry it back and pack away all the sound seeds, leaving those 
that had sprouted to waste. 

Mow., there can be no doubt of the fact, that the particular species of grain - 
bearing grass, mentioned above, is intentionally planted. In farmer-like man- 
ner the ground upon which it stands is carefully divested of all other grasses and 
weeds during the time it is growing. When it is ripe, the grain is taken care 
of, the dry stubble cut away and carried off, the area being left unencumbered 
turtll the ensuing autumn, when the same "ant-rice " reappears within the same 
circle, .and receives .the same agricultural attention as was bestowed upon the 



PROVERBS XXX. 449 

previous crop ; and so on year after year, as I know to be the case, in all situa- 
tions where the ants' settlements are protected from graminivorous animals. 
My conclusions have not been arrived at from hasty or careless observation, nor 
from seeing the ants do something that looked a little like it, and then guessing 
at the results. I have at all seasons watched the same ant-cities during the last 
twelve years, and I know that what I have stated is true. I visited the same 
cities yesterday, and found the crop of ant-rice growing finely, and exhibiting 
also the signs of high cultivation, and not a blade of any other kind of grass or 
weed was to be seen within twelve inches of the circular row of ant-rice. 
— -Journal of the Linnozan Society, Vol. VI., No. 21, p. 29. 

Rev. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S. — The economical habits of this wonderful 
insect far surpasses anything that Solomon has written of the ant, and it is not 
too much to say that if any of the Scriptural writers had ventured to speak of 
an ant that not only laid up stores of grain, but actually prepared the soil for the 
crop, planted the seed, kept the ground free from weeds, and finally reaped the 
harvest, the statement would have been utterly disbelieved, and the credibility 
not only of that particular writer, but of the rest of Scripture severely endan- 
gered. We all know that Solomon's statement concerning the ant has afforded 
one of the stock of arguments against the truth of Scripture ; and here we have 
his statements not only corroborated to the very letter by those who have visited 
Palestine for the express purpose of investigating its zoology, but far surpassed by 
the observations of a scientific man who had watched the insects for a series 
of years. — Bible Animals, p. 620. 

Prov. xxx : 26. — The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The coney does not, like the rab- 
bit, scoop out a burrow for itself, but lives in holes in the rocks, where it makes 
its nest and conceals its young, and to which it retires at the least alarm. They 
are a feeble folk, and though they will attempt to bite when seized in their holes, 
yet their efforts are not very formidable. But their wariness is great. " They 
are exceeding wise." Being in some degree gregarious, they never feed with- 
out having sentries on the look-out, and, on the approach of danger, a short 
squeak from the look-out sends the whole party instantly to their retreat. — Nat. 
Hist, of Bible, p. 76. 

Rev. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S. — The coney is so crafty that no trap or 
snare ever set has induced it to enter, and so wary that it is with difficulty that 
one can be killed even with firearms. — Bible Animals, p. 317. 

Prov. xxx : 27. — The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — Nothing in the habits of locusts is more 
striking than the pertinacity with which they all pursue the same line of march, 
like a disciplined army. As they have no king, they must be influenced by 
some common instinct. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 107. 

Prov. xxx : 28. — The spider taketh hold with her hands and is in kings' palaces. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The word semamith, here trans- 



450 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

lated "spider," is by some supposed to represent the Gecko, a species of lizard, 
which has the power of walking on an inverted surface. It may, however, stand 
for the spider, which uses its feet so nimbly to run up its web, and to cling to 
any surface, that they may well be termed " hands," while no recess, even in a 
palace, is secure from its intrusion. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 304. 

The Compiler. — The ingenuity, cunning and stratagems of the spider, have 
been subjects of observation and interest from remote antiquity. Solomon 
might well mention it among "the small things that are wise upon the earth." 
For, truly, what the spider does with her hands, and her spinning organs, is 
very wonderful. The garde?i spider is a most skilful aeronaut, and practised 
his art with consummate success, long ages before its discovery by man ; it con- 
structs its balloon with silk of its own manufacture, and wafts along, or ascends 
on high, with ease and rapidity, in its airy chariot. The water spider, from 
time immemorial, has .been familiar with all the triumphs of the diving-bell ; 
it fabricates for itself a covering in which it can safely dive, remain at the bot- 
tom of pools and streams, there build for itself a dry and comfortable habita- 
tion ; from this it daily ascends in quest of prey, and, having secured it, carries 
it down to its subaquatic mansion, to be devoured at its pleasure. Another 
species, called the builder, is eminently gifted with architectural talents; but its 
structures are always under ground. There it excavates rooms, bores galleries, 
forms vaults, constructs bridges, and carves out entrances. Its habitation, when 
completed and garnished, is always remarkable for the extreme neatness which 
reigns within it. Whatever the humidity of the soil in which it is built, water 
never penetrates it ; the walls are nicely covered with tapestry of silk, having 
usually the lustre of satin, and are almost always of dazzling whiteness. But the 
most remarkably ingenious of all the contrivances about its habitation is the 
door at its entrance, which lacks nothing but a lock, for it is nicely fitted to a 
frame, and actually works upon a hinge. This door, upon close examination, 
is found to be a complicated fabric, being formed of no less than thirty layers 
of earth and web, emboxed in each other. On the outside it is coated with soil 
similar to the surrounding earth, so that the existence of an entrance would 
hardly be suspected. And what is very striking, the door is so hinged that, 
whether the spider enters or goes out, it is sure to shut of itself. The advantage 
of this adjustment is great and obvious ; for, whether it darts out upon its prey, 
or retreats before an enemy, no time need be lost in shutting the door. In 
these operations of spiders, we discover designs so wise, contrivances so happy, 
and adaptations so successful, as plainly prove that the benevolent Creator has 
taught each the lessons of its life-daties, and made these little creatures, small 
though they be, " wise upon the earth." — See my work entitled Work Days of 
God, p. 596. 

Prov. xxx : 30. — A lion, which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any. 

J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S. — Size for size, the lion is one of the strongest 
of beasts. A full-grown lion can, not only knock down and kill, but carry away 



PROVERBS XXX. 



451 



in its mouth an ordinary ox ; and one of these terrible animals has been known 
to pick up a heifer in its mouth, and to leap over a wide ditch still carrying its 
burden Another ion carried a two-year old heifer, and was chased for five 
hours by mounted farmers, so that it must have traversed a very considerable 
distance. Yet, ,„ the whole of this journey, the legs of the heifer had only two 
or three times touched the ground. It kills a -man, and comparatively smaU 
animals, such as deer and antelopes, with a blow of its terrible paw-a second 
blow is seldom necessary to cause the death of such a victim. The lion' seems 
to be a very incarnation of strength, and, even when dead, gives as vivid an 
idea of concentrated power as when it was living. And when the skin is 




LION — FROM A ROMAN SCULPTURE, ENGRAVED IN PIRANESI. 

stripped from the body, the tremendous muscular development never fails to 
create a sensation of awe. The muscles of the limbs, themselves so hard as to 
blunt the keen-edged knives employed by a dissecter, are enveloped in their 
glittering sheaths, playing upon each other like well-oiled machinery, and termi- 
nating in tendons seemingly strong as steel, and nearly as impervious to the knife. 
Not until the skin is removed can any one form a conception of the enormously 
powerful muscles of the neck, which enable the lion to lift the weighty prey which 
it kills and to convey it to a place of security. It is, moreover, one of the most 
courageous animals in existence when it is driven to fight ; and if its anger is 
excited, it cares little for the number of its foes, or the weapons with which they 
are armed. " He turneth not away for any." — Bible Animals, p. 20-22. 



452 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prov. xxxi; 13, 14. — She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is 
like the merchant's ships ; she bringeth her food from far. 

Livy. — Several of the Roman nobles disputing about the relative merits of 
their wives, agreed to visit them unexpectedly, in order to observe their several 
occupations. Lucretia was found busily employed with her wool, though 
at a late hour, and sitting in the midst of her house, with her maids at work 
around her. — Liv., lib. i., cap. 57. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — In Sidon, at this day, a majority of the women are 
thus working in raw silk and cotton, instead of wool and flax. Many of them 
actually support the family in this way, and by selling their produce to the mer- 
chants, bring their food from far. A leading Moslem told me that nearly every 
family in Sidon was thus carried through the past scarce and very dear winter. 
—The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 573. 

Prov. xxxi: 15. — She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and 

a portion to her maidens. 
Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The industrious of this country are very early risers. 
Long before day they are up and about their work ; but what is especially 
remarked, they never allow their lamp to go out by night. — The Land aiid the 
Book, Vol. II., p. 573. 

Prov. xxxi : 17. — She girdeth her loins with strength. 
Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The use of the girdle is universal, under the impression 
that it greatly contributes to the strength of the loins, around which it is twisted 
tightly in many a circling fold. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 573. 
Prov. xxxi ; 19. — She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. 
Virgil. — They ply the distaff by the winking light, 
And to their daily labor add the night : 
Thus frugally they earn their children's bread, 
And uncorrupted keep their nuptial bed. — s£n., 1. viii., v. 407. 
Homer. — Hasten to thy task at home, 

There guide the distaff and direct the loom. — Iliad, VI., 491. 
Prov. xxxi : 22. — She maketh her coverings of tapestry ; her clothing is silk and purple. 
Plutarch. — When the bride is led home, she is made to sit upon a fleece of 
wool ; she then takes the distaff and spindle, and adorns her husband's house 
with hangings. — Qucest. Rom., c. 31. 

Xenophon. — Leontiades, one of the Theban generals, had thrown himself 
upon a couch after supper, and his wife was sitting by him, employed at the 
spinning wheel. — Hist. Graze, V., 4. 

Suetonius. — The Emperor Caesar Augustus seldom wore any garment but 
those that were made by the hand of his wife, sister, daughter and grand- 
daughter. — Cces. Aug., c. 73. 

Prov. xxxi : 23. — Her hushand is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the 

land. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The husband of such a faithful and industrious wife 



ECCLESIASTES I. 453 

is known in the gates, where he sitteth among the elders of the land. What the 
Bourse is in Paris, and the Exchange in London, the open spaces about the 
gates of the city were to the Orientals, and still are in many parts of the East. 
There the elders congregate to talk over the news of the day, the state of the 
market, and the affairs of their particular community. The husband of such a 
wife is distinguished among his compeers by a costume clean, whole and hand- 
some, and a countenance contented and happy. — The Land and the Book, Vol. 
H-, P-573- 



ECCLESIASTES. 



Ecclesiastes i : 2. — Vanity of vanities, sailh the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. 
Persius. — Alas, for man ; how vain are all his cares ! 

And, oh ! what bubbles his most grave affairs. — Sat., V., 1. 

CIRCULARITY OF NATURE. 

Eccl. i: 5-7. — The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he 
arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north ; etc. 

President James M'Cosh, LL. D. — Physical science, at its present advanced 
stage, seems to be at one with the Word of God, in representing all nature as 
in a state of constant change, but with principles of order instituted in order to 
secure its stability. There seems to be no such thing as absolute rest in nature. 
Every object in creation seems to have a work to do, and it lingers not, as it 
moves on, in the execution of its office. It exists in one state and in one place 
this instant, but it is changing meanwhile, and next instant it is found in an- 
other state or in another place. But there is an equilibrium established among 
these ever moving forces, and the processes of nature are made like the wind, 
to return according to their circuits. — Typ. Forms, p. 31. 

Eccl. i: 6. — The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth 
about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. 

John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — In Judea, as well as in many other parts of 
the world, the wind is by no means so variable as with us. They are nearly, if 
not altogether, periodical, and are observed to return with some constancy, at 
particular seasons of the year. This seems to be what is here meant by the 
" circuits " of the wind. — Note in loco. 

Dr. William Fraser. — In his very interesting and instructive work, 77?*? 
Physical Geography of the Sea, Lieutenant Maury has vividly described the cur- 
rents in the atmosphere from the equator to the poles, and from the poles to 
the equator — the ore current ranging along a lower level, the other on a higher, 
and both exchanging their heights at the equator and the tropics — like Over- 
lapping belts on higher and lower wheels in a factory — while at the north and 



454 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

south poles they move from right to left and left to right respectively, around 
a circular mass of air, and are steady in their course as the Gulf Stream. Un- 
like the Trade Winds, they know no rest. Their circuit is ceaseless ; and no 
one can examine the facts which have been ascertained and the principles which 
they represent, without delighting in the new meaning which lights up that Scrip- 
ture sentence, so long unintelligible : " The wind goeth toward the south, and 
turneth about unto the north ; it whirletk about continually, and the wind re« 
turneth again according to his circuits." This is truly an accurate generaliza- 
tion, ard may well arrest the attention of those who believe that every line of 
the Bible has been long since exhausted of all its truth. — Blending Lights, p. 72. 

Eccl. i : 7. — All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full : unto the place from whence 
the rivers come, thither they return again. 

Prof. J. P. Cooke, Harv. Univer. — We all know that the drops of rain perco- 
late through the soil, and collect in natural reservoirs formed between the layers 
of rock, and that these reservoirs supply the springs. The rills from numerous 
adjacent springs unite to form a brook, which increases as it flows, until it 
finally becomes the majestic river, rolling silently on its course. Every drop of 
that water has been an incessant wanderer since the dawn of creation, and it 
will soon be merged again in the vast ocean, only to begin anew its familiar 
journey, by a repetition of the process of evaporation. If we would gain an 
idea of the magnitude and extent of this wonderful circulation, we must bring 
together in imagination all the rivers of the world, the Amazon and the Orinoco, 
the Nile and the Ganges, the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, and, adding to 
these the ten thousands of lesser streams, endeavor to form a conception of the 
incalculable amount of water which during twenty-four hours they pour into the 
vast basin of the world, and then remember that during the same period at least 
four times as much water must have been raised in vapor, and scattered in rain 
over the surface of the earth. — Religion and Chemistry, p. 132. 

EARTHLY THINGS UNSATISFACTORY. 

Eccl. i : 8. — The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — There is no human being who feels full satisfaction in 
his present enjoyments. The mind is forever on the wing in the pursuit of 
new acquirements, of new objects, and, if possible, of higher degrees of felicity 
than the present moment can afford. . . . These restless and unbounded de- 
sires are to be found agitating the breasts of men of all nations, of all ranks and 
conditions in life. If we ascend the thrones of princes, if we enter the palaces 
of the great, if we walk through the mansions of courtiers and statesmen, if we 
pry into the abodes of poverty and indigence, if we mingle with poets or phi- 
losophers, with manufacturers, merchants, mechanics, peasants or beggars; if we 
survey the busy, bustling scene of a large city, the sequestered village, or the cot 
which stands in the lonely desert — we shall find, in every situation, and among 
every class, beings animated with desires of happiness, which no present enjoy- 



ECCLESIASTES II. 455 

inert can gratify, and which no object within the limits of time can fully satiate. 
Whether we choose to indulge in ignorance, or to prosecute the path of knowl- 
edge ; to loiter in indolence, or to exert our active powers with unremitting 
energy; to mingle with social beings, or to flee to the haunts of solitude — we 
feel a vacuum in the mind, which nothing around us can fill up ; a longing after 
new objects and enjoyments, which nothing earthly can fully satisfy. "The 
eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." — The Philosophy 
of a Future State, p. 17. 

Eccl. ii : 4-6. — I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees 
in them of all kind of fruits : I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that 
bringeth forth trees. 

Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — There was the wide scenery, the 
vineyards, too, with their towers reaching down on every side of the valley of 
Eschol, whence came the famous cluster ; and the red anemones, and white 
roses on their briar-bushes. Next in one of those gray and green valleys — for 
these are the predominant colors — appeared, one below the other, the three 
pools of Solomon — I must again say "venerable," for I know no other word to 
describe that simple, massive architecture in ruin, yet not in ruin — the "pools 
of water that he made to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees," 
and there are the very gardens, not now, indeed, beautiful as when he came out in 
state as Josephus describes, with his gold-powdered servants, to see them, but 
marked by the long winding defile of Urtas — green, and fresh and winding as 
a river — which leads toward Jerusalem. And along the mountain side runs 
the water through the channel begun by him, but — strange conjunction — restored 
by Pontius Pilate. — Sinai a?id Palestine, p. 104. 

Rev. J. P. Newman, D. D. — Fifteen miles to the north from Hebron, the valley 
of Urtas crosses the road at right angles, and to the right of the highway are the 
celebrated pools of Solomon. But Time, that inexorable destroyer of human 
works, has effaced every trace of his wonderful genius save the pools that bear 
his name. Both history and tradition point with unmistakable accuracy to the 
imperial founder of these great fountains. These pools consist of three 
immense reservoirs, situated in a straight line one below the other, and so 
constructed that the bottom of the first is higher than the top of the second, and 
the second than that of the third. They are in part excavated in the rocky bed 
of the valley, and in part built of square hewn stones covered with cement, and 
are entered by stone steps excavated in the rock. Measuring 380 feet in length, 
236 in breadth, and 25 in depth, the upper pool is the smallest of the three. 
A hundred and sixty feet to the east is the middle pool, which is 423 feet long, 
39 feet deep, and varies from 160 to 250 wide. Two hundred and forty-eight 
feet farther east is the lower and largest reservoir, being 582 feet in length, from 
148 to 207 in width, and 50 feet in depth, and, when full, capable of floating 
one of our largest men-of-war. Forty rods to the northwest, in an open field, 
are the perennial sources of these great fountains. I know not which to admire 
more — the genius of the architect that conceived such a complicated work, or the 



456 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

public spirit of the king who supplied the means for its execution. — From Dan 
to Beersheba, p. 248. 

COMMON DESTINY. 

Eccl. iii : 20. — All go unto one place ; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 
Horace. — Earth, impartial, entertains 

Her various sons, and in her breast 

Princes and beggars equal rest. — Hor., 1. ii., carm. 18. 

FOLLY OF AVARICE. 

Eccl. iv : 8. — There is one alone, and there is not a second ; yea, he hath neither child nor 
brother: yet is there no end of all his labor; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither 
saith he, For whom do I labor, and bereave my soul of good ? This is also vanity, yea, it is 
a sore travail. 

Juvenal. — While the streams of affluence roll, 

They nurse the eternal dropsy of the soul, 

For thirst of wealth still grows with wealth increased, 

And they desire it less who have it least. — Sat., XIV., v. 138. 

REVERENCE TOWARD GOD. 

Eccl. v : 2. — Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing 
before God ; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few. 

Plutarch. — In all public ceremonies and processions of the priests, a herald 
went before who gave notice to the people to keep holiday. For, as they tell 
us, the Pythagoreans would not suffer their disciples to pay any homage or 
worship to the gods in a cursory manner, but required them to come prepared 
for it by meditation at home : so Numa was of opinion that his citizens should 
neither see nor hear any religious service in a slight or careless way, but 
disengaged from other affairs, bring with them that attention which an object 
of such importance required. — Num., c. 14. 

VOWS TO BE PAID. 

Eccl. v: 4. — When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it : for he hath no pleasure 
in fools ; pay that which thou hast vowed. 

Livy. — When the Carthagenian camp was seen from the walls of the city, 
what vows were then offered up by each particular person, and by the whole body 
of the people ! How often in their assemblies were their hands stretched out 
towards heaven, and exclamations heard, — O ! will that day ever arrive when 
we shall see Italy cleared of the enemy, and blessed once more with the enjoy- 
ment of peace? That, now, at length, in the sixteenth year, the gods had 
granted their wish, and yet not the slightest proposal had been made of 
returning thanks to the gods. So deficient are men in gratitude, even at the 
time when a favor is received ; and much less are they apt to retain a proper 
sense of it afterward. — Liv., XXX., 21. 



ECCLESIASTES VII. 457 

Cicero. — Let vows be carefully performed. — De Leg., lib. ii,, c. 9. 

EARTHLY GOODS. 

Eccl. v: 11. — When goods increase, they are increased that eat them : and what good is there 
to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes ? 

Horace. — What though you thrash a thousand sacks of grain, 
No more than mine thy stomach can contain. 
The slave who bears the load of bread, shall eat 
No more than he who never felt the weight. 
Or say what difference, if we live confined 
Within the bounds of Nature's law assign'd, 
Whether a thousand acres of demesne, 
Or one poor hundred, yield sufficient grain? 

— Sat. I., lib. i., v. 45. 

Eccl. v: 15. — As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, 
and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. 

Egyptian Papyrus. — Feast in tranquility, seeing that there is no one who 
carries away his goods with him. Yea, behold, none who goes thither comes 
back again. — Festal Dirge ; See Records of the Past, Vol. IV., p. 118. 

ANGER. 

Eccl. vii : 9. — Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. 
Seneca. — Immoderate anger turns to madness, and, therefore, anger is to be 
avoided, not only for moderation's sake, but for the health. — Senec, ep. 18. 

MODERATION. 

Eccl. vii : 14. — In the day of prosperity be joyful ; but in the day of adversity consider. 
Isocrates. — Take a just pleasure in prosperity, and grieve not immoderately 
in adversity. — Orat., 1. 

Eccl. vii: 16. — Be not righteous over-much; neither make thyself over-wise: why shouldest 

thou destroy thyself? 

Cicero. — Behold, behold, O priests ! this religious man, and if it seems good 
to you (and it is only the duty of virtuous priests), warn him that there are 
some fixed limits to religion ; that man ought not to be too superstitious. — Pro. 
Do mo., c. 40. 

Martial. — Whoever is wise, without being too wise, is truly wise. — Mart., 
lib. xiv., ep. 210. 

ALL ARE SINNERS. 

Eccl. vii : 20. — For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. 
Plato. — I shall never, searching for that which cannot be, throw away a 
portion of my life on an empty impracticable hope, — searching for an all- 
blameless man among us, who feed on the fruits of the wide earth. When I 
have found one I will inform you. — Protag., c. 31. 



458 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Plutarch. — It is very difficult, or rather impossible, to find any life whatever 
without its spots and errors. Human nature produces no specimen of virtue 
absolutely pure and perfect. — Cimon, c. 2. 

Theognis. — The sun looks down on no man now living, who is entirely good 
and temperate. — In Brunck. 

Solon. — No one is altogether faultless or harmless. — In Brunck. 

DEATH INEVITABLE. 

Eccl. viii : 8. — There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit ; neither hath 
he power in the day of death : and there is no discharge in that war ; neither shall wickedness 
deliver those that are given to it. 

Pindar. — All the common path must tread, 

That leads each mortal to the dead. — Olymp., I., 131. 
Horace. — Age and youth promiscuous crowd the tomb ; 

No mortal head can shun the impending doom. 

—Hor. y L, 28. 
DIVINE FORBEARANCE ABUSED. 

Eccl. viii: II. — Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the 
heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 

Juvenal. — This writer introduces a wicked man, reasoning thus: 
But grant the wrath of heaven be great; 'tis slow, 
And days, and months, and years, precede the blow. 
If, then, to punish all, the gods decree, 
When in their vengeance, will they come to me ? 
And I, perhaps, their anger may appease — 
For they are wont to pardon faults like these : 
At worst, there's hope. — Sat, XIII., v. 100. 

SUCCESS FROM GOD. 

Eccl. ix: 11. — I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle 
to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet 
favor to men of skill ; but time and chance happeneth to them all. 

Theognis. — Often while the wise man fails of obtaining distinction, the 
wicked and the fooiish have arrived at honor. — Theog., v. 665. 

Herodotus. — Fortune commands men, and not men fortune. — Lib. vii., 

c. 49- 

Sophocles. — Not always the huge size of weighty limbs insures the victory. — 
Ajax, v. 1250. 

THE WISE POOR FORGOTTEN. 

Eccl. ix : 14, 15. — There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king 
against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it : now there was found in it a poor 
wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that poor man. 

Valerius Maximus. — When Alexander the Great was about to destroy 



ECCLESIASTES XI. 459 

Lampsacus, his old master, Anaximenes, came out to meet him. Alexander, 
perceiving that he vvould endeavor to persuade him to be merciful, swore that 
he would not do anything he would ask him. "Then," said Anaximenes, "I 
entreat you to destroy Lampsacus." This readiness of sagacity saved a city 
renowned for its ancient grandeur from the destruction to which it had been 
doomed. — Val. Max., lib. vii., c. 3. 

Eccl. ix : 16. — Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This passage receives a fine illustration from the case of 
Archimedes, saving the city of Syracuse from all the Roman forces besieging it 
by sea and land. He destroyed their ships by his burning-glasses, lifted up their 
galleys out of the water by his machines, dashing some to pieces and drowning 
others. One man's wisdom here prevailed for a long time against the most pow- 
erful exertions of a mighty nation. In this case wisdom far exceeded strength. 
— Note in loco. 

DEAD FLIES. 

Eccl. x : 1. — Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The swarms of flies in the East very soon corrupt 
and destroy any moist unguent or mixture which is not carefully covered from 
them, and pollute a dish of food in a few minutes. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 327. 

LIGHT PLEASANT. 

Eccl. xi : 7. — Truly the Hght is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. 

G. Chapin Child, M. D. — Those who enjoy the blessing of alternate day 
and night every twenty-four hours, can hardly realize the intense thankfulness 
with which the dawn and the sun are welcomed by men who have just passed 
through the depressing influences of the dreary polar night. We can sympa- 
thize with Dr. Kane in his brig among the Greenland ice, as he records his 
eager watchings for the sun, and the calculations which, by revealing its daily 
progress toward him, permitted him to anticipate with certainty the day of its 
reappearance. We understand the thankfulness with which he must have 
watched the dawn growing brighter and brighter, and the delight with which 
at length he scrambled up a neighboring height to catch a glimpse of the orb 
still hidden at the level of the deck. " I saw him once more, and from a pro- 
jecting crag nestled in the sunshine. It was like bathing in perfumed water." 

When wintering in the far north, Captain Sherard Osborn thus describes the 
return of the sun after an absence of 66 days. On February 7th, " the stento- 
rian lungs of the Resolute' s boatswain hailed to say the sun was in sight from 
the masthead ; and in all the vessels the rigging was soon manned to get 
the first glimpse of the returning god of day. Slowly it rose ; and loud and 
hearty cheers greeted the return of an orb which those without the frozen zone 
do not half appreciate, because he is always with them. For a whole hour we 
feasted ourselves admiring the sphere of fire." Truly the light is sweet, and a 
pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. — Benedicite, p. 96. 



460 ' TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THE END OF MAN. 

Eccl. xii : 7. — Then shall the dust i-eturn to the earth as it was : and the spirit shall return to' 

God who gave it. 

Phocylides. — We have our body from the earth, and the body being restored 
into the earth again is dust ; but the air receives the spirit. — Phocyl., v. 101. 

Plato. — Is death anything else but the separation of the soul from the body? 
And is not this to die, for the body to be apart by itself, separated from the 
soul, and for the soul to subsist apart by itself, separated from the body? Is 
death anything else but this? — Phcedo, c. 9. 
Euripides. — Permit, then, that the dead 

Be in the earth entombed. Each various part 
That constitutes the frame of man returns 
Whence it was taken ; — to the ethereal sky 
The soul ; the body to its earth : of all 
Nought save this breathing space of life our own ; 
The earth, then, which sustained it when alive, 
Ought to receive it dead. — Eurip. Supply v. 531. 
Seneca. — When the day comes that will separate this composition, human 
and divine, I will leave this body here where I found it, and return to the 
gods. — Episi., 102. 

Horace. — Alone the mouldering body lies, 

And souls immortal from our ashes rise. — Lib. i., car. 28. 
Assyrian Tablet. — The dying man. . . Like a bird may his soul fly to a 
lofty place ! To the holy hands of its God may it return ! — Oriental Records 
(Historic al}, p. 230. 

Idem. — The departed man, may he be in glory ! May his soul shine radiant 
as brass ! To that man may the Sun give life ! And Marduk, eldest son of 
heaven, grant him an abode of happiness ! — Ibid. 



Song of Solomon. 



THE FLOCK AT NOON. 

Song i : 7.— Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thcu makest thy 

flock to rest at noon. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — Before noon, the shepherds and their flocks may be 
seen slowly moving towards some shady banyan, or other tree, where they 
recline during the heat of the day. The sheep sleep, or lazily chew the cud ; 
and the shepherds plait pouches, mats, or baskets, or in dreamy musings while 
away their time. — Oriental Illustrations; p. 375. 



SONG II. 461 

JEWELS AND PERFUMES. 

Song i: 10. — Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. 
D'Arvieux. — The Arabian ladies wear a great many pearls about their necks 
and caps. They have gold chains about their necks, which hang down upon 
their bosoms with strings of colored gauze ; the gauze itself bordered with 
zechins and other pieces of gold coin, which hang upon their foreheads and 
both cheeks. The ordinary women wear small silver coins with which the/ 
cover their forehead-piece like fish-scales, as this is one of the principal orna- 
ments of their faces. Pearls, beads, etc., are also often to be seen. — In Dr. A. 
Clarke's Comment. 

Soiig i : 13. — A bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto me ; he shall lie all night betwixt my 

breasts. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The blossoms of the henna are white and 
grow in clusters. Their sweet perfume makes them special favorites with the 
women, who are fond of placing bunches of them in their bosoms. — Bible 
Lands, p. 143. 

Song i : 14. — My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The Lawsonia Alba of botanists, 
here rendered "camphire," is a small shrub, eight or ten feet high, with dark 
bark, pale green foliage, and clusters of white and yellow blossoms of a power- 
ful fragrance. Not only is the perfume of the flower highly prized, but a paste 
is made of the dried and pounded leaves, which is used by the women of all 
ranks, and by men of the wealthier classes, to dye the palms of the hands, the 
soles of the feet and the nails. The continued existence of the camphire plant 
at Engedi alone of the Holy Land, from the time of Solomon to the present 
day, is a most interesting illustration of the Biblical reference. — Nat. Hist, of 
Bible, p. 339. 

Song ii : 3. — As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. 
I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The whole area occupied by ancient Askelon is now 
planted over with orchards of the various kinds of fruit which flourish on this 
coast. It is especially celebrated for its apples, which are the largest and best I 
have ever seen in this country. When I was here in June quite a caravan started 
for Jerusalem loaded with them, and they would not have disgraced even an 
American orchard. ... As to the size and shade of the tree, the smell and 
color of the fruit, all the demands of the Biblical allusions are fully met by 
these apples of Askelon, and no doubt, in ancient times and in royal gardens, 
their cultivation was far superior to what it is now, and the fruit larger and 
more fragrant. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 328. 

THE ROE. 

Song ii : 9. — My beloved is like a roe or young hart. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D. ? F. R. S.— There is no doubt that the "roe " 



462 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

or " roebuck" of our version is the ghazal of the Arabs, the gazelle of modern 
writers and poets. The gazelle is by far the most abundant of all the large game 
in Palestine. It appears to be at home everywhere. It shares the rocks of En- 
gedi with the wild goats ; it dashes over the wide expanse of the desert beyond 
Beersheba; it canters in single file under the monastery of Marsaba. We found 
it in the glades of Carmel, and it often springs from its leafy covert on the back 
of Tabor, and screens itself under the thorn bushes of Gennesaret. Among the 
gray hills of Galilee it is still " the roe upon the mountains of Bether ;" and I 
have seen a little troop of gazelle feeding on the Mount of Olives, close to Je- 
rusalem itself. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 127-130. 

THE FOX. 

Song ii : 15. — Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines : for our vines have tender 

grapes. 

Theocritus. — A boy, to watch the vineyard, sits below ! 

Two foxes round him skulk : this slyly gapes, 
To catch a luscious morsel of the grapes. — Idyl, L, v. 48. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The fox is common in Syria, es- 
pecially about ruins. The fondness of the fox for grapes is well known in the 
East; but not less so that of the jackal, which, going in packs, often commits 
great devastation in the vineyards. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 85. 

POMEGRANATE. 

Song iv : 3. — Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. 
Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The average size of a pomegranate is about that of 
the orange, but some of those from Jaffa are as large as the egg of an ostrich. 
Within, the " grains" are arranged in longitudinal compartments as compactly 
as corn on the cob, and they closely resemble those of pale red corn, except 
that they are nearly transparent and very beautiful. A dish filled with these 
" grains" shelled oat is a very handsome ornament on any table, and the fruit 
is very sweet to the taste. — The La?id and the Book, II., 392. 

ODOR OF LEBANON. 

Song iv : II. — The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. 
Rev. George E. Post, M. D. — The fresh mountain breezes on Lebanon, filled 
h early summer with the fragrance of the budding vines, and throughout the 
year with the rich odors of numerous aromatic shrubs, call to mind the words 
of Solomon, " The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon." — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1622. 

POOLS OF HESHBON. 

Song vii : 4. — Thine eyes are like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — At Heshbon, just below the hill on 
which the city stands, flows a little stream, which winds round the base of 



SONG VIII. 463 

Nebo. There are in it, to the southeast of the ruins, some interesting remains, 
which illustrate the expression in Canticles : " Thine eyes, like the fish-pools in 
Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim." A large tank, now dilapidated, once 
collected, for summer use, the scanty waters of the brook, and was doubtless 
utilized at the same time for the conservation of the fish which still abound 
in the stream. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 286. 

SPICED WINE. 

Song viii : 2. — I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 
Rev. William Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — Mention is made in Canticles of 
"spiced wine of the juice of the pomegranate;" with this may be compared 
the pomegranate-wine of which Dioscorides speaks, and which is still used in the 
East. Chardin says that great quantities of it were made in Persia, both for 
home consumption, and for exportation, in his time. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, 
p. 2562. 

SEAL OF LOVE. 

Song viii : 6. — Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm : for love is strong as 
death; and jealousy is cruel as the grave. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — When a husband is going to a distant country, the 
wife says to him, " Ah ! place me as a seal upon thy heart ; " that is, Let me be 
impressed on thy affections, as the seal leaves its impression upon the wax. 
" Let not your arms embrace another ; let me only be sealed there! " "For 
love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave." — Orient. Must., p. 378. 



Isaiah. 



JUDAH'S DEFECTION AND INGRATITUDE. 

Isaiah i : 3. — The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib : but Israel doth not 
know, my people doth not consider. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — At Tiberias, as the droves of cattle and donkeys came 
down from the hills at night, I hurried after them, and no sooner had we got within 
the walls than the droves began to disperse. Every ox knew perfectly well 
his owner, his house, and the way to it, nor did he get bewildered for a moment 
in the mazes of these narrow and crooked alleys. As for the asses, they walked 
.straight to the door, and up to their master's crib. I followed one company 
clear into their habitation, and saw each take its appropriate manger, and begin 
his evening meal of dry tibn. Isaiah says in all this they were wiser than their 
owners, who neither knew nor considered, but forsook the Lord, and provoked 
the Holy One of Israel.— The Land and the Btok, Vol. II., p. 97. 



464 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Isa. i : 8. — And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden 

of cucumbers. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The "lodge in the garden of 
cucumbers" may still be seen in many of these fields, erected to protect them 
chiefly from the wild animals, as the jackals, which are very destructive. It is 
a very rude affair. Four poles are stuck in the ground, rafters are bound across 
their top, and in these are entwined boughs, cut from the oleanders by the 
water-courses, as a sort of open thatch, while larger branches, and sometimes 
scraps of matting, are placed in a sloping direction against them to shelter the 
occupant. As soon as the crop is gathered and the lodge forsaken, as Dr. 
Thomson observes, the poles will fall down or lean every way, and the green 
boughs with which it is shaded will be scattered by the winds, leaving only a 
ragged, sprawling wreck — a most affecting type of utter desolation. — Nat. Hist, 
of Bible, p. 442. 

Isa. i: 11. — To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I 
am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts : and I delight not in the blood 
of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. 

Xenophon. — How in the name of the gods shall we offer sacrifice with 
cheerfulness, if we are guilty of impiety? — Anab., V., 7. 

Plautus. — These wicked persons entertain a notion that they are able to 
appease Jupiter with gifts and sacrifices : they lose both their labor and 
their money; for no petition of the perjured is acceptable to him. — Rudens, 
Prolog., v. 22. 

Cicero. — Let not the impious man attempt to appease the gods by gifts and 
offerings. — Let impious criminals listen to Plato, that they may not dare to 
attempt to propitiate the gods with gifts ; for he forbids us to doubt what 
feelings God must entertain towards such, when even a good man is not willing 
to receive presents from a wicked one. — De Leg., lib. ii., c. 9, 16. 
Perseus. — No ; let me bring the immortals, what the race 
Of great Messala, now depraved and base, 
On their huge charger, cannot ; — bring a mind 
Where legal and where moral sense are joined, 
With the pure essence ; holy thoughts that dwell 
In the soul's most retired and sacred cell ; 
A bosom dyed in Honor's noblest grain, 
Deep dyed ; — with these let me approach the fane, 
And Heaven will hear the humble prayer I make, 
Though all my offering be a barley cake.. — Sat. II., v. 29-69. 

OAKS OF BASHAN. 

Isa. ii : 12, 13. — For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be ... . upon all the oaks of Bashan. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Those who have travelled through 

.lilead and Bashan are familiar with magnificent forests of all the three species 

of oak in the districts where man is rare. . . . There are splendid forests of this 



ISAIAH III. 465 

oak (Q. pseudo-cocciferd) in Gilead, and more open park-like woods of it in 
Bashan. In Mount Gilead and Ajlun, north of the Jabbok, we rode for many 
miles through a dense forest of this tree, which yields on the mountain tops to 
the pine, and lower down to the deciduous oak. — Nat, Hist, of Bible, p. 369. 

BATS AND MOLES. 

Isa. ii ; 20. — In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they 
made each man for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats. 

Prof. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S. — The Bats, mentioned in Scripture, are 
exceedingly unpleasant creatures. They absolutely swarm with parasitic insects. 
They are in the habit of resorting to caverns, clefts in the rocks, deserted ruins, 
and similar dark places, wherein they pass the hours of daylight, and will 
frequent the same spots for a long series of years. In consequence of this habit, 
the spots which they select for their resting-place become inconceivably 
noisome, and can scarcely be entered by human beings, so powerful is the odor 
with which they are imbued. Bearing this fact in mind we shall better under- 
stand the force of the prophecy that the idols shall be cast to the Bats and the 
Moles. — Bible Animals, p. 12, 13. 

Idem. — The Mole of Palestine is the Mole-rat of zoologists. The Mole-rat 
is fond of frequenting deserted ruins and burial-places, so that tfye Moles and 
the Bats are really companions, and. as such are associated together in the sacred 
narrative. Here, as in many other instances, we find that closer study of the 
Scriptures united to more extended knowledge are by no means the enemies of 
religion, as some well-meaning but narrow-minded persons think. On the con- 
trary, the Scriptures were never so well understood, and their truth and force so 
well recognized, as at the present day; and science has proved to be, not the 
destroyer of the Bible, but its interpreter. We shall soon cease to hear of 
" Science versus the Bible," and shall substitute " Science and the Bible versus 
Ignorance and Prejudice." — Bible Animals, p. 89. 

THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED, 

Isa. iii: 10, II. — Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the 
fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his 
hands shall be given him. 

Plato. — I say that an honest and good man or woman is happy; but an 
unjust and wicked one is miserable. — Gorgias, c. 26. 

Idem. — It is absolutely necessary that he who does well should be blessed and 
happy; but that the wicked, and he who does ill, should be wretched. — Gorgias, 
c. 62. 

Livy. — How detestable such proceedings were in the sight of the gods, 
Perseus would feel in the issue of his affairs ; for the gods always favored 
righteous and honorable dealings. — Liv., XLIV., c.i. 



466 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 

Isa. iii : 18-23. — In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments 
about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tiers like the moon, the chains, and the 
bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, 




and the tablets, and the ear-rings, the rings, and nose-jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, 
and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping-pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and 
the hoods, and the vails. 

Plautus. — (Speaking of the extravagances of the females of his day.) There 



ISAIAH in. 467 

stands the scourer, the embroiderer, the goldsmith, the woollen manufacturer, 
retail dealers in figured skirts, dealers in women's under-clothing, dyers in 
flame-color, dyers in violet, dyers in wax-color, or else sleeve-makers, or per- 
fumers ; there stand the wholesale linen drapers, shoemakers, and slippermakers ; 
there are the sandal-makers, and stainers in mallow color ; hair-dressers and 
botchers make their demands; boddice-makers stand there, makers of kirtles 
here, etc. — AuluL, Act III., sc. 10. 

Pliny. — Silver has succeeded to gold in the luxury of the females who form 
bracelets for their feet of that, since an ancient custom forbids them to wear 
gold.— Nat. Hist., XXIII. , 12. 

Assyrian Tablets and Relics. — The magnificence of the Assyrians is very 
apparent in the sculptures and other remains. The remains comprise terra- 
cotta and alabaster vases of elegant forms, gold ear-rings, glass bottles, carved 
ornaments in ivory and mother-of-pearl, engraved gems, bells, etc. ; necklaces, 
combs, mirrors, etc. ; while the sculptures represent to us embroidered gar- 
ments of the richest kind, splendid head-dresses, armlets and bracelets, parasols, 
fans, musical instruments, etc. — Layard's Ni?i. and Bab., chap. 8, 25. 

Paxton. — Besides ornamental rings in the nose and ears Oriental females 
wore others round the legs, which made a tinkling as they went. This custom 
has also descended to the present times ; for Rauwolf met with a number of 
Arabian women, on the Euphrates, whose ankles and wrists were adorned with 
rings, sometimes a good many together, which moving up and down as they 
walked, made a great noise. Chardin attests the existence of the same custom 
in Persia, in Arabia, ar.d in very hot countries, where they commonly go with- 
out stockings, but ascribes the tinkling sound to little bells fastened to those 
rings. In the East Indies, golden bells adorned the feet and ankles of the 
ladies from the earliest times ; they placed them in the flowing tresses of the 
hair ; they suspended them round their necks, and to the golden rings which 
they wore on their fingers, to announce their superior rank, and exact the 
homage they had a right to expect from the lower orders ; and from the banks 
of the Indus, it is probable the custom was introduced into other countries of 
Asia. The Arabian females in Palestine and Syria delight in the same orna- 
ments ; their bodies are covered with a long blue shift ; upon their heads they 
wear two handkerchiefs, one as a hood, and the other bound over it, as a fillet 
across the temples. Just above the right nostril, they place a small button, 
sometimes studded with pearl, a piece of glass, or any other glittering substance; 
this is fastened by a plug, thrust through the cartilage of the nose. Some- 
times they have the cartilaginous separation between the nostrils bored for a 
ring, as large as those ordinarily used in Europe for hanging curtains ; and this 
pendant in the upper lip covers the mouth, so that, in order to eat, it is neces- 
sary to raise it. Very ponderous rings are also placed in their ears. — Bible 
Illustratioiis, in loco. 

Sir John Chardin. — "And nose-jewels." — It is the custom in almost all the 
East for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left nostril, which is 



468 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold, and have commonly 
two pearls and one ruby between, placed in the ring. I never saw a girl or 
young woman in Arabia, or in all Persia, who did not wear a ring in this 
manner in her nostrils. — In Harmer's Observations, IV., p. 31S. 

Rev. J. Roberts. — " The changeable suits of apparel." — The Eastern ladies 
take great pride in having many changes of apparel, because their fashions 
never change. Thus the net brocades worn by their grandmothers are equally 
fashionable for themselves. — Orient. Illust., in loco. 

William Aldis Wright, M. A. — The Hebrew women on coming out of 
Egypt probably brought with them mirrors like those which were used by the 
Egyptians, which were made of mixed metal, wrought with such admirable skill, 
says Sir G. Wilkinson, that they were susceptible of a lustre, which has even 
been partially revived at the present day, in some of those discovered at Thebes, 
though buried in the earth for many centuries. The mirror itself was nearly 
round, inserted into a handle of wood, stone, or metal, whose form varied 
according to the taste of the owner. Some presented the figure of a female, a 
flower, a column, or a rod ornamented with the head of Athor, a bird, or 
a fancy device. Such mirrors are mentioned by Chrysostom among the 
extravagances of fashion for which he rebuked the ladies of his time ; and 
Seneca long before was loud in his denunciation of similar follies. Mirrors 
were used by the Roman women in the worship of Juno. And in the Egyptian 
temples it was the custom for the women to worship in linen garments, holding 
a mirror in the left hand and a sistrum in the right ; and the Israelites, having 
fallen into the idolatries of the country, had brought with them the mirrors 
which they used in their worship. — Smith's Diet, of Bible *. 1969. 

JUDEA CAPTA. 

Isa. iii : 26. — She being desolate shall sit upon the ground. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — It is a remarkable coincidence that in the medals 
which were made by the Romans to commemorate the captivity of Judea and 
Jerusalem, Judea is represented under the figure of a female sitting in a posture 
of grief under a palm tree, with this inscription, — Judea capta — a tender and 
affecting image of desolation. — Note, in loco. 

THE UPPER POOL. 

Isa. vii : 3. — Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-jas- 
hub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field. 

Rev. J. P. Newman, D. D. — Seven hundred yards above the Yafifa Gate is 
the " upper pool " of Gihon. It is situated at what may be properly called the 
head of the valley, which spreads out into an almost level plain. Around it is the 
oldest Moslem cemetery in the environs of Jerusalem. Like its companion (the 
Lower Pool), it is a large tank, 300 feet long, 200 feet wide, and twenty feet 
deep, formed of hewn stones laid in cement, and coated with the same. The 
bottom is reached by two flights of stone steps. Near the top a stone spout pro- 



ISAIAH XI. 469 

jects from the northern wall, through which the waters that come down the in- 
clined plains around it flow into the pool. . . . Ahaz was standing here when 
the intelligence reached him that Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, 
were approaching Jerusalem to war against him ; and in that critical moment 
the Lord said unto Isaiah, "Go forth now to Ahaz,"etc. — Dan to Beersheba, p. 

102. 

MESSIAH. 

Isa. vii : 14. — Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 

Luke. — Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know nol 
a man ? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come 
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also 
that holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. — 
Luke'w 34, 35- 

Matthew. — Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken 
of by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring 
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, 
is, God with us. — Matt, i: 22, 23. 

Isa. ix : 6. — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given : and the government shall be 
upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, 
The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 

Luke. — Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is 
Christ the Lord. — Luke ii: 11. 

John. — The Word was with God, and the Word was God: The Word was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us. — John i : 1. 

Isa. x: 8. — Are not my princes altogether as kings? 

Assyrian Inscriptions. — We learn from the Inscriptions that when a city or 
kingdom was subdued, however near it might have been to Nineveh, when not 
actually forming a part of the imperial district, a new ruler was appointed to it 
with the title of " King," written in the same cuneiform characters on the mon- 
uments as when applied to the head of the empire. This fact illustrates the 
passage in Isaiah, "Are not my princes altogether kings? " — Layard's Nineveh 
dnd Babylon, p. 541. 

Isa. xi : 2, 3. — And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under- 
standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord ; 
and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord ; and he shall not judge 
after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. 

Luke. — All that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 
— Luke ii : 47. 

Matthew. — No man was able to answer him a word ; neither durst any man 
ask him any more questions. — Matt, xxii : 46. 

Mark. — This poor widow hath cast in more than all they which have cast into 
the treasury. — Mark xii : 43. 

John. — He knew what was in man. — John vi : 25. 



470 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Isa. xi : 6-9. — The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the 
kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead 
them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together ; and 
the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, 
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cocatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor de- ' 
stroy in all my holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the 
waters cover the sea. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — In this passage the prophet describes the effect of 
Messiah's reign in producing peace and tranquility on the earth. The descrip- 
tion is highly poetical, and is one that is common in ancient writings in de- 
scribing a golden age. The two leading ideas are those of peace and security \ 
The figure is taken from the condition of animals of all descriptions living in a 
state of harmony, where those which are by nature defenceless, and which are 
usually made the prey of the strong, are suffered to live in security. . . . This 
prophecy has been in part fulfilled. Wherever the gospel has spread, its effect 
has been just that which is predicted here. It has calmed and subdued the angry 
passions of men ; changed their feelings and their conduct ; disposed them to 
peace ; and tended to mitigate national ferocity, to produce kindness to cap- 
tives, and to those who had been oppressed. It has mitigated laws that were 
cruel and bloody ; and has abolished customs, games, sports and pastimes that 
were ferocious and savage. It has often changed the bitter persecutor, as it did 
Saul of Tarsus, to the mildness and gentleness of a lamb ; and it has spread an 
influence over nations tending to produce humanity and benevolence. It has 
produced mildness, gentleness and love in the domestic circle ; changed the 
cruel and lordly husband to a companion and friend ; and the character of the 
stern and inexorable father to one of paternal kindness and peace. Wherever 
it has spread in truth, and not in form merely, it has shed a mild, calming and 
subduing influence over the passions, laws and customs of men. But its effects 
have been but partially felt ; and we are led, therefore, to look forward to future 
times, when the prophecy shall be entirely fulfilled, and the power of the gospel 
shall be felt in all nations. — Note, in loco 

TEE RED SEA. 

Isa. xi : 15. — And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea. 

Edward Stanley Poole, M. R. A. S. — The most important change in the 
Red Sea has been the drying up of its northern extremity. The land about the 
head of the gulf has risen, and that near the Mediterranean become depressed. 
The head of the gulf has consequently retired gradually since the Christian era. 
Thus the prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled, "And the Lord shall utterly de- 
stroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea." This tongue of* the Red Sea has dried 
up for a distance of at least fifty miles from its ancient head ; and a cultivated 
and well-peopled province has been changed into a desolate wilderness. An 
ancient canal conveyed the waters of the Nile to the Red Sea, flowing through 
the Wadi-t- Tumeylat and irrigating with its system of water-channels a large 
extent of country ; it also provided a means for conveying all the commerce of 



ISAIAH XIII. 471 

the Red Sea, once so important, by water to the Nile, avoiding the risks of the 
desert journey, and securing water-carriage from the Red Sea to the Mediter- 
ranean. The drying up of the head of the gulf appears to have been one of 
the chief causes of the neglect and ruin of this canal. The country, for the 
distance above indicated, is now a desert of gravelly sand, with wide patches 
about the old sea-bottom, of rank marsh land, now called the "Bitter Lakes" 
(not those of Strabo). At the northern extremity of this salt waste is a small 
lake, formerly called the "Lake of Heroopolis," but now the "Lake of the 
Crocodile," and is supposed to mark the ancient head of the gulf. — Smith's 
Did. of Bible, p. 2685. 

BABYLON. 

Isa. xiii : I, 6, 7. — The burden of Babylon. . . . Howl ye ; for the day of the Lord is at hand ; 
it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every 
man's heart shall melt. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The destruction of Babylon took place in the night. 
It came suddenly upon the city while Belshazzar was at his impious feast ; and 
the alarm was so unexpected and produced such consternation, that no defence 
was attempted. — Note, in loco. 

Isa. xiii : 17. — Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and 
as for gold, they shall not delight in it. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This is one of the places in which the prophet speci- 
fied by na77te the instrument of the wrath of God. Cyrus himself is subsequently 
mentioned (Isa. xliv : 28) as the agent by which God would accomplish his pur- 
poses. It is remarkable also that the " Medes" are here mentioned many years 
before they became a separate and. independent nation. For more than five 
centuries the Medes were subject to the Assyrians ; but in the time of Tiglath- 
pileser and Shalmanezer, they revolted, and by the destruction of the army of 
Sennacherib before Jerusalem— an event which was itself subsequent to the 
delivery of this prophecy respecting Babylon — they were enabled to achieve 
their independence. But Cyrus, under whom the prediction of Isaiah re- 
specting Babylon was fulfilled, did not become king until about the year 556 b. 
c. ... In looking at this prophecy, therefore, we are to bear in mind (1) the 
fact that when it was uttered, Media was a dependent province of the kingdom 
of Assyria; (2) that a long time was yet to elapse before it would become an 
independent kingdom ; (3) that it was yet to secure its independence by the 
aid of that very Babylon which it would finally destroy ; (4) that no human 
foresight could predict these revolutions, and that every circumstance conspired 
to render this event improbable. The great strength and resources of Babylon ; 
the fact that Media was a dependent province, and that such great revolutions 
must occur before this prophecy could be fulfilled, render this one of the most 
striking and remarkable predictions in the Sacred Volume. — Note, in loco. 

Bishop Lowth. — Which shall not regard silver ; and as for gold they shall not 
delight in it. It is remarkable that Xenophon makes Cyrus open a speech to his 
army, and in particular to the Medes, who made the principal part of it, with 



472 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

praising them for their disregard of riches: — "Ye Medes and others who now 
hear me, I well know, that you have not accompanied me in this expedition with 
a view of acquiring wealth." — Note, in loco. 

Dr. A. Keith. — Cyrus reckoned that his riches belonged not any more to 
himself than to his friends (Cyro., VIII., 516). And he made, as well as pro- 
nounced, it his object to use and not to hoard his wealth, and to apply it to the 
reward of his servants, and in relief of their wants. So little did he regard silver, 
or delight in gold, that Croesus told him that by his liberality he would make 
himself poor, instead of storing up vast treasures to himself (Cyro., VIII., 482). 
The Medes possessed, in this respect, the spirit of their chief, of which an in- 
stance recorded by Xenophon is too striking and appropriate to be passed over. 
When Cobryas, an Assyrian governor, whose son the king of Babylon had slain, 
hospitably entertained him and his army, Cyrus appealed to the chiefs of the 
Medes and Hyrcanians, and to the noblest and most honorable of the Persians, 
whether, giving first what was due unto the gods, and leaving to the rest of the 
army their portion, they would not overmatch his generosity by ceding to him 
their whole share of the first and plentiful booty, which they had won from the 
land of Babylon. Loudly applauding the proposal, they immediately and unan- 
imously consented, and one of them said : " Cobryas may have thought us poor, 
because we came not loaded with coins ; and drink not out of golden cups ; but 
by this he will know, that men can be generous even without gold " (Cyro., V., 
289). — Evidence from Prophecy, p. 198. 

Isa. xiii : 19. — And Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, 
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Herodotus. — The city of Babylon stands on a broad plain, and is an exact 
square, a hundred and twenty furlongs in length each way, so that the entire 
circuit is four hundred and eighty furlongs. While such is its size, in magnifi- 
cence there is no other city that approaches to it. It is surrounded, in the first 
place, by a broad and deep moat, full of water, behind which rises a wall fifty 
royal cubits in width, and two hundred in height. In the circuit of the wall are 
a hundred gates, air of brass, with brazen lintels and side-posts. The city 
is divided into two portions by the broad and deep and swift stream of the 
Euphrates, which runs through the midst of it. The centre of each division of 
the city was occupied by a fortress. In the one stood the palace of the kings, 
surrounded by a wall of great strength and size ; in the other was the sacred 
precinct of Jupiter Belus, a square enclosure two furlongs each way, with gates 
of solid brass. In the middle of the precinct there was a tower of solid masonry, 
a furlong in length and breadth, upon which was raised a second tower, and on 
that a third, and so on up to eight. The ascent to the top is on the outside, 
by a path which winds round all the towers. On the topmost tower there is a 
spacious temple, and inside the temple stands a couch of unusual size, richly 
adorned, with a golden table by its side. The Chaldees declare that the god 
comes down in person into this chamber, and sleeps upon the couch. Below, 
in the same precinct, there is a second temple, in which is a sitting figure of 




(473) 



476 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — On this whole prophecy we may observe, (i.) That 
it was uttered at least an hundred and seventy years before it was fulfilled. Of 
this there is all the proof that can be found in regard to any ancient writings. 
(2.) When uttered, there was the strongest improbability that it would be ful- 
filled. The great strength and security of Babylon rendered it improbable. It 
was the capital of the heathen world; and if there was any city that seemed 
impregnable it was this. It was improbable that it would be overthrown by the 
Medes. Media, at the time the prophecy was uttered, was a dependent province 
of Assyria, and it was wholly improbable that the Medes would revolt, and sub- 
due their masters. It was improbable that Babylon would become uninhabitable. 
It was in the midst of a most fertile country; and by no human sagacity could 
it have been seen that the capital would be removed to Susa, or that Seleucia 
would be founded, thus draining it of its inhabitants. How could mere human 
sagacity have foreseen that there would not be a house left in it ? Can any man 
now tell what London, or Paris, or New York, or Philadelphia will be two 
thousand years hence ? Yet a prediction that those cities shall be the residence 
of " the wild beasts of the desert," of " satyrs," and " dragons," would be as 
probable now as was the prediction respecting Babylon at the time when Isaiah 
delivered these remarkable prophecies. (3.) The prophecy is not vague conjec- 
ture. It is not a general statement. It is minute, and definite, and particular ; 
and it has been as definitely, and minutely, and particularly fulfilled. (4.) This 
is one of the evidences of the Divine Origin of the Bible. How will the 
infidel account for this prophecy and its fulfilment ? It will not do to say that 
it is accident : it is too minute, and too particular. It is not human sagacity: no 
human sagacity could have foretold it. It is not fancied 'fulfilment : it is real, in 
the most minute particulars. And if so, then Isaiah was commissioned by 
Jehovah, as he claimed to be — for none but the Omniscient Jehovah can fore- 
see and describe future events as the destruction of Babylon was foreseen and 
described. And if this prophecy was inspired by God, by the same train of 
reasoning it can be proved that the whole Bible is a Revelation from heaven. — 
Note, in loco. 

Isa. xiv: 12. — O Lucifer, son of the morning! 

Hesiod. — Last, Lucifer 

Sprang radiant from the dawn -appearing morn, 

And all the glittering stars that girt the heaven. — Theog., v. 381. 

Isa. xiv : 19. — But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment 
of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit ; as 
a carcass trodden under feet. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — Several deep excavations have. been made in 
different places into the sides of the Mujelibe ; some probably by the wearing of 
the seasons ; but many others have been dug by the rapacity of the Turks, 
tearing up its bowels in search of hidden treasure, — as if the palace of Babylon 
were cast out of its grave. Several penetrate very far into the body of the 



isaiah xvi. 477 

structure, till it has become as the raiment of those that are stain, thrust through 
with a sword. And some, it is likely, have never yet been explored, the wild 
beasts of the desert literally keeping guard over them. The mound was full of 
large holes — thrust through. Near to the Mujelibe, on the supposed site of the 
hanging gardens which were situated within the walls of the palace, the ruins are 
so perforated in consequence of the digging for bricks, that the original design 
is entirely lost. All that could favor any conjecture of gardens built on terraces 
are two subterranean passages. There can be no doubt that both passages are 
of vast extent ; they are lined with bricks laid in with bitumen, and covered 
over with large masses of stone. This is nearly the only place where stone is 
observable. Arches built upon arches raised the hanging gardens from terrace 
to terrace, till the highest was on a level with the top of the city walls. Now 
they are cast out like an abominable branch — and subterranean passages are dis- 
closed, — down to the stones of the pit. — Evidence from Prophecy, p. 230. 

Isa. xiv : 23. — I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This was fulfilled — pools of water were actually formed 
— by Cyrus' diverting the waters of the Euphrates from their channel when the 
jity was taken, and by the fact that the waters never returned again to their 
natural befl, so that the region was overflowed with water. — Note, in loco. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Now since Babylon has fallen, and Chaldea has become a 
desolation, the inundation, left to its own course, has formed at Babylon and 
elsewhere — on the Euphrates and Tigris — pools and marshes on spots once pop- 
ulated. We have ourselves seen mounds and hills of ruin rising like islets above 
the waters, and forming the chosen resort of pelicans and numerous water-fowl 
of every v/ing. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Prof. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S. — Extensive and dingy pools are the 
chosen habitation of the Bittern. It is a bird of rude nature, where the land 
knows no character save that which the untrained working of the elements im- 
presses upon it; so that when any locality is in the course of being won to useful- 
ness, the bittern is the first to depart, and when any one is abandoned, it is the 
last to return. "The bittern shall dwell there" is the final curse, and implies 
that the place is to become uninhabited and uninhabitable. It bears not the 
whistle of the plowman, nor the sound of the mattock; and the tinkle of the 
sheep-bell, or the lowing of the ox, is a signal for it to be gone. By day this 
bird is silent, but after the sun has gone down it utters its strange wild cry, a 
sound which exactly suits the localities in which it loves to make its habitation. 
No more powerful figure could be imagined for the desolation of Babylon than 
the prophecy, "I will make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water." 
— Bible Animals, p. 463-466. 

MOAB. 

Isa. xvi : 8-10. — The fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah : the lords of the 
heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they 
wandered through the wilderness ; her branches are stretched out (Heb. plucked up), they are 
gone over the sea. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah : I 



478 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh : for the shouting for thy summer 
fruits and for thy harvest is fallen. And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful 
field, and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting : the tread- 
ers shall tread out no wine in their presses : I have made their vintage shouting to cease. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The places mentioned in this pas- 
sage were all towns in the heritage of Reuben, stretching from Heshbon in a line 
towards Rabbah. Jazer is marked by the ruins of Szir, twelve miles from 
Amman (Rabbah); Sibmah has not been rediscovered, while the extensive 
ruins of Heshbon and Elal (Elealeh), surmounting hills, are well known. From 
all of them the vine and the summer fruits have utterly perished; no human 
habitation remains in the wide district; not a tree or a shrub varies the scenery 
except some terebinths near Szir; and it was with difficulty that we could trace 
here and there the undulating grass-grown ridges that mark the old vine ter- 
races of this desolate region. The only vineyards now remaining east of Jordan 
are a few round Es Salt. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 405. 

Isa. xvii: 2. — The cities of Aroer are forsaken : they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, 
and none shall make them afraid. 

Rev. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A. — This verse of course refers to Moab, to 
which it applies most exactly, as the country may be said to be abandoned, ex- 
cept by the Bedouins, who pasture their flocks on the wild herbage of" the once- 
cultivated plains, where the traces of ancient cultivation maybe still discovered. 
As fine pastures, and peculiar advantages with regard to water, are often found 
in the neighborhood of the ruined towns, these ancient seats of a busy popula- 
tion have literally become places where flocks lie down. (See Burckhardt's 
Syria, p. 364, etc.) The reader will not fail to notice the marked distinction 
that the desolation of Moab is denoted by the circumstance that flocks should 
lie down in its once cultivated and populated sites ; while that of Babylon is ex- 
pressed by " neither shall the shepherds make their folds there." The cause of 
this we have explained, the desolation of Babylon having extended to its soil, 
which affords no pasture. At a time when Babylon and Moab were both in a 
flourishing condition, who but God himself could thus nicely have discriminated 
the character of their future desolation? Here are no vague generalities. 
Scripture does not say merely that this or that place shall at a future time be 
desolate ; but it says how it shall be desolate, and how its desolation shall be 
distinguished from the desolations of other places. This is evidence strong and 
beautiful, and we cannot understand the conditions of that man's mind who can 
rise from it doubtful or unsatisfied. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, A. M. — We observed in wandering through Hebran, as 
we had done previously at Kerioth and other cities, that the large buildings, — 
temples, palaces, churches, and mosques, — are now universally used as folds for 
sheep and cattle. We saw hundreds of animals in the palaces of Kerioth, and 
the large buildings of Hebran were so filled with their dung that we could 
scarcely walk through them. This also was foreseen and foretold by the Hebrew 
prophets: of Moab Isaiah saith, "The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall 



isaiah xx. 479 

be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid." — Giant 
Cities of Bashan, p. 89. 

EGYPT. 

Isa. xviii: I, 2. — The land . . . that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bul- 
rushes upon the waters. 

Theophrastus. — The papyrus (here translated bulrushes) is useful for many 
things. For from this they make vessels, or ships. — History of Plants, 4, 9. 

Pliny. — The papyrus grows either in the marshes of Egypt, or in the sluggish 
waters of the Nile. The Egyptians construct boats of it, and of the outer coat 
they make sails and masts and ropes. A papyrus grows also in the river Euphra- 
tes.— Nat. Hist., XIII., 22. 

Idem. — The navigation from the continent of India to Taprobane (probably 
Ceylon) was formerly confined to vessels constructed of papyrus, with the tackle 
peculiar to the Nile. — lb., VI., 24. 
Isa. xix: 2. — And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians : and they shall fight every one 

against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against 

kingdom. 

Diodorus Siculus. — After the abdication of Sabacon, there was anarchy in 
Egypt for two years ; but the people falling into broils and tumults and slaughter 
of one another, twelve of the chief nobility took upon them the regal power and 
authority. Psammeticus, one of the kings, whose province was upon the sea- 
coast, being envied by the others on account of the wealth which he derived 
from commerce, made war upon him ; but he, having hired soldiers from 
Arabia, gained a victory over them. Some of the kings were slain, and the 
rest fled into Africa ; and Psammeticus gained possession of the whole kingdom. 
— Diod. Sic, I., 5. 

SARGON. 

Isa. xx : 1. — In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent 
him, and fought against Ashdod, and took it. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — A difficulty used to be' felt with respect 
to "Sargon, king of Assyria," who is said to have taken Ashdod, by the hand 
of one of his captains. Sargon's name is not contained in the historical books 
of Scripture, nor is he mentioned by any of the classical writers, who speak of 
Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon. The occurrence of his name in 
Isaiah was thought to indicate an irreconcilable difference between the historical 
data possessed by that prophet and those of the writer of Kings. Even his 
existence was doubted, and different writers proposed to regard his name as a 
mere variant for those of each of the three princes just mentioned. The Assyrian 
Inscriptions have completely cleared up ail this obscurity. Sargon is found to 
have been the successor of Shalmaneser ; the predecessor and father of Sennac- 
herib. He speaks of having captured Ashdod. All that Isaiah says of him is 
confirmed ; and it appears to have been quite accidental that the writer of 
Kings, who .more than once alludes to him, does not mention his name. — 
Modern Scepticism, p. 287. 
30 



480 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Cylinder of Sargon, found at Nineveh. — In my ninth expedition to the land 
beside the great sea, I went to Philistia and Ashdod. Azuri, king of Ashdod, 
hardened his heart not to bring tribute, and sent enemies of Assyria to the 
kings round him, and did evil. I broke his dominion over the people round 
him, and carried off. . . . From that time Ahimiti son of ... . his brother, I 
raised before his face, and appointed him over his kingdom. I appointed over 
him taxes and tribute to Assyria like that of the kings round him. — Smith's 
Assyrian Discoveries, p. 289. 

DESERT OF THE SEA. 

Isa. xxi : 1. — The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; 
so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — Our tents were pitched at the northern 
corner of Kouyunjik, near some earthern banks and embrasures. It was the 
season of the Sherghis, or burning winds from the south, which occasionally 
swept over the face of the country, driving in their short-lived fury everything 
before them. Their coming was foretold by a sudden fall in the barometer, 
which rose again as soon as they had passed. It required the united exertions 
of my workmen to hold the flapping canvas of the large tent, whilst the smaller 
were generally carried far away, and their contents hurled in every direction 
over the mound or the plain. — Nineveh a?id Babylon, p. 315. 

Idem. — The greater part of the country below ancient Babylon has now been 
for centuries one great swamp. It is, indeed, what the prophet foretold it 
should be, "a desert of the sea." The embankments of the rivers, utterly 
neglected, have broken away, and the waters have spread over the face of the 
land. — Ibid., p. 480. 

CAPTURE OF BABYLON. 

Isa. xxi : 4, 5. — The night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. — Prepare the table, 
watch in the watch-tower, eat, drink : arise ye princes, and anoint the shield. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — There can be no doubt that the prophet here refers 
to the night of revelry and riot in which Babylon was taken. . . . Herodotus 
(I., 91), Xenophon (Cyro., 7, 5), and Daniel (v.) all agree in the account that 
Babylon was taken in the night in which the king and his nobles were engaged 
in feasting and revelry. The words of Xenophon are, "But Cyrus, when he 
heard that there was to be such a feast in Babylon, in which all the Babylonians 
would drink and revel through the whole night, on that night, as soon as it 
began to grow dark, taking many men, opened the dams into the river; " that 
is, he opened the dykes which had been made by Semiramis and her successors 
to confine the waters of the Euphrates to one channel, and suffered the waters 
of the Euphrates again to flow over the country so that he could enter Babylon 
beneath its walls in the channel of the river. Xenophon has also. given the 
address of Cyrus to the soldiers. " Now," says he, "let us go against them. 
Many of them are asleep ; many of them are intoxicated ; and all of them are 
unfit for battle." Herodotus says (L, 191), "It was a day of festivity among 
them, and while the citizens were engaged in dance and merriment, Babylon 



ISAIAH XXIII. 431 

was, for the first time, thus taken." . . . Knowing that the city was given up to 
revelry on that night, they had agreed to imitate the sound of the revellers 
until they should assemble around the royal palace in the centre of the city. 
They did so. When the king heard the noise, supposing it was the sound of a 
drunken mob, he ordered the gates of the palace to be opened to ascertain the 
cause of the disturbance. When they were thus opened the army of Cyrus 
rushed in, and made an immediate attack on all who were within. (And thus 
were fulfilled in the king of Babylon the words of the prophet, " The night of 
my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.") — Notes, in loco. 

KEY OF THE GATE. 

Isa. xxii : 22. — And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder. 
Joseph Bonomi, F. R. S. L. — At the end of the chamber, just behind the first 
bulls, was formerly a strong gate, of one leaf, which was fastened by a huge 
wooden lock, like those still used in the East, of which the key is as much as a 
man can conveniently carry, and by a bar which moved into a square hole in 
the wall. It is to a key of this description that the prophet probably alludes, 
"And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; " and it is 
remarkable that the word for "key" in this passage of Scripture, ?nuftah, is the 
same in use all over the East at the present time. The key of an ordinary street 
door is commonly thirteen or fourteen inches long, and the key of the gate of a 
public building, or of a street, or quarter of a town, is two feet and more in 
length. — Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 150. 

TYRE. 

Isa. xxiii: 1. — The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that 
there is no house, no entering in. 

Prof. Charles Rollin. — Nebuchodonosor laid siege to Tyre, at the time 
Ithobalus was king of that city ; but did not take it till thirteen years after, or 
b. c. 572. But before it was conquered, the inhabitants had retired, with most 
of their effects, into a neighboring island, where they built a new city. The 
old one was razed to the very foundation, and has since been no more than a 
village, known by the name of Palce-Tyrus, or Ancient Tyre. — Ancient History, 
Vol. I., p. 526 (Harper's Ed.) 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — "No entering in," — No harbor, no port; where 
ships could remain, and with which they could continue to trade. Tyre was 
once better situated for commerce, and had greater natural advantages, than 
any port in the Mediterranean. Those advantages have, however, to a great 
extent passed away, and natural causes combine to confirm the truth of the 
Divine predictions that it should cease to be a place of commerce. — Note, 
in loco. 

Dr. Robinson. — The inner port or basin of Tyre, on the north, was formerly 
enclosed by a wall, running from the north end of the island in a curve towards 
the main land. Various pieces and fragments of this wall yet remain, sufficient 



482 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

to mark its course; but the port itself is continually filling up more and more 
with sand, and now-a-days boats only can enter it. — Biblical Researches, Vol. 
HI., p. 397- 

Isa. xxiii : 2. — Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle ; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass 

over the sea, have replenished. 

Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — "A mournful and solitary silence 
now prevails along this shore which once resounded with the world's debate." 
This sentence with which Gibbon solemnly closes his chapter on the Crusades, 
well sums up the general impression still left by the six days' ride from Beyrout 
to Ascalon ; and in this impression travellers have felt a response to the strains 
in which Isaiah and Ezekiel foretold the desolation of Tyre and Sidon. The 
Phenician power which the prophets denounced has entirely perished. — Sinai 
and Palestine, p. 266. 

Thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished. 
Homer. — Freighted with precious toys of every sort, 

A ship of Zidon anchor'd in our port. — Odyss., XV., 415. 

Isa. xxiii : 6. — Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — This is an address to Tyre in view of her approaching 
destruction ; and is designed to signify that when the city was destroyed its 
inhabitants would flee to its colonies, and seek refuge and safety there. As 
Tarshish was one of its principal colonies, and as the ships employed by Tyre 
would naturally sail to Tarshish, the inhabitants are represented as fleeing there 
on the attack of Nebuchadnezzar. That the inhabitants of Tyre did flee in this 
manner is expressly asserted by Jerome upon the authority of Assyrian histories 
which are now lost. " We have read," says he, " in the histories of the 
Assyrians, that when the Tyrians were besieged, after they saw no hope of 
escaping, they went on board their ships, and fled to Carthage, or to some 
islands of the Ionian and ^Egean Sea" (Jerome, in loco). And again he says, 
" When the Tyrians saw that the works for carrying on the siege were perfected, 
and the foundations of the walls were shaken by the battering rams, whatever 
precious things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture the 
nobility had, they put them on board their ships, and carried to the islands. 
So that the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his 
labor." Diodorus (xvii., 41) relates the same thing of the Tyrians during the 
siege of Alexander the Great, where he says that they took their wives and 
children to Carthage. — Note, in loco. 

Isa. xxiii : 7. — Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? 

Strabo. — After Sidon the greatest and most ancient city of the Phenicians 
is Tyre, which is a rival to Sidon in greatness, and lustre, and antiquity. — 
Strab., lib. xvi., c. 2. 

Quintus Curtius. — Tyre is a city remarkable to posterity both for the 



ISAIAH XXIII. 483 

antiquity of its origin, and for its frequent change of fortune. — Quint. Curt., 
lib. iv., c. 4. 

Arrian. — The temple of Hercules at Tyre was the most ancient of those 
which the memory of men have preserved. — Arr., lib. ii., c. 16. 

Isa. xxiii : 12. — Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon. 
Bishop Newton. — Justin, the epitomizer of Trogus, hath expressly informed 
us, that the Sidonians being besieged by the king of Ascalon, went in ships and 
built Tyre. But though Tyre was the "daughter" of Sidon, yet the daughter 
soon equalled, and in time excelled the mother, and became the most cele- 
brated place in the world for its trade and navigation, the seat of commerce 
and the centre of riches. — Disserts, on Proplis., p. 148. 

Isa. xxiii: 13. — Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not . . . he brought it to 

ruin. 

Vitringa's Translation. — Behold the land of the Chaldeans; a people that 
was of no account . . . yet this people hath reduced her (Tyre) to ruin. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Nebuchadnezzar (the Chaldean), having 
called in the aid of Cyaxares, king of Media, led in person the vast army — com- 
posed of the contingents of the two nations — which marched to chastise the 
rebels. He immediately invested Tyre, the chief of the Phenician cities, but 
finding it too strong to be taken by assault, he left there a sufficient force to 
continue the siege, and marched against Jerusalem. . . . Tyre meanwhile con- 
tinued to resist all the efforts that were made to reduce it, and it was not until 
the thirteenth year from the first investment of the place that the city of mer- 
chants fell. Tyre seems to have capitulated in the year 585 b. c. — Rawlinson's 
Herodotus, Vol. L, Essay VIII., c. 14. 

Isa. xxiii : 15. — And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, 
according to the days of one king. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The duration of the Babylonian monarchy was 
properly but seventy years. Nebuchadnezzar began his conquest in the first year 
of his reign, and from thence to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus was seventy 
years. And at that time the nations that had been conquered and subdued by 
the Babylonians would be restored to liberty. Tyre was, indeed, taken towards 
the middle of that period, and its subjugation referred to here was only for the 
remaining part of it. "All these nations," says Jeremiah, "shall serve the king 
of Babylon seventy years." Some of them were conquered sooner and some 
later ; but the end of this period was the common time of deliverance to them 
all. — Note, in loco. 

Bishop Newton. — Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the thirty-second 
year of his reign, and in the year 573 b. c. Seventy years from thence will 
bring us down to the year 503 b. c, and the nineteenth year of Darius Hystas- 
pes. At that time it appears from history that the Ionians had rebelled against 
Darius, and the Phenicians assisted him with their fleets : and consequently it is 



484 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

reasonable to conclude that they were now restored to their former privileges. — 
Disserts, on Prophs., p. 154. 

Isa. xxiii : 17, 18. — And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord shall 
visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, etc. . . . And her merchandise and her hire shall 
be holiness to the Lord : it shall not be treasured nor laid up ; for her merchandise shall . 
be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — After the seventy years of desolation, the .city should 
arise from its ruins, and resume her commerce and her gains. And at a future 
period in its history — not immediately — the true religion would prevail there, 
and her wealth would be devoted to the service of the Lord. That the true 
religion did prevail at Tyre subsequently to its restoration and rebuilding there 
can be no doubt. The Christian religion was early established at Tyre. It was 
visited by the Saviour and by Paul. Paul found several disciples of Christ there 
when on his way to Jerusalem. It suffered much under the Dioclesian persecu- 
tion. — Notes, in loco. 

Eusebius. — When the church of God was founded in Tyre, and in other 
places, much of its wealth was consecrated to God, and was brought as an 
offering to the church, and was presented for the support of the ministry 
agreeable to the commandments of the Lord. — Hist., lib. x., c. 4. 

Jerome. — We have seen churches built to the Lord in Tyre ; we have beheld 
the wealth of all, which was not treasured up nor hid, but which was given to 
those who dwelt before the Lord. For the Lord hath appointed, that they who 
preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. And how liberally and munifi- 
cently the bishops and clergy were at that time maintained, how plentifully they 
were furnished with everything, no man can want to be informed, who is ever 
so little conversant in ecclesiastical history. — Hieron., in Is., c. 23. 

AFFLICTION. 

Isa. xxvi : 9. — When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn 

righteousness. ' 

JSschylus. — Such as owned 

No god till now, awestruck, with many a prayer, 
Adored the earth and sky. — Pers., v. 497. 

Maximus Tyrius. — Admonished by their calamities, the Syracusans became 
more moderate in their pleasures. — Diss., 31. 

Isa. xxvi : 19. — Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake 
and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast 
out the dead. 

Egyptian Papyrus. — Hail to the Osiris N ! Thine individuality is perma- 
nent. Thy body is durable. Thy mummy doth germinate. Thou art not 
repulsed from heaven, or earth. Thy face is illumined near the sun. Thy soul 
liveth near to Ammon. Thy body is rejuvenated near to Osiris. Thou dost 
breathe for ever and ever. . . . Thy soul doth breathe for ever and ever. • Thou 



ISAIAH XXXIV. 



485 



dost ren'ew thy form on earth, among the living. — Book of the Breaths of Life ; 
See Records of the Past, Vol. IV., p. 122. 

JERUSALEM BESIEGED. 

Isa. xxix: 3. — And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a 
mount, and I will raise forts against thee. 

Assyrian Inscriptions. — And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, like 
a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising 
banks of earth against the gates to prevent escape. — Annals of Sennacherib, in 
Rawlinson's Historical Illustrations, p. 142. 




BOZRAH. 

IDUMEA. 

Isa. xxxiv : 6. — The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of 

Idumea. 

Mr. George Grove. — Bozrah was known to Eusebius, who speaks of it in 
the Onomasticon as a city of Esau in the mountains of Idumea. There is no 
reason to doubt that the modern representative of Bozrah is el-Busaireh, which 
was first visited by Burckhardt, and lies on the mountain district to the south- 
east of the Dead Sea, between Tufileh and Petra, about half-way between the 
latter and the Dead Sea. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 322. 

Burckhardt. — Bozrah (Busaireh) is situated in the open plain, and is at 
present the last inhabited place in the southeast extremity of the Houran ; it 
was formerly the capital of the Arabia Provincia, and is now, including its ruins, 
the largest town in the Houran. It is of an oval shape, its greatest length being 
from east to west ; its circumference is three-quarters of an hour. It was an- 



486 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ciently encompassed with a thick wall, which gave it the reputation of great 
strength ; many parts of this wall still remain. The south, and southeast 
quarters, are covered with ruins of private dwellings, the walls of many of which 
are yet standing, but the roofs are fallen in. On the west side are springs of » 
fresh water, of which I counted five beyond the precincts of the town, and six 
within the walls. — Travels in Syria, p. 226. 

Isa. xxxiv : 10. — From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it 

for ever and ever. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — In the seventh century, the Mohammedari 
conquest gave a death-blow to the commerce and prosperity of Edom. Under 
the withering influence of Mohammedan rule the great cities fell to ruin, and 
the country became a desert. The followers of the false prophet were here, as 
elsewhere, the instruments in God's hands for the execution of his judgments. — 
Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 663. 

Volney. — From the reports of the Arabs of Bakir, and the inhabitants of 
Gaza, who frequently go to Maan and Karak, on the road of the pilgrims, there 
are to the southeast of the Dead Sea, within three days' journey, upwards of thirty 
ruined towns absolutely deserted. Several of them have large edifices, with 
columns that may have belonged to the ancient temples, or at least to Greek 
churches. The Arabs sometimes make use of them to fold cattle in ; but in gen- 
eral avoid them on account of the enormous scorpions with which they swarm. 
— Travels, Vol. II., p. 344. 

Scetzen. — I was told that at the distance of two days and a half from Hebron 
I would find considerable ruins of the ancient city of Abde, and that for all the 
rest of the journey I would see no place of habitation; I would meet only with a 
few tribes of wandering Arabs. — T-avels, p. 46. 

Burckhardt. — Eastern Edom may with great propriety be called a stony 
desert, although susceptible of culture ; in many places it is grown over with 
wild herbs, and must once have been thickly inhabited, for the traces of many 
towns and villages are met with on both sides of the Hadj road between Maan 
and Akaba, as well as between Maan and the plains of Houran, in which direc- 
tion also are many springs. At present all this country is a desert, and Maan is 
the only inhabited place in it. — Travels, p. 436. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — " None shall pass through it for ever and ever" — 
Volney, Burckhardt, Joliffe, Henniker, and Captains Irby and Mangles, not only 
give their personal testimony to the truth of the fact which corroborates this 
prediction, but also adduce a variety of circumstances, which all conspire in 
giving superfluity of proof that Idumea, which was long resorted to from every 
quarter, is so beset on every side with dangers to the traveller, that none pass 
through it. — Evidence from Prophecy, p. 147. 

Isa. xxxiv: 12. — They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, 
and all her princes shall be nothing. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — Of all the ruins of Petra, " the city of Edom," 



ISAIAH XXXIV. 



487 



the mausoleums and sepulchres are among the most remarkable, and they give 
the clearest indication of ancient and long-continued royalty, and of courtly 
grandeur. — " Great," says Burckhardt, "must have been the opulence of a city 
which could dedicate such monuments to the memory of its rulers." — But the 
long line of the kings and of the nobles of Idumea has for ages been cut off; 
they are without any representative now, without any memorial but the multi- 




TOMB AT PETRA. 

tude and the magnificence of their unvisited sepulchres. — Evidence f?-om Por- 
phecy,p. 154. 

Isa. xxxiv: 11, 13, 14, 15. — But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also 
and the raven shall dwell in it. . . . And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and 
brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. 
The wild beast of the desert also shall meet with the wild beasts of the island; and the satyr 
shall cry to his fellow ; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 
There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow : 
there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. 

Burckhardt. — The bird Katta (cormorant) is met with in immense numbers; 
they fly in such large flocks, that the Arab boys often kill two or three of them 
at a time, merely by throwing a stick among them. — Travels, p. 406. 

Irby and Mangles. — Eagles, hawks, and owls were soaring in considerable 
numbers above our heads, seemingly annoyed at any one approaching their 
lonely habitation. — Travels, p. 415. 

Burckhardt. — The fields of Tafyle (in the immediate vicinity of Edom) are 
frequented by an immense number of crows (ravens). — Travels, p. 405. 



488 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Volney. — The ruins of Edom swarm with enormous scorpions. — Travels, 
Vol. II., 344. 

Shaw. — The wilderness, of which the land of Edom now forms a part, abounds 
with a variety of lizards and vipers, which are very dangerous and troublesome. 
— Travels, Vol. II., p. 105, 338. 

Isa. xxxiv : 16. — Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read : no one of these shall fail, etc. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This seems to be addressed to the inhabitants of the 
land, or to any who might doubt, or be disposed to examine. They are in- 
vited to compare the prediction with the fulfilment, and see how literally all 
would be fulfilled — an examination which may be made now, and the prediction 
will be seen to have been accomplished with most surprising particularity and 
accuracy. — Note, in loco. 

Stephens. — I would that the sceptic could stand as I did, among the ruins 
of this city among the rocks (Petra), and there open the sacred book, and read 
the words of the inspired penman, written when this desolate place was one of 
the grandest cities in the world. I see the scoffer arrested, his cheek pale, his 
lip quivering, and his heart quaking with fear, as the ancient city cries out to 
him in a voice loud and powerful as one risen from the dead ; though he would 
not believe Moses and the prophets, he believes the handwriting of God him- 
self, in the desolation and eternal ruin around him. How terrible is the death 
of a city. — Incidents of Travel, Vol. II., p. 76. 

TIMES OF MESSIAH. 

Isa. xxxv : 5, 6. — Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be 
unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. 

Matthew. — And Jesus went about all Galilee, healing all manner of sickness, 
and all manner of disease among the people. — Chap, iv : v. 23. 

Idem. — And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that 
were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at 
Jesus' feet, and he healed them ; insomuch that the multitude wondered when 
they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the 
blind to see; and they glorified the God of Israel. — Chap, xv: 30, 31. 

INVASION OF SENNACHERIB. 

Isa. xxxvi : I, etc. — Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennac- 
herib king of Assyria, etc. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The annals of Sennacherib, son and suc- 
cessor of Sargon, contain a full account of the campaign here recorded. — See 
Hist. Illust., p. 142, and the Testimonies given under 2 Kings xviii : 13, etc. 

Isa. xxxvi : 18, 19. — Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. 
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad ? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim ? and have 
they delivered Samaria out of my hand ? 



ISAIAH XXXVII. 



489 



Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — The bas-reliefs (in this chamber) repre- 
sented the siege and sack of one of the many cities taken by the great king, and 
the transfer of its captives to some distant province of Assyria. The prisoners 
were dressed in garments falling to the calves of their legs, and the women wore 
a kind of turban. Although the country was mountainous, its inhabitants used 
the camel as a beast of burden, and in the sculptures it was represented laden 
with the spoil. The Assyrians, as was their custom, carried away in triumph 
the images of the gods of the conquered nation, which were placed on poles 
and borne in procession on men's shoulders. "Hath any god of the nations 
delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?" exclaimed the 
Assyrian general to the Jews. "Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? 
Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? " They had been carried away with the 
captives, and the very idols that were represented in this bas-relief may be 
amongst those to which Rabshakeh made this boasting allusion. — Nineveh and 
Babylon, p. 194. 

Isa. xxxvii : 29. — Because thy 
rage against me, and thy 
tumult, is come up into 
mine ears, therefore will I 
put my hook in thy nose, 
and my bridle in thy lips, 
and I will turn thee back 
by the way by which thou 
earnest. 

Herodotus. — In this 
way passed by the water- 
carriers. Next to them 
came Psammenitus' son, 
and 2,000 Egyptians of the same age with him — all of them having ropes round 
their necks, and bridles in their months — and they too passed by on their way to 
suffer death for the murder of the Mytilenseans who were destroyed, with their 
vessel, in Memphis. — Thulia, c. 14. 

Joseph Bonomi, F. R. S. L.— Passing out of the Hall of Judgment, (at 
Khorsabad,) and turning to our right, we find other slabs. Before the king, 
who is attended by his cup-bearer, sceptre -bearer, and a third person, are three 
prisoners, wearing the sheepskin garment, the foremost of whom is kneeling in 
supplication ; they are all fettered, and have the ring in the lower lip, to which 
is attached a thin cord held by the king. . . . Further on is a scene containing 
twelve figures, of whom four are prisoners, two standing, and two kneeling to 
the king. As in former bas-relievi, they have rings in their lips; and it is not a 
little remarkable that when Sennacherib, a successor of the founder of this 
palace, invaded Judea, the prophetic message sent by Isaiah in reply to the 
prayer of Hezekiah should contain the metaphor here embodied, and probably 
enacted in these verv chambers — "I will put my hook in thy nose, and my 




BRIDLE IN PRISONERS' LIPS. 



490 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou earnest." 
— Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 172-174. 

PLASTER OF FIGS. 

Isa. xxxviii: 21. — For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster 
upon the boil, and he shall recover. 

Pliny. — Figs are applied topically in all cases where sores require to be 
brought to a head or dispersed. — Hist. Nat., XXIII. , 63. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The fig still maintains its repute 
in the East as the best poultice ; and its use is familiar among ourselves as 
efficacious for gum-boils. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 352. 

MERODACH-BALADAN. 

Isa. xxxix : I . — At that time Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent 
letters, and a present to Hezekiah. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The Canon of Ptolemy, as it is called, 
gives us the succession of Babylonian monarchs, with the exact length of the 
reign of each, from the year b. c. 747, when Nabonassar mounted the throne, 
to b. c. 331, when the last Persian king was dethroned by Alexander. This 
document, which from its close accordance with the statements of Scripture 
always vindicated to itself a high authority in the eyes of Christian chronologers, 
has recently been confirmed in so many points by the Inscriptions that its 
authentic character is established beyond all possibility of cavil or dispute. In 
this list, the fifth is Mardocempalus, a monarch to whom great interest attaches, 
for he is undoubtedly the "Merodach-Baladan" of Scripture. The Assyrian 
Inscriptions show that after reigning twelve years Merodach-Baladan was 
deprived of his crown and driven into banishment by Sargon, who appears to 
have placed Arceanus upon his throne. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 217. 

THE HARBINGER. 

Isa. xl: 3. — The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, 
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Matthew. — In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness 
of Judea, and saying, Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For 
this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one 
crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths 
straight. — Chap, iii : 1-3. 

Isa. xl : 4. — Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low : and 
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — It was the practice of Eastern monarchs, whenever 
they entered upon a journey or an expedition, especially through a barren or 
unfrequented and inhospitable country, to send harbingers, or heralds, before 
them to prepare the way. To do this, it was necessary for them to provide 
supplies, and make bridges, or find fording places over the streams ; to level hills, 



ISAIAH XL. 491 

and construct causeways over valleys, or fill them up ; and to make a way 
through the forest which might lie in their intended line of march. — Note, 
in loco. 

Arrian. — Alexander now proceeded to the river Indus, part of the army 
going before, which made a way for him, for otherwise there would have been 
no mode of passing through that region. — Hist., 1. iv., c. 30. 

Ovid. — Wherever she appears, sink down ye swelling mountains, and ye 
paths through the crooked valleys grow smooth. — Amor., lib. ii., eleg. 16. 

Isa. xl : II. — He shall feed his flock like a shepherd : he shall gather the lambs with his arm?;, 
and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. 

John. — I am the good shepherd. By me if any man enter in, he shall be 
saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The good shepherd giveth 
his life for the sheep. — Chap, x., v. 9, 11, 14. 

Mark. — Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not. He 
took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them, and blessed them. — 
Chap, x: 14-16. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The Eastern shepherd is often laden with the young 
lambs which are too tender to follow with the rest. I have often seen a shep- 
herd carrying a lamb under each arm, and two or three more in the hood of his 
cloak as he led the flock. — Natural History of the Bible, p. 140. 

THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR. 

Isa. xl : 18. — To whom then will ye liken God ? or what likeness will ye compare unto him ? 

tEschylus. — Make a distinction between the deity and mortal beings. Do 
not think him like any other body. He is incomprehensible. — Apud. Euseb., 
Prcep. Evang., 1. xiii., c. 13. 

Seneca. — No one knows God, though many entertain strange and preposter- 
ous opinions of him. God, the most high and powerful, upholdeth all thing?. 
The likeness of God cannot be made of gold, or silver, or any such things. — - 
Epist., 31. 

Isa.,xl: 22.— It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are 
as grasshoppers ; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent 
to dwell in. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — When we take a leisurely survey of the globe on which 
we dwell, and consider the enormous masses of its continents and islands, the 
quantity of water in its seas and oceans, the lofty ranges of mountains which rise 
from its surface, the hundreds of majestic rivers which roll their waters into the 
ocean, the numerous orders of animated beings with which it is peopled, and 
the vast quantity of matter enclosed in its bowels from every part of its 
circumference to its centre, amounting to more than 260,000 millio?is of cubical 
miles — we cannot but be astonished at the greatness of that Being who first 
launched it into existence, who "measures its waters in the hollow of his 
hand, who weighs its mountains in scales and its hills in a balance ;" and who 



492 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

has supported it in its rapid movements, from age to age. — Improvement of 
Society, Section VI. 

Isa. xl ; 25, 26. — To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal ? saith the Holy One. 
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their 
host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is 
strong in power; not one faileth. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — When we direct our views to the planetary system, we 
behold three or four globes, which appear only like small studs on the vault of 
heaven, yet contain a quantity of matter more than 2,400 times greater than 
that of the earth ; besides these there are more than a hundred lesser globes, 
many of which even are larger than our world ; also several hundreds of comets, 
of various magnitudes, moving in every direction through the depths of space. 
The Sun is a body of such magnitude as overpowers our feeble conceptions, and 
fills us with astonishment. Within the wide circumference of this luminary 
more tha?i a million of worlds, as large as ours, could be contained. His 
attractive energy extends to several thousands of millions of miles from its surface, 
retaining in their orbits the most distant planets and comets, and dispensing 
light and heat, and fructifying influence to more than a hundred worlds. What 
an astonishing idea, then, does it give us of the power of Omnipotence, when 
we consider that the universe is replenished with i?i?iumerable globes of a similar 
size and splendor ! For every star which the naked eye perceives twinkling on 
the vault of heaven, and those more distant orbs which the telescope brings to 
view throughout the depths of immensity, are, doubtless, Suns, no less in 
magnitude than that which enlightens our day, and surrounded by a retinue of 
revolving worlds. Some of them have been reckoned by astronomers to be even 
much larger than our Sun. And the number of such bodies exceeds calculation. 
Sir W T . Herschel perceived in that portion of the Milky Way which lies near 
the constellation Orion no less than 50,000 stars, large enough to be distinctly 
numbered, pass before his telescope in an hour's time ; besides twice as many 
more which could be seen only now and then by faint glimpses. It has been 
reckoned that nearly a hundred millions of stars lie within the range of our 
telescopes. And if we suppose, as we justly may, that each of these Suns has a 
hundred worlds connected with it, there will be found ten thousand millions of 
worlds in that portion of the universe which comes within the range of human 
observation ; besides those which lie concealed from mortal eyes in the unex- 
plored regions of space, which may as far exceed all that are visible, as the 
waters in the caverns of the ocean exceed in magnitude a single particle of 
vapor ! 

Of such numbers and magnitudes we can form no adequate conception. The 
mind is bewildered, confounded, and utterly overwhelmed when it attempts to 
grasp the magnitude of the universe, or to form an idea of the omnipotent 
energy which brought it into existence. The amplitude of the scale on which 
the systems of the universe are constructed tends likewise to elevate our concep- 
tions of the grandeur of the Deity. Between every one of the planetary bodies 



ISAIAH XLII. 493 

there intervenes a space of many millions of miles in extent. Between the sun 
and the nearest star there is an interval, extending in every direction, of more 
than twenty billions of miles ; and it is highly probable that a similar space sur- 
rounds every other system. And if we take into consideration the i??imense 
forces that are in operation throughout the universe — that one globe, a thousand 
times larger than the earth, is flying through the regions of immensity at the 
rate of 30,000 miles an hour: another at the rate of 70,000 miles, and another 
at 100,000 miles an hour; and that millions of mighty worlds are thus tra- 
versing the illimitable spaces of the firmament — can we refrain from exclaiming 
in the language of inspiration, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God 
Almighty ! " or fail to perceive the truth and force and fitness of the words 
"To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? " saith the Holy One.- 
Improv. of Soci., Sec. VI. 

CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 

Isa. xlii : 1. — Behold my servant, whom I uphold: mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I 

have put my Spirit upon him. 

Matthew. — And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the 
water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God 
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him ; and, lo, a voice from heaven, 
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. — Chap, iii : 16, 17. 

John. — For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God : for God 
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. — Chap, iii : 34. 

Luke. — The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to 
preach the gospel to the poor. — Chap, iv : 18. 

Isa. xlii : 2. — He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to he heard in the street. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — How well this agrees with the character of the Lord 
Jesus, it is not necessary to pause to show. He was uniformly unostentatious, 
modest, and retiring. He did not even desire that his deeds should be blazoned 
abroad, but sought to be withdrawn from the world, and to pursue his humble 
path in perfect peace. — JVote > i?i loco. 

Isa. xlii : 3. — A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. 

Matthew. — I will have mercy, and not sacrifice : for I am not come to 
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. — Chap, ix : 13. 

Idem. — Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. — Chap, xi : 28. 

John. — Him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out. — Chap, vi: 37. 

Isa. xlii: 21. — He will magnify the law, and make it honorable. 

Matthew. — Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I 
am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven 
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all 
be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, 
and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven : 



494 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the 
kingdom of heaven. — Chap, iv : 17-19. 

DIVINE CHALLENGE. 

Isa. xliii: 9. — Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who 
among them can declare this, and show us former (the order of) things ? let them bring 
forth their witnesses, that they may be justified : or, let them hear, and say, It is truth. 

W. R. Cooper, Sec. of Soci. of Bib. Archceology. — From the monuments of 
Assyria come to us fresh confirmations of the Old Testament ; that mighty 
empire has witnessed for the truth of the Bible in an unexpected manner, and 
with no uncertain voice. From the ruins of her palaces has her history been 
disinterred, and from the mutilated walls of her temples have her theology and 
poetry been restored. The conquest of Palestine is recorded in the annals of 
Sennacherib, and the cylinder of Tiglath-pileser describes his invasion of Pales- 
tine. The names of Jehu, of Amaziah, of Hezekiah, of Omri, Ahaz and 
Uzziah, have been made out. The very clay which sealed the treaty between 
the kings of Judah and Assyria, with the impresses of their joint seals upon it, 
is preserved in the Nineveh gallery. The library of Assurbanipal, in 20,000 
fragments, contains, among other scientific treatises, such as astronomical 
notices, grammatical essays, tables of verbs, genealogies, etc., an historico- 
geographical account of Babylonia and the surrounding countries. As far as 
these fragments have been translated, the district and tribal names given in the 
Bible correspond very closely with them. — Faith and Free Thought, p. 236. 

CHALDEAN SHIPPING. 

Isa. xliii : 14. — And the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. 

Herodotus. — The Babylonian district, like Egypt, is intersected by a num- 
ber of canals, the largest of which, continued with a southeast course from the 
Euphrates to that part of the Tigris where Nineveh stands, is capable of receiv- 
ing vessels of burden. . . . The boats which come down the river to Babylon are 
circular, and managed by two men who stand upright in them, each plying an 
oar, one pulling and the other pushing. The boats are of various sizes, some 
larger, some smaller; the biggest reach as high as 5,000 talents' burden. — Clio, 
c. 193, 194. 

Strabo. — The country of the Babylonians is intersected by many rivers, the 
largest of which are the Euphrates and the Tigris : the Tigris is navigable 
upwards from its mouth to Opis, and to the present Seleucia. Opis is a village, 
and a mart for the surrounding places. The Euphrates is navigable up to Baby- 
lon, a distance of more than 3,000 stadia. — Strap., lib. xvi., c. 1. 

VANITY OF IDOLS. 

Isa. xliv : 14, 15. — He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he 
strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest : he planteth an ash, and the rain doth 
nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn : for he will take thereof, and warm himself; 
yea, he kindleth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 



ISAIAH XLV. 495 

Horace. — In days of yore our godship stood 
A very worthless log of wood : 
The joiner doubting, or to shape us 
Into a stool, or a Priapus, 
At length resolved, for reasons wise, 
Into a god to bid me rise. — Hor., lib. i., Sat. 8. 
Pliny. — We see resplendent with the same ivory, the heads of the divinities 
and the feet of our tables. — Hist. Nat., XII., 2. 

CYRUS, AND HIS CAPTURE OF BABYLON. 

Isa. xliv : 27. — That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up the rivers. 

Herodotus. — Cyrus took Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, 
and leading his army into the city by night, through the empty channel of the 
river. — See Herod., lib. i., c. 190, 191. 

Isa. xliv: 28. — That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus used to say, — That the business of a good herdsman, and 
of a good king, were very nearly alike ; for a herdsman ought to provide for the 
welfare and happiness of the herd, and make use of them consistently with the 
happiness of those creatures ; and that a king ought in the same manner, 
to make men and cities happy, and in the same manner to make use of them. — 
Cyrop., VIII., 2. 

Maximus Tyrius. — Cyrus governed the Persians as a shepherd governs his 
sheep. — Dissert., 40. 

Isa. xlv: 1. — Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to 

subdue nations before him. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus, finding the nations of Asia sovereign and independent of 
each other, and setting forward with a little army of Persians, obtained the do- 
minion of the Medes by their own choice, and voluntary submission ; of the 
Hyrcanians the same. He conquered the Syrians and Assyrians, the Arabs, 
Cappadocians, both Phrygians, the Lydians, Carians, Phenicians, and Babylon- 
ians. He ruled the Bactrians, Indians and Cilicians; in like manner the Sacians, 
Paphlagonians, and Megadinians, and many others whose names one cannot enu- 
merate. He ruled the Greeks that were settled in Asia; and descending to the 
sea, the Cyprians and Egyptians. — Cyrop., lib. L, c. 1. 

Isa. xlv: 1. — And I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates; and 

the gates shall not be shut. 

Herodotus. — In the circumference of the wall of Babylon, at different dis- 
tances, were a hundred massy gates of brass, whose hinges and springs were of 
the same metal. The city, which abounds in houses from three to four stories 
in height, is regularly divided into streets. Through these, which are parallel, 
there are transverse avenues to the river, opened through the wall and breast- 
work, and secured by an equal number of little gates of brass. If the besieged 
had either been aware of the designs of Cyrus, or had discovered the project 
31 



496 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

before its actual accomplishment, they might have effected a total destruction 
of these troops. They had only to secure the little gates which led to the river, 
and to have manned the embankment on either side, and they might have 
enclosed the Persians in a net, from which they could never have escaped. As 
it happened, they were taken by surprise. — Clio, c. 1 79-191. 

Xenophon. — They that attended Gadatas and Gobryas in military order, 
found the doors of the palace shut, and they that were posted opposite to the 
guards fell on them and slew them. As soon as the noise and clamor began, 
they that were within perceiving the disturbance, and the king commanding 
them to examine into the cause of it, ran out, throwing open the gates. They 
that were with Gadatas, as soon as they saw the gates loose, broke in, pressing 
forward on the runaways, and dealing their blows amongst them. — Cyrop., lib. 
vii., c. 5. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — None but an Omniscient Being could have pre- 
dated, a hundred and fifty years before it occurred, that such an event would 
take place ; and this is one of the many prophecies which demonstrate in the 
most particular manner that Isaiah was inspired. — Note, in loco. 

Isa. xlv : 2, 3. — I will go before thee. ... I will break in pieces the gates. ... I will give thee 

the treasures, etc. 

Herodotus. — (JTarpagus to Cyrus. ,) — Son of Cambyses, Heaven evidently 
favors you, or you could never have thus risen superior to fortune. — Clio, c. 
124. 

Idem. — When Cyrus considered the peculiar circumstances of his birth, he 
believed himself more than human. He reflected also on the prosperity of his 
arms, and that wherever he had extended his excursions, he had been followed 
by success and victory. — Clio, c. 205. 

Ezra. — Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given 
me all the kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath charged me to build him a house 
at Jerusalem. — Chap, i: 2. 

Isa. xlv : 3. — And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, 
that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 

Xenophon. — Crcesus said to Cyrus, Suffer me to speak to such of the Lydians 
as I think fit, and to tell them that I have prevailed on you not to plunder nor 
to suffer our wives and children to be taken from us; but have promised you 
that, in lieu of these, you shall certainly have from the Lydians of their own 
accord, whatever there is of worth and value in Sardis. For whenever they 
hear this, I know they will bring out whatever there is of value here, in the 
possession of man or woman. — Cyrop., lib. vii., c. 2. 

Idem. — Cyrus then set forward from Sardis, taking Crcesus with him, and a 
great many wagons loaded with abundance of rich effects of all kinds. And 
Crcesus came to him with an exact account in writing of what was in each 
wagon. Cyrus entered the Royal Palace (at Babylon), and they that conveyed 
the treasures from Sardis delivered them up there. — Cyrop., lib. vii., c. 4, 5. 



ISAIAH XLVI. 497 

Pliny. — Cyrus, when he had conquered Asia, found a booty consisting of 
24,000 lbs. weight of gold, in addition to vessels and other articles of wrought 
gold, as well as leaves of trees, a plane-tree and a vine, all made of that metal. 
It was through this conquest, too, that he carried off 500,000 talents of silver, as 
well as the vase of Semiramis, the weight of which alone amounted to 15 talents, 
the Egyptian talent being equal, according to Varro, to eighty of our pounds. — 
Hist. Nat., lib. xxxiii., c. 15. 

Isa. xlv : 9. — Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker ! 
Pindar. — It is not good to contend against Heaven. — Pyth., II., 162. 

Isa. xlv: 19. — I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the 

seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are 

right. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — The oracles of the heathen gave their answers 
in secret; uttering them from the depths of some dark cavern, and in such 
doubtful language as very often to deceive those who consulted them. The 
dark saying of the oracle to Crcesus may very properly be contrasted with the 
open speech of God's prophets ; inasmuch as it has some connection with this 
part of Isaiah's prophecies. "Crcesus," relates Herodotus (I., 53-86), "sent 
to inquire of the oracle at Delphi whether he might proceed against the Persians, 
and whether he should require the help of any allies. The answer was, that if 
he prosecuted a war with Persia he would overthrow a mighty empire. ' ' He 
did so and was conquered. — " The Persians obtained possession of Sardis, and 
made Crcesus captive, when he had reigned fourteen years, and after a siege of 
fourteen days; a mighty empire, according to the prediction of the oracle, 
being thus destroyed." — Test, of Heath., p. 390. 

Cicero. — Apollo, monarch of the sacred centre of the great world, full of thy 
inspiration, the Pythian priestesses proclaim thy prophecies. Chrysippus has 
filled an entire volume with your oracles, many of which I consider utterly 
false, and many others only true by accident. Others again are so obscure and 
involved that their very interpreters have need of other interpreters ; and the 
decision of one lot have to be referred to other lots. Another portion are so 
ambiguous that they require to be analyzed by the logic of dialecticians. — De 
Div.y lib. ii., c. 56. 

Isa. xlvi: I. — Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols, etc. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — In the famous denunciation of Isaiah 
(xlvi: 1) against Babylon, Bel and Nebo are spoken of as the two great objects 
of worship, precisely as Sargon, who was the contemporary of Isaiah, uses the 
names of Bel and Nebo in the account of his Babylonian sacrifice. — Rawlinson's 
Herod., Vol. I., p. 512, Note. 

Colonel Rawlinson. — The discovery which I have now to announce is, that 
within the last few days the workmen employed in the service of the British 
Museum have disinterred from the ruins of the southeast palace at Nimroud a 
perfect statue of the god Nebo, inscribed across the breast with a legend of 



498 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



twelve lines, which states that the figure in question was executed by a certain 
sculptor of Calah, and dedicated by him to his lord, Phal-luka, king of Assyria, 
and to his lady, Sammuramit, queen of the palace. — Athenceum, for April 15, 1854. 

Isa. xlvi: II. — Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a 

far country. 

Xenophon. — The standard, or ensign, of Cyrus was a golden eagle, held on 
the top of a long lance. — Cyrofi., lib. vii., c. 1. 

Idem. — As the army of Cyrus approached the borders of Persia, an eagle 
appearing to the right led the way before them. — Cyrop. r lib. ii., c. 1. 

Isa. xlvii : I. — Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground : 
O daughter of the Chaldeans : for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — How truly this was fulfilled 
needs not to be told to those who are familiar with 
the history of Babylon. Its power was broken when 
Cyrus conquered it ; its walls were reduced by Darius ; 
Seleucia rose in its stead, and took away its trade, and 
a large portion of its inhabitants, until it was com- 
pletely destroyed, so that it became for a long time a 
question where it had formerly stood. — Note, in loco. 

Isa. xlvii : 2. — Take the millstones, and grind meal. 

Herodotus. — After its conquest by Cyrus, Babylon 
alone had to raise subsistence for him and his army tor 
four months in the year — (in other words, had to take 
the millstones, and grind meal). — See Herod., lib. i., 
c. 192. 

Isa. xlvii : 8, 9. — Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to 
pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I 
am, and none else beside me ; I shall not sit as a widow, 
neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things 
shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children 
and widowhood ; they shall come upon thee in their perfection 
for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance 
of thine enchantments. 

Herodotus. — (In the revolt of the Babylonians against Darius, in order to 
save provisions that they might not be compelled to submission by famine, they 
took this measure) — Having first set apart their mothers, each man chose be- 
sides out of his whole household one woman, whomsoever he pleased ; these alone 
were allowed to live, while all the rest were brought to one place and strangled. 
The women chosen were kept to make bread for the men ; the others were 
strangled that they might not consume the stores. . . . Darius, however, through 
the stratagem of a Persian named Zopyrus, again took the city. And having 
become master of the place, he destroyed the wall, and tore down all the gates ; 
for Cyrus had done neither the one nor the other when he took Babylon. He then 




NEBO. 



ISAIAH L. 499 

chose out near 3,000 of the leading citizens, and caused them to be crucified, 
while he allowed the remainder still to inhabit the city. Further, wishing to 
prevent the race of the Babylonians from becoming extinct, he provided wives 
for them in the room of those whom they had strangled to save their stores. 
These he levied from the nations bordering on Babylonia, who were each re- 
quired to send so large a number to Babylon, that in all there were collected no 
fewer than 50,000. It is from these women that the Babylonians of our times 
are sprung. — Herod., lib. iii., c. 150-159. 

Isa. xlvii : 13. — Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, 
the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that 
shall come upon thee. 

Cicero. — Among the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, a tribe who had this name, 
not from any art which they professed, but from the district which they inhab- 
ited, by a very long course of observation of the stars, are considered to have 
established a complete science, so that it became possible to predict what would 
happen to each individual, and with what destiny each separate person was born. 
De Divin.f lib. i., c. 1. 

MESSIAH. 

Isa. 1 : 4. — The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to 
speak a word in season to him that is weary. 

Matthew. — And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the 
people were astonished at his doctrine : for he taught them as one having 
authority, and not as the scribes. — Chap, vii : 28, 29. 

Idem. — And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he 
departed thence : and when he was come into his own country, he taught them 
in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath 
this man this wisdom, and these mighty works ? — Chap, xiii : 54. 

John. — The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. — Chap, vii : 46. 

Isa. 1 : 6. — I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair ; I 
hid not my face from shame and spitting. 

John. — Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a 
crown of thorns, and put it on his head. And they smote him with their 
hands.— Cfoz/. xix: 1, 3. 

Mark. — And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face. — Chap. 
xiv: 65. 

Matthew. — They bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, 
Hail, King of the Jews ! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and 
smote him on the head. — Chap, xxvii : 29, 30. 

Isa. 1 : 8, g. — He is near that justifieth me. . . . Behold the Lord God will help me. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This was done by all the testimonials of God in 
Messiah's favor — by the voice which spake from heaven at his baptism — by the 
miracles which he wrought, showing that he was commissioned and approved' 



500 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

by God — by the fact that even Pilate was constrained to declare him innocent 
— by the wonders that attended his crucifixion, showing that " he was a right- 
eous man," even in the view of the Roman centurion — and by the fact that he 
was raised from the dead, and was taken to heaven, and placed at the right hand 
of the Father — thus showing that his whole work was approved by God, and fur- 
nishing the most ample vindication of his character from all the accusations of 
his foes. — Note, in loco. 

RETRIBUTION. 

Isa. li : 23. — Behold I will put it (the cup of trembling) into the hand of them that afflict thee ; 
which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body 
■ as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over. 

Tacitus. — Whilst the empire of the East was possessed by the Assyrians, next 
by the Medes and Persians, the Jews were held the most despicable of all the 
enslaved nations. — Hist., lib. v., c. 8. 

MESSIAH'S SUFFERINGS. 

Isa. liii : 2. — For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry 
ground : he hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that 
we should desire him. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The idea in this passage is plain. It is that the 
Messiah would spring up as from an ancient and decayed stock like a tender 
shoot. He would be humble and unpretending in his origin, and would be 
such that they, who had expected a splendid prince, would be led to overlook 
and despise him, — "as a root out of a dry ground " — unattractive in appear- 
ance. "He hath no form nor comeliness," — no robes of royalty; no diadem 
sparkling on his brow ; no splendid retinue; no gorgeous array. "And when 
we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him," — he does not 
appear in the form which we had anticipated ; he does not come with the regal 
pomp and splendor which it was supposed the Messiah would assume ; he is 
apparently of humble rank, has few attendants, and has disappointed wholly the 
expectation of the nation. Can anything be more strikingly expressive of the 
actual appearance of the Redeemer as compared with the expectation of the 
Jews? Can there be found anywhere a more striking fulfilment of a prophecy 
than this ? And how will the infidel answer the argument thus furnished for the 
fact that Isaiah was inspired, and that his record was true ? — Notes, in loco. 

Isa. liii : 3. — He is despised, and rejected of men. 

Mark. — Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary ? And they were offended 
at him. — Chap, vi : 3. 

John. — Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, -Say we not well that 
thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?— Chap, viii : 48. 

Idem. — He came to his own, and his own received him not. — Chap, i : 11. 

Idem. — When the chief priests, therefore, and the officers saw him, they cried 
out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Away with him, away with him. — Chap. 
xix: 6-15. 



ISAIAH LIII. 501 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — u He is despised and rejected of men." — This phrase 
is full of meaning, and in few words states the whole history of man in regard 
to his treatment of the Redeemer. The name, The Rejected of Men, will 
express all the melancholy history : rejected by the Jews ; by the rich ; the great 
and the learned ; by the mass of men of every grade, and age, and rank. No 
prophecy was ever more strikingly fulfilled ; none could condense more signifi- 
cancy into few words. — Note, in loco. 

Isa. liii : 3. — A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. 

Matthew. — Jesus began to show unto his disciples how he must suffer many 
things and be killed. — Chap, xvi : 21. 

Mark. — Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. — Chap, iii : 5. 

Luke. — He beheld the city, and wept over it. — Chap, xix : 41. 

Idem. — Being in an agony, his sweat was as it were great drops of blood, 
falling down to the ground. — Chap, xxii : 44. 

John. — He groaned in spirit, and was troubled. . . . Jesus wept. — Chap, xi : 
33> 35- 

Isa. liii: 4. — We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 

Matthew. — He hath spoken blasphemy. . . . He is guilty of death. — Chap. 
xxvi : 65, 66. 

John.— We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made 
himself the Son of God. — Chap, xix : 7. 

Isa. liii: 5. — But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — "But he was wounded" — perforated, or pierced: 
applied to the actual sufferings of the Messiah, this refers undoubtedly to the 
piercing of his hands, and his feet, and his side. " He was bruised for our 
iniquities " — broken down, or crushed : the meaning is, that he was under such 
a weight of sorrows on account of our sins, that he was, as it were, crushed to 
the earth. How true this was of the Lord Jesus it is not necessary here to pause 
to show. — Notes, in loco. 

Luke. — I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it 
be accomplished ! — Chap, xii : 50. 

Matthew. — Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even 
unto death : tarry ye here, and watch with me. — Chap, xxvi : 38. 

Isa. liii : 5. — And with his stripes we are healed. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — " His stripes " — weals, the marks or prints of blows 
on the skin : the obvious and natural idea conveyed by the word here is, that 
the individual referred to would be subjected to some treatment that would cause 
such weals or stripes ; that is, that he would be beaten or scourged. How 
literally this was applicable to the Lord Jesus it is unnecessary to attempt to 
prove. — Notes, in loco. 

Matthew. — Then released he Barabbas unto them ; and when he had scourged 
Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. . . . And they took the reed and smote 
him on the head. — Chap, xxvii : 26, 30. 



502 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Isa. liii : 6. — All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; 
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — So it was, and is, with man. The bond which should 
have united him to the Great Shepherd, the Creator, has been broken. We 
have become lonely wanderers, where each one pursues his own interest ; * 
forms his own plans ; and seeks to gratify his own pleasures, regardless of the 
interest of the whole. If we had not sinned, there would have been a common 
bond to unite us to God and to each other. But now we, as a race, have 
become dissocial, selfish, following our own pleasures, and each one living to 
gratify his own passions. What a true and graphic description of man ! How 
has it been illustrated in all the selfish schemes and purposes of the race ! And 
how is it still illustrated every day in the plans and actions of mortals ! — Notes, 
in loco, 

Isa. liii : 7. — He was oppressed, and he was afflicted ; yet he opened not his mouth. 

Matthew. — When he was accused he answered nothing. Then said Pilate 
unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee ? And 
he answered him to never a word. — Chap, xxvii : 12-14. 

Mark. — He held his peace, and answered nothing. — Chap, xiv : 61. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — "He opened not his mouth" — This means that he 
was perfectly quiet, meek, submissive, patient. He did not open his mouth to 
complain of God on account of the great sorrows which he had appointed to 
him ; nor to God on account of his being ill-treated of man. He did not use 
the language of reviling when he was reviled, nor return on men evils which 
they were inflicting on him. How strikingly and literally was this fulfilled in 
the life of the Lord Jesus ! It would seem almost as if it had been written after 
he lived, and was history rather than prophecy. In no other instance was there 
ever so striking an example of perfect patience ; no other person ever so entirely 
accorded with the description of the prophet. —Note, in loco. 

Isa. liii : 7. — He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is 
dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — As a lamb which is led to be killed is patient and 
silent, so was he. He made no resistance. He uttered no complaint. He 
suffered himself to be led quietly along to be put to death. What a striking and 
beautiful description ! How tender and how true ! We can almost see here the 
meek and patient Redeemer led along without resistance ; and amidet the 
clamour of the multitude that were assembled with various feelings to conduct 
him to death, himself perfectly silent- and composed. With all power at his 
disposal, yet as quiet and gentle as though he had no power ; and with a perfect 
consciousness that he was going to die, as calm and as gentle as though he were 
ignorant of the design for which they were leading him forth. — Notes, in loco. 

Isa. liii : 8. — He was taken from prison and from judgment . , . he was cut off out of the land 

of the living. 

Rev. Thomas Scott, D. D. — The chief priests and scribes did not cast our 



ISAIAH LIII. 503 

Lord into prison, and then after a time give him a fair trial, according to law 
and custom {from him were taken both) ; but, without delay, they delivered 
him to Pilate, and urged his immediate execution. — Note, in loco. 

John. — And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a 
skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified him. . . . 
When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished : and he bowed his 
head and gave up the ghost. — Chap, xix : 17-30. 

Isa. liii : 9. — And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. 
Hengstenberg's Translation : They appointed him his grave with the wicked, but he was 

with a rich man after his death. 
Bishop Lowth's Translation : And his grave was appointed with the wicked, but with the 

rich man was his tomb. 

Rev. Albert Barnes.— How remarkably was this fulfilled ! As a matter of 
course, since Jesus Christ was put to death with wicked men, he would naturally 
have been buried with them, unless there had been some special interposition in 
his case. He was given up to be treated as a criminal ; he was made to take 
the vacated place of a murderer — Barabbas — on the cross ; he was subjected to 
the same indignity and cruelty to which the two malefactors were ; and it was 
evidently designed also that he should be buried in the same manner, and 
probably in the same grave. — Note, in loco. 

Maimonides. — Those who are condemned to death by a judicial tribunal are 
not interred in the sepulchres of their ancestors, but two places of burial are 
appointed by the court — one for those stoned and burned, and another for those 
beheaded and strangled. — In Brown's Sufferings and Glories of the Messiah, 
p. 287. 

Josephus. — Let him who blasphemes God be stoned, and then hanged for a 
day, and let him have a disgraceful and obscure burial. — Antiq., IV., c. 8, § 6. 

Dr. John Brown. — It is indeed highly probable that as the bodies could 
not, without a violation of the Mosaic law, hang on the cross all night, the 
common grave was already dug. His grave was prepared for him with the 
malefactors. But our Lord died sooner than was usual in such cases — died 
before the time fixed for taking the bodies down and burying them ; and this 
gave opportunity for an application being made and granted, while it fulfilled the 
latter part of the prediction, — " But he was with a rich man in his dead state." 
— Sufferings and Glories of the Messiah, p. 287. 

Mark. — And now when the even was come (because it was the preparation, 
that is, the day before the Sabbath), Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable coun- 
sellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly 
unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he 
were already dead : and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether 
he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion he gave 
the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and 
wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre, which was hewn out of 
a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. — Chap, xv : 42-47. 



504 TESTIMONY" OF THE AGES. 

Rev. Albert Barnes.— How different this from the interment of malefactors ! 
How different from the way in which he would have been buried if he had been 
interred with them as it had been designed (and as had been the legal custom) ! 
And how very striking and minutely accurate this prophecy in circumstances 
which could not possibly have been the result of conjecture ! How could a 
pretended prophet, 700 years before the event occurred, conjecture of one who 
was to be executed as a malefactor, and with malefactors, and who would in the 
ordinary course of events be buried with malefactors, conjecture that he would 
be rescued from such an ignominious burial by the interposition of a rich man, 
and buried in a grave designed for a man of affluence, and in the manner in 
which the wealthy are buried ? — Note, in loco. 

Isa. liii: 9. — Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 

Pilate. — Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the 
people : and behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault 
in this man, touching those things whereof ye accuse him; no, nor yet Herod: 
for I sent you to him ; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. — 
Lukexxiii: 13-15. 

Idem. — I find in him no fault at all. — -John xviii : 38. 

Peter. — Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow 
his steps : who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. — 1 Epist. ii : 
21, 22. 

Isa. liii : 10. — When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall, etc. 

Matthew. — My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. — Chap. 
xxvi : 38. 

John. — Now is my Soul troubled, and what shall I say ? Father, save me from 
this hour : but for this cause came I unto this hour. — Chap, xii : 27. 

Idem. — He bowed his head and gave up the Ghost. — Chap, xix: 30. 

Isa. liii: 10. — He shall prolong his days. 

Paul. — He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. — 1 Cor. xv : 4. 

Luke. — He showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs. — 
Acts i : 3. 

Mark. — After the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into 
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. — Chap, xvi : 19. 

Paul. — But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. 
— Hebrews i : 8. 

Isa. liii : 10. — And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. 

Luke. — But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said 
unto them, etc. . . . And the same day there were added unto them about 
three thousand souls. — Acts ii : 14, 41. 

Idem. — And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of 
men and women. — Acts v : 14. 

Paul. — The Gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every 
creature which is under heaven. — Col. i : 23. 



ISAIAH LIII. 505 

John. — After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could 
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
hands. — Revelation vii : 9. 

Isa. liii : 12. — He was numbered with the transgressors. 
Matthew. — Then were two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, 
and another on the left.- — Chap, xxvii : 38. 

Isa. liii: 12. — And he made intercession for the transgressors. 
Luke. — Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. — Chap. 
xxiii: 34. 

Paul. — He ever liveth to make intercession, etc. — Heb. vii : 25. 

Additional Remarks on this Chapter. 

The Compiler. — The predictions of Isaiah, according to the commonly received 
chronology, were delivered between the years 760 b. c. and 698 b. c. But if 
any doubt existed concerning these dates, other facts there are, undisputed and 
indisputable, that prove the long priority of the prophecy to the events it referr 
to. And so far as the argument with infidelity is concerned, it is immaterial 
whether it was written 700 years, or 100 years before the events took place; i' 
is still a prophecy, and no less a proof of inspiration. The Book of Isaiah, in 
common with the rest of the Old Testament Scriptures, was quoted by various 
writers, and even translated into different languages, long before the Christian 
era. It was found both in the Chaldee and the Greek languages thus early. 
The work of translation into Greek was commenced at Alexandria, 280 b. c. ; 
or more than three centuries before the commencement of the public ministry 
of Jesus. That this 53d chapter of Isaiah, embracing so many marked 
particulars concerning the Messiah, was, therefore, written and delivered to the 
world centuries before the birth of Christ stands a demonstrated and admitted fact 
before the world. — See Stromata, lib. v. ; Prcep. Evang., lib. xiii. ; and Smith's 
Diet., art. " Septuagint." 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — 1. The first remark I make is, The minute accuracy 
of the statements, made in this chapter, as applicable to the Lord Jesus. While 
it is apparent that there has been no other being on earth, and no "collective 
body of men," to whom this can be applied, it is evident that the whole state- 
ment is applicable to the Redeemer. It is not the general accuracy to which 
I refer ; it is not that there is some resemblance in the outline of the prediction ; 
it is that the statement is minutely accurate. It relates to his appearance, his 
rejection, the manner of his death, his being pierced, his burial. It describes 
as minutely as could have been done after the events occurred, the manner of 
his trial, of his rejection, the fact of his being taken from detention and by a 
judicial sentence, and the manner in which it was designed that he should be 
buried, and yet the remarkable fact that this was prevented, and that he was 
interred in the manner in which the rich were buried. 



506 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

2. This coincidence could never have occurred if the Lord Jesus had been 
an impostor. To say nothing of the difficulty of attempting to fulfil a prediction 
by imposture and the general failure in the attempt, there are many things here 
which would have rendered any attempt of this kind utterly hopeless. A very 
large portion of the things referred to in this chapter were circumstances over 
which an impostor could have no control, and which he could bring about by no 
contrivance, no collusion, and no concert. They depended on the arrange- 
ments of Providence, and on the voluntary actions of men, in such a way that 
he could not affect them. How could he so order it as to grow up as a root out 
of a dry ground ; to be despised and rejected of men ; to be taken from deten- 
tion and from a judicial sentence though innocent ; to have it designed that he 
should be buried with malefactors, and to be numbered with transgressors, and 
yet to be rescued by a rich man and placed in his tomb ? This consideration 
becomes more striking when it is remembere'd that not a few men claimed to be 
the Messiah, and succeeded in imposing on many, and though they were at last 
abandoned or punished, yet between their lives and deaths and the circum- 
stances here detailed there is not the shadow of a coincidence. It is to be 
remembered also that an impostor would not have aimed at what would have 
constituted a fulfilment of this prophecy. Notwithstanding the evidence that 
it refers to the Messiah, yet it is certain also that the Jews expected no such 
personage as that here referred to. They looked for a magnificent temporal 
prince and conqueror ; and an impostor would not have attempted to evince the 
character, and to go through the circumstances of poverty, humiliation, shame 
and sufferings, here described. What impostor ever would have attempted to 
fulfil a prophecy by subjecting himself to a shameful death ? What impostor 
could have brought it about in this manner if he had attempted it? No. It 
was only the true Messiah that either would or could have fulfilled this remarka- 
ble prophecy. Had an impostor made the effort, he must have failed : and it 
was not in human nature to attempt it under the circumstances of the case. All 
the claims to the Messiahship by impostors have been of an entirely different 
character from that referred to here. 

3. We are then prepared to ask an infidel how he will dispose of this prophecy. 
That it existed 700 years before Christ is as certain as that the poems of Homer 
or Hesiod had an existence before the Christian era ; as certain as the existence 
of any ancient document whatever. It will not do to say that it was forged — 
for this is not only without proof, but would destroy the credibility of all ancient 
writings. It will not do to say that it was the result of natural sagacity in the 
prophet — for whatever may be said of conjectures about empires and kingdoms 
no natural sagacity can tell what will be the character of an individual man, or 
whether such a man as here referred to would exist at all. It would not do to 
say that the Lord Jesus was a cunning impostor, and resolved to fulfil this ancient 
writing, and thus establish his claims — for as we have seen, such an attempt 
would have belied human nature, and if attempted, could not have been accom- 
plished. It remains then to ask what solution the infidel will give of these 



ISAIAH LVIII. 507 

remarkable facts. We present him the prophecy — not a rhapsody, not con- 
jecture, not a general statement ; but minute, full, clear, unequivocal, relating 
to points which could not have been the result of conjecture, and over which 
the individual had no control. And then we present him with the record of the 
life of Jesus— minutely accurate in all the details of the fulfilment — a coincidence 
as clear as that between a biography and the original — and ask him to explain 
it. And we demand a definite and consistent answer to this. To turn away 
from it does not answer it. To laugh does not answer it — for there is no 
argument in a sneer or a jibe. To say that it is not worth inquiry is not true, 
for it pertains to the great question of human redemption. But if he cannot 
explain it, then he should admit that it is such a prediction as only God could 
give, and that Christianity is true. — Notes on Isaiah, Vol. II., p. 292. 
Isa. lv : 4. — Behold I have given him for a witness to the people. 
John. — For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto 
the truth. — Chap, xviii : 37. 

Isa. lv : 4. — For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the 

Lord. 

^Eschylus. — God is not like mortals : beware how you deem him to resemble 
any other body. — Apud. Euseb. Prtzp. Evang., XIII., 13. 

Plutarch. — There is no manner of resemblance between God and a human 
being, either in his nature, his wisdom, his power, or his operations. If there- 
fore he performs something which we cannot effect, and execute what with us is 
impossible, there is nothing in this contradictory to reason : since, though he 
far excels us in everything, yet the dissimilitude and distance between him and 
us, appears most of all in the works which he hath wrought. — Coriolan., c. 38. 

THE WICKED. 

Isa. Ivii: 20, 21. — The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters 
cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. 

Plato. — The man who discovers in his own life much of iniquity is constantly 
starting in his sleep and full of terrors ; and lives with scarcely a hope of the 
future. — De Rep., lib. i., c. 5. 

Aristotle. — The wicked have no stability ; for they do not remain con- 
sistent ever with themselves. — Eth., lib. viii., c. 8. 

Cicero. — Nobody can be happy without virtue. — De Nat. Deer., I., 18. 

Seneca. — Conscience will not suffer the wicked to rest. He is punished who 
only expects punishment, and he who deserves it expects it. Even his dreams 
disturb him. — Epist., 105. 

Juvenal. — No bad man is ever happy. — Sat., IV., v. 8. 

TRUE FAST. 

Isa. lviii: 6, 7. — Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to 
undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is 
it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy 



5G8 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

house ? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from 
thine own flesh ? 

Livy. — (This ancient writer gives the following description of a national Fast 
at Rome on the occasion of a famine and pestilence which visited that city) ; — 
The doors were thrown open in every part of the city; everything was exposed 
in public to be used in common : passengers, whether known or unknown, were 
universally invited to lodgings : and even people who had been at variance, re- 
fraining from animosity and ill-language, conversed together with complaisance 
and kindness. During those days, too, such as were in confinement were set 
at liberty ; and afterwards people were deterred by a religious scruple from im- 
prisoning those persons to whom the gods had brought such deliverance. — Liv., 
lib. v., c. 13. 



Jeremiah. 



THE ALMOND TREE. 

Jeremiah i : II, 12. — Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Jeremiah, what seest 
thou ? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast 
well seen : for I will hasten my word to erform it. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The Almond is the earliest of all 
the trees in Palestine to put forth its blossoms, which we gathered at Bethany 
in January; hence its Hebrew name, shaked, i. e., hasten. This explains the 
passage in Jer. i : 11, 12 : "Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod 
of an almond tree {shaked). Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well 
seen : for I will hasten (shaked) my word to perform it ; " where there is a play 
on the word. — Nat Hist, of Bible, p. 332. 

CORRUPTION. 

Jer. ii : 22. — For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is 
marked before me, saith the Lord God. 

Anthol. Gr^ec. — Enter the pure gods' temple sanctified 
In soul, with virgin water purified : 
One drop will cleanse the good ; the ocean wave 
Suffices not the guilty soul to lave. 

DROMEDARY. 

Jer. ii: 23, 24. — Thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways : a wild ass used to the wilder- 
ness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure ; in her occasion who can turn her away? i 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The Dromedary is a choicer breed 
of camel, differing from the common camel as the race-horse does from the cart* 
horse. The dromedary is much taller and longer in the leg, is altogether of a 



JEREMIAH V. 



509 



more slender shape, and is frequently of a very light color. Eighty miles a day 
is its speed when pressed, though fabulous stories are told of its accomplishing 
250 miles without a halt. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 65. 

Prof. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S. — The Wild Ass is an astonishingly swift 
animal, so that on the level ground even the best horse has scarcely a chance of 
overtaking it. It is exceedingly wary ; its sight, hearing and sense of scent 
being equally keen, so that to approach it by craft is a most difficult task. And 
its disposition is intractable. — Bible Animals, p. 280. 

PERSONAL ADORNMENTS. 

Jer. iv : 30. — And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do ? Though thou clothesf thyself with 
crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with 
painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair ; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy 
life. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus allowed his associates to color their eyes, that they might 




THE SWIFT DROMEDARY. 

seem to have finer eyes than they really had, and to paint themselves that they 
might appear to have better complexions. — Cyrop., VIII., 1. 

Idem. — The most considerable Persians wore purple robes and costly vests, 
with chains about their necks, and bracelets round their wrists. — Anab., I., 5. 

THE WOLF AND LEOPARD. 

Jer. v : 6. — A wolf of the evenings shall spoil them ; a leopard shall watch over their cities : 
every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The Wolf is now, as of old, the 
dread of the shepherds of Palestine. Not so numerous, but much more formi- 
dable than the jackal, he lurks about the folds, hunting, not in noisy packs, but 
secreting himself till dark among the rocks ; without arousing the vigilance of 
the sheep-dogs, he leaps into the fold, and seizes his victim by stealth. In the 
hill country of Benjamin, about Bethel and Gibeah, the wolves still ravin. We 
found them alike in the forests of Bashan and Gilead, in the ravines of Galilee 
and Lebanon, and in the maritime plains. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 153, 154. 

Rev. George E. Post, M. D., Tripoli, Syria. — The Leopard is still found in 
Syria. I have seen a fine specimen from near Jezzin. One was killed near 



510 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



Abeih in the winter of 1866-67, after it had killed about sixty goats. A young 
one was taken near Bano in Akkar the same winter. They are not rare in the 
neighborhood of the castle of esh-Shukeef, opposite Deir Mimas. They work 
much mischief by their sanguinary attacks on the herds of goats and sheep which 
pasture in that vicinity. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1630. 

DECOYS. 

Jer. v: 27. — As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. 

Aristotle. — Both partridges and quails are so eagerly attracted to their mates, 
that they will fly to the decoy-bird in the hands of the fowler, and even settle 
upon his head. — Hist. Anim., IX., 8. 

Aristophanes. — He seizes the pigeons and keeps them shut up, and compels 
them to decoy others. — Aves, v. 1083. 

SIGNALS. 

Jer. vi : 1. — O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, 
and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem : for evil appeareth 
out of the north, and great destruction. 

Livy. — Philip of Macedon anticipating an attack from the Romans under 




EGYPTIAN BELLOWS. 

Publius Sulpicius and king Attalus, sent people to Phocis, and Eubsea, and 
Peparethus, to choose out elevated situations where fires, being lighted, might 
be seen from afar. He fixed a beacon on Tisaeum, a mountain whose summit is 
of immense height, that by means of lights on these eminences, whenever the 
enemy made any attempt, he. might, though at a distance, receive instant intel- 
ligence of it.— Lhh, XXVIIL, 5. 

THE OLD PATHS. 

Jer. vi: 16.— Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, 
where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, 
We will not walk therein. 

Seneca. — What then ? Must I not follow the steps of those who have gone 
before me ? Yes, I will walk in the old path ; but if I chance to find one 
nearer and plainer, I shall be inclined to take it, and direct others thereto. — 
£pist., S3- 



JEREMIAH VIII. 511 

THE BELLOWS. 

Jer. vi : 29. — The bellows are burned. 
Homer. — Soon as he bade them blow, the bellows turned 

Their iron mouths ; and where the furnace burned, 

Resounding, breathed. — Iliad, XVIII., 468. 
Sir J. G. Wilkinson. — Bellows were known and used in Egypt in the time 
of Moses, and perhaps still earlier. Of these the pictures still remain. They 
consisted of a leather, secured and fitted into a frame, from which a long pipe 
extended for carrying the wind to the fire. They were worked by the feet, the 
operator standing upon them, with one under each foot, and pressing them 
alternately, while he pulled up each exhausted skin with a string he held in his 
hand. In one instance we observe from the painting, that when the man left 
the bellows, they were raised as if inflated with air ; and this would imply a 
knowledge of the valve. The pipes even in the time of Thothmes III., supposed 
to be the contemporary of Moses, appear to have been simply of reed, tipped 
with a metal point to resist the action of the fire. — Anct. Egypt, III., 338. 

CAKE OFFERING. 

Jer. vii: 18. — The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead 
their dough, to make cakes to .he queen of heaven. 

Herodotus. — Those who are poor make the figures of swine with meal, which 
having first baked, they offer on the altar to Luna. — Herod., lib. ii., c. 47. 
Horace. — A graceful cake, when on the hallow'd shrine 
Offer'd by hands that know no guilty stain, 
Shall reconcile the offended powers divine, 
When bleeds the pompous hecatomb in vain. — Lib. iii., c. 23. 

CUTTING OFF THE HAIR. 

Jer. vii : 29. — Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on 
high places ; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 

Homer.— Tears flowed from every eye, and o'er the dead 

Each clipped the curling honors of his head. — Odyss., XIV., 46. 

Euripides. — Let the Cyclopean land howl, applying the steel to their head, 
cropped of hair, over the calamities of our house. — Orest., v. 965. 

Idem. — During this night having gone to the tomb of my Sire, I both shed 
tears and made offerings of my hair. — Electr., v. 90. 

MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 

Jer. viii : 7. — Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and 
the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the 
judgment of the Lord. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The periodical return of the stork 
is noticed by Jeremiah. There is peculiar force in the words, " the stork in the 
heaven" for unlike most other emigrants, the stork voyages by day at a great 
32 



512 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

height in the air, and the vast flocks cannot but attract the notice of the least 
observant. The multitudes which arrive, and the suddenness with which these 
huge birds distribute themselves over the whole face of the land, is in Pales- 
tine truly startling. In winter not one is to be seen. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, 
p. 246. 

Idem. — Search the glades and valleys even by sultry Jordan, at the end of 
March, and not a turtle-dove is to be seen. Return in the second week in 
April, and clouds of doves are feeding on the clovers of the plain. They stock 
every tree and thicket. At every step they flutter up from the herbage in front 
— they perch on every tree and bush — they overspread the whole face of the 
land. So universal, so simultaneous, so conspicuous their migration, that the 
prophet might well place the turtle-dove at the head of those birds which 
" observe the time of their coming." — Ibid., p. 219. 

Idem. — The crane is well known in the Holy Land, and is, next to the ostrich, 
the largest bird in the country. It only visits the cultivated region at the time 
of its spring migration, when a few pairs remain in the marshy plains, as by the 
waters of Merom, but the greater number pass onwards to the north. — Ibid., p. 
240. 

BALM OF GILEAD. 

Jer. viii : 22. — Is there no balm in Gilead ? Is there no physician there ? Why then is not the 
health of the daughter of my people recovered ? 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The most precious balm, that of 
Gilead, was the produce of the Opobalsamum, which is now cultivated about 
Mecca. Formerly it was cultivated with great care in the plains of Jericho. 
Its value was very great. It was and still is used as an internal medicine for 
stomachic complaints, and also externally for wounds. To this precious 
unguent the prophet probably refers, when he exclaims, "Is there no balm in 
Gilead? Is there no physician there?" Many Gentile writers, as Tacitus, 
Strabo and Pliny, speak of the balm of Gilead as a precious commodity peculiar 
to Palestine. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 337. 

HIRED MOURNERS. 

Jer. ix: 17. — Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that 
they may come ; and for cunning women, that they may come. 

Lucian. — The foolish people howl and lament, and even send for a howler by 
trade, who has a great store of dismal stories always ready to keep their 
unmeaning grief in breath. When they are going to leave off the fellow begins, 
and the whole family presently sets up a howl to the same tune after him. — De 
Luctu, c. 20. 

Lucilius. — Those hired female mourners who weep at a stranger's funeral and 
bawl louder. — Sal. XXII. , v. 1. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — The Jewish Doctors acknowledge the custom of 
hiring professed mourners to lament over the dead, and inform us that it was so 



JEREMIAH X. 513 

common, that the poorest man in Israel, when his wife died, never had less than 
two pipes and one mourning woman. — Note, in loco. 

GLORY IN GOD ALONE. 

Jer. ix : 23, 24. — Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let 
the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches ; but let him that 
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exer- 
cise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. 

Phocylides. — If wisdom, strength, or riches, be thy lot, 

Boast not ; but rather think thou hast them not. 
One God alone, from whom those gifts proceed, 
Is wise, is mighty, and is rich indeed. — Phocy., v. 48. 

NATURAL OMENS. 

Jer. x : 2. — Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the 
signs of heaven ; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 

Pliny. — Our knowledge has been so far useful to us in the interpretation of 
thunder, that it enables us to predict what is to happen on a certain day, and 
we learn either that our fortune is to be entirely changed, or it discloses events 
which are concealed from us. — Hist. JVat., lib. ii., c. 54. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Jeremiah refers to those unusual natural phenomena, such 
as eclipses, which in the ancient superstitions certainly did ''dismay the 
heathen," being regarded by them as harbingers and tokens of great public 
calamities. Many instances of the dismay which eclipses inspired might be 
cited. We may quote two of them. Nicias, the Athenian general, had deter- 
mined to quit Sicily with his army ; but an eclipse of the moon happening at 
that juncture, filled him with such alarm that he lost the favorable moment. 
This was the occasion of his own death and the ruin of his army ; and this was 
so unhappy a loss to the Athenians that the decline of their state may perhaps 
be dated from that event. Even the army of Alexander, before the battle of 
Arbela, was so frightened at an eclipse of the moon, that the soldiers, deeming it 
a sign that the gods were displeased at the enterprise of their leader, refused to 
proceed on their march from the Tigris till assured by the Egyptian sooth- 
sayers that an eclipse of the moon was an omen of peculiar evil to their enemies, 
the Persians. R. Jarchi expressly refers the above text to the terror which 
eclipses occasioned. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — Should a supposed malignant planet begin to rule 
in any given month, multitudes are in a state of terrible agitation, and, with the 
priests at their head, are devising a thousand plans to avert its direful potency. 
Though their astronomers can calculate, with tolerable accuracy, the time when 
an eclipse will occur, yet this will not serve in the least to pacify the vast tribes 
of the East. During its continuance, they are all in a state of complete con- 
sternation ; they abstain from their food and usual occupations, and yield them- 
selves up to all the foolish impositions and absurd fantasies of their wily priest. 
— Orient. Must., p. 468. 



514 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



IDOLS. 

Jer. x: 5. — They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, because 

they cannot go. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Here is an allusion to the form which the ancient idols 
bore, before the art of statuary was carried to perfection, when images were 
little better than an erect block of equal thickness throughout, but being sur- 
mounted by some resemblance of a human head or 
bust. This form of representing the gods was pre- 
served, with improvements suggested by advanced 
taste, in the terminal statues of Hermes and of Pan 
long after the art of sculpture had progressed far 
beyond the circumstances in which such forms origi- 
nated. A step beyond this original contrivance is 
exhibited in the Egyptian statues which meet our 
eyes in every exhibition of Egyptian antiquities, or 
in books containing representations of them, in 
which the statues stand bolt upright, resting equally 
upon both legs, which are close to each other, with 
the arms straight down by the sides. To all such 
figures, which doubtless typify the forms of idols 
which prevailed in the time of the prophet, the 
comparison, "upright as the palm-tree," is singularly 
appropriate, and is no doubt intended to characterize 
the stiffness, lifelessness, and want of natural action 
which belonged to such representations. — Pici. Bible, 
in loco. 




UPRIGHT IDOLS. 



Jer. x : 9. — Blue and purple is their clothing. 
Dr. John Kitto. — This of course alludes to the idol-statues, and to the 
custom of clothing them with real dresses of rich stuffs. Pausanias mentions 
numerous statues thus attired in the various cities of Greece which he visited ; 
and there is much other testimony to the same effect. Tertullian says that the 
gods and goddesses, like opulent females, had ministers particularly entrusted 
with the duty of arraying their images. It is related that the people, in their 
haste, to invest Saturninus with the ensigns of imperial rank, divested a statue 
of Venus of its purple robe, and covered with it the new emperor. Baruch 
mentions certain priests who took off the idols' garments to clothe their wives 
and children. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 



NEED OF DIVINE DIRECTION 

Jer. x : 23. — O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketb 

to direct his steps. 

Herodotus. — Remember the ancient proverb, When we commence a thing 
we cannot always tell where it will end. — Polym., c. 51. 



JEREMIAH XVIII. 515 

Euripides., -I say that no man is happy or miserable but through the gods. 
— HeracL, v, 608. 

CITIES OF THE SOUTH. 

Jer. xiii : 19. — The cities of the South shall be shut up, and none shall open them. 
Prof. E. H. Palmer, M. A. — Strange and solemn are the thoughts inspired 
by such a journey as that which we had just taken. Long ages ago, the Word 
of God had declared that the land of the Canaanites, and the Amalekites, and 
the Amorites should become a desolate waste ; that " The cities of the South 
Country, or the Negeb, shall be shut up, and none shall open them" — and 
here around us we saw the literal fulfillment of the dreadful curse. Wells of 
solid masonry, fields and gardens compassed round about with goodly walls, 
every sign of human industry, was there ; but only the empty names and stony 
skeleton of civilization remained to tell of what the country once had been. 
There stood the ancient towns, still called by their ancient names, but not a 
living thing was to be seen, save when a lizard glided over the crumbling walls, 
or screech-owls flitted through the lonely streets. — Desert of the Exodus, p. 332. 

FORCE OF HABIT. 

Jer. xiii: 23. — Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also 
do good, that are accustomed to do evil. 

Aristotle. — It is not possible, certainly not easy, to change that which has 
been for a long time impressed upon the character. — Eth., lib. x., c. 9. 

Lucian. — Why do you fruitlessly wash ihe body of an Indian? Forbear your 
art ; you cannot bring the sun upon a dark night. — Epigr. 19. 

NORTHERN IRON. 

Jer. xv : 12. — Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 

William Aldis Wright, M. A. — The Chalybes of the Pontus were celebrated 
as workers in iron in very ancient times. They were identified by Strabo with 
the Chaldaei of his day, and the mines which they worked were in the mountains 
skirting the seacoast. The produce of their labor is supposed to be alluded to 
in Jer. xv : 12, as being of superior quality.. Iron mines are still in existence 
on the same coast, and ore is found in small nodular masses in a dark yellow 
clay which overlies a limestone rock. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1143. 

THE HEART DECEITFUL. 

Jer. xvii : 9. — The heart is deceitful above all things ; and desperately wicked : who can know it? 

Aristophanes. — Man is naturally deceitful ever, in everyway. — Aves, v. 450. 
MANUFACTURE OF POTTERY. 

Jer. xviii : 3, 4. — Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on 
the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so 
he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — I have been out on the shore again, examin- 



516 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ing a native manufactory of pottery, and was delighted to find the whole Biblical 
apparatus complete, and in full operation. There was the potter sitting at his 
" frame," and turning the " wheel " with his foot. He had a heap of the pre- 
pared clay near him, and a pan of water by his side. Taking a lump in his 
hand, he placed it on the top of the wheel (which revolves horizontally), and 
smoothed it into a low cone, like the upper end of a sugar-loaf; then thrusting 
his thumb into the top of it, he opened a hole down through the centre, and 
this he constantly widened by pressing the edges of the revolving cone between 
his hands. As it enlarged and became thinner, he gave it whatever shape he 
pleased with the utmost ease and expedition. This, I suppose, is the exact 
point of those Biblical comparisons between the human and the Divine Potter : 
" O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter ? saith the Lord. Behold, 
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, saith the Lord." 
When Jeremiah was watching the potter, the vessel was marred in his hand, 
and so he made it again another vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it. 
I had to wait a long time for that, but it happened at last. From some defect 
in the clay, or because he had taken too little, the potter suddenly changed his 
mind, crushed his growing jar instantly into a shapeless mass of mud, and 
beginning anew, fashioned it into a totally different vessel. — The Land and the 
Book, Vol. II., p. 281-283. 

SNOW OF LEBANON. 

Jer. xviii : 14. — Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the 
field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forgotten? 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — When the plains of Palestine are burned up 
with the scorching sun, and when the air in them is like the breath of a furnace, 
the snowy tops and ice-cold streams of Lebanon temper the breezes, and make 
the mountain range a pleasant and luxurious retreat: — "Shall a man leave 
the snow of Lebanon? or shall its cold flowing waters be forsaken? " — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 1622. 

BURIAL OF AN ASS. 

Jer. xxii : 18, 19. — Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king 
of Judah : They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother ! or, Ah sister ! they shall not 
lament for him, saying, Ah lord ! or, Ah his glory ! He shall be buried with the burial of an 
ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — To be deprived of the rites of sepulture was 
to the ancients the greatest of all calamities, worse even than death itself. — 
Test, of Heath., p. 410. 

Plutarch. — After Demosthenes and Nicias had been stoned to death by the 
Syracusans, their bodies were thrown without the gates, and lay there exposed to 
the view of all who wished to enjoy the spectacle. — Nic, c. 28. 
Ghost of Elpenor, to Ulysses — 

In pity on my cold remains attend, 

And call to mind thy dear departed friend. 



JEREMIAH XXV. 517 

The tribute of a tear is all I crave, 

And the possession of a peaceful grave. — Horn. Odyss., XL, 51. 

MESSIAH. 

Jer. xxiii : 5. — Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous 
Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the 
earth. 

Paul. — Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto 
Israel a Saviour, Jesus. — Acts xiii : 23. 

OMNIPRESENCE. 

Jer. xxiii: 24. — Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Do not I fill 
heaven and earth? saith the Lord. 

Pindar. — Hope not, mortal, e'er to shun 

The penetrating eye of Heaven. — O/ymp., I., 102. 
Aratus. — Jove fills the heaven — the earth — the sea — the air : 

We feel his spirit moving here, and everywhere. — P/ien., v. 3. 

NAUGHTY FIGS. 

Jer. xxiv : 2. — And the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were 

so bad. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Tasteless and woody, these syca- 
more figs must surely have been those in the prophet's vision, when he pro- 
nounced the figs in the second basket to be " very naughty figs, which could not 
be eaten, they were so bad," and which were an apt emblem of the rejected 
Zedekiah and his people. Figs, however, they are, and the tree is a congener 
of the celebrated banyan-tree of India. — Land of Israel, p. 35. 

DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 

Jer. xxiv : 9. — And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their 
hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive 
them. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — There is not a country on the face of the earth 
where the Jews are unknown. They are found alike in Europe, Asia, America, 
and Africa. They are citizens of the world, without a country. Neither moun- 
tains nor rivers, nor deserts, nor oceans, — which are the boundaries of other 
nations, — have terminated their wanderings. — Evid. from Proph., p. 69. 

Bishop Patrick. — The name of Jew has long been a proverbial mark of de- 
testation and contempt, among all the nations whither they have bee .1 driven, 
and is so to this day ; so that Christians, Mohammedans and Pagans join in it. 
— Note, on Deut. xxviii : 37. 

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. 

Jer. xxv : 10. — Moreover I will take from them . . . the sound of the mill-stones, and the light 

of the candle. 

Major Skinner. — While resting at night in the Arab encampment, the 



518 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

women in the neighboring tents were grinding corn, and the dull sound of the 
stones was neither disagreeable nor unsuited to the scene. They accompanied 
the labor with the most plaintive song I ever heard : it was almost a moan ; and 
it seemed as if they sang in concert, they kept so admirably together.— -Journey • 
Overland, Vol. II., p. 153. 

Jer. xxv : 12. — And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will pun- 
ish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the 
Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This is a very remarkable prophecy, fixing, as it does, a date 
for the restoration of the Hebrews to their own land, and for the overthrow of 
the Babylonian monarchy. . . . The subjection of the Jews to the Babylonians 
occurred in the same year with the delivery of the present prophecy, when Jeru- 
salem surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar after a short siege, and when that mon- 
arch took away part of the ornaments of the temple, and also the sons of some of 
the principal nobles to answer as hostages, and to be employed in the service 
of his court ; among these were Daniel and his three friends. Now this took 
place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, or b. c. 605. And Cyrus issued his 
decree for the restoration of the Jews in the first year of his reign, or b. c. 536 ; 
which was, as the prophet had foretold, in the seventieth year from their subjuga- 
tion by Nebuchadnezzar. — Note in loco. 

Jer. xxv : 13. — And 1 will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, 
even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the naiions. 

Major Keppel. — It was impossible to behold this scene, and not to be re- 
minded of how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled, 
even in the appearance Babylon was doomed to present ; that she should never 
be inhabited ; that the Arabian should not pitch his tent there ; that she should 
become heaps ; that her cities should be desolation, a dry land, and a wilder- 
ness . — Narrative, p. 197. 

SHOUT OF THE WINE-PRESS. 

Jer. xxv : 30. — He shall give a shout as they that tread the grapes. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The wine was expressed, as it still is, by the simple 
inartificial process of treading. This was effected by several men, according to 
the size of the vat, who encouraged each other after the invariable Oriental 
fashion of "shouting." — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 409. 

Mr. J. G. Francis, B. A. — The fumes which rose from the trodden grapes 
were so strong that all the treaders soon became inebriated. From a modest 
silence they passed to singing, and from singing to vociferous shouting. The 
scene brought forcibly to my mind divers passages of Holy Writ. — Notes from a 
Journal, 1844-46. 

ZION PLOUGHED. 

Jer. xxvi : 18. — Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the 
mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. 

Gibbon. — After the final destruction of the temple, by the arms of Titus and 



JEREMIAH XXXI. 519 

Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground, as a sign of 
perpetual interdiction. Sion was deserted. The holy places were polluted with 
monuments of idolatry. — Decline and Fall of R. E., chap, xxiii. 

Richardson. — At the time when I visited this sacred spot (Mount Zion) one 
part of it supported a crop of barley, another was undergoing the labor of the 
plough. — Travels. 

RETURN FROM BABYLON. 

Jer. xxix : io. — Thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will 
visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 

Bishop Newton. — This prophecy was first delivered (xxv : n) in the fourth 
'year of Jehoiakim, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 
And this same year it began to be put in execution. Seventy years from this 
time will bring us down to the first year of Cyrus, when he made his proclama- 
tion for the restoration of the Jews, and for the rebuilding of the temple at Jeru- 
salem. — Dissertations on the Prophecies, No. VIII. 

Ezra. — Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the 
Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit 
of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, 
and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord 
God of heaven, etc. — Chap. I., v. 1-4. 

PRESERVATION OF THE JEWS. 

Jer. xxx : 10, 11. — Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dis- 
mayed, O Israel : for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their cap- 
tivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. 
For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee : though I make a full end of all nations 
whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee ; but I will correct thee 
in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — God has made a " full end " of the Egyptians, Syrians, 
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, and Persians, and Macedonians, and of the pagan 
Roman Empire, which successively scattered or oppressed Israel ; so that each 
of , them has been inseparably united with the conquering nations : yet the Jews, 
by an unprecedented interposition of Providence, after all their oppressions and 
dispersions, are preserved a distinct people to this present day. How wonder- 
fully do undeniable facts demonstrate the Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures ! 
— JVcte, in loco. 

SMITING THE THIGH. 

Jer. xxxi : 19. — And after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. 

Plutarch. — Pompey, on hearing of his promotion over Lucullus, knit his 
brows, smote his thigh, and expressed himself as already overburdened with the 
weight of power. — Pomp., c. 30. 

Quintilian. — An orator who wants to express indignation, or to rouse his 
audience, may with a very becoming grace, strike his thigh. — Qz/intil., lib. 
xi., c. 3. 



520 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES 

PURCHASE OF REAL ESTATE. 

Jer. xxxii : 9-12.— And I bought the field of Hanameel, my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, 
and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the evi- 
" dence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. So I 
took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and cus- 
tom, and that which was open. And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the 
son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son, and in the 
presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that 
sat in the court of the prison. 

Egyptian Papyri. — The Egyptian Papyri can be rolled and unrolled, after 
the lapse of so many centuries, without any detriment. But this complete pres- 
ervation of so many specimens is no doubt to be attributed to their being kept 
from the air, under mummy-coverings, or in earthen vessels. Sometimes the 
two ends of a roll have been found sealed with cloth and resin. The ink, Pliny- 
says, was made of soot, in various ways, by mixing it with burnt pitch and 
reisins. Lees of wine, boiled and strained, also made a kind of ink. On some 
the ink has a yellowish tint, such as soot ink would change to ; on others it is 
still very black. The strokes are like those made with a goose quill, and such 
were used : but Jomard thinks with a fine reed, very obliquely cut, such as now 
in the East is called qualam, whence the Greek and Latin calamus, possibly 
derived from Egypt. 

A papyrus, in Egyptian, in the Vatican, Champollion dates at 640 b. a; he 
dates many others centuries earlier. One, in Greek, from Thebes, Dr. Young 
dates at 106 b. c. This relates to the sale of some land, near Thebes, by two 
brothers and two sisters. It commences with reciting that the sale took place 
in the reign of Cleopatra, and Ptolemy her son, surnamed Alexander. It then 
goes on thus : — 

" Pamonthes, about forty-five years of age, of middle stature, dark com- 
plexion, handsome person, bald, round-faced, and straight-nosed ; and Snach- 
omneus, about twenty years of age, and middle size, also round-faced and straight- 
nosed ; and Semonthis Persinei, about twenty-two years of age, and middle size, 
yellow complexion, round-faced, flat-nosed, and of quiet demeanor; and Tathlut 
Persinei, about thirty, of middle size, yellow complexion, round-faced, straight- 
nosed; together with their principal, or master, Pamonthes, who joined in the 
conveyance, — all four being the children of Petepsais, one of the leather-cutters 
of the Memnoneia, — sold out of the piece of ground belonging to them on the 
southern side of the Memnoneia, this being vacant ground, eight thousand 
cubits, one-fourth of the whole. The land is bounded on the south by the 
royal street ; on the north and east, by the possessions of Pamonthes and Bokon- 
siemis his brother, and the public wall of the city ; on the west, by the house of 
Tages, the son of Chalome. A canal leading from the river runs through the 
middle of the property : such are the boundaries on all sides. The purchaser 
was Nechutes, the less, the son of Asos, about forty years of age, of a yellow 
complexion, happy countenance, long face, straight nose, with a scar in the 
middle of his forehead, who gave six hundred pieces of copper coin. The 



JEREMIAH XXXII. 52l 

salesman and warranties for the legality of the sale were the sellers. Nechutes 
the purchaser received. (Signed) Apollonius." 

This sale and purchase were registered, the registration being subjoined to the 
deed of sale ; and a government duty of five per cent, was paid on the proceeds 
of the sale. 

Another similar deed of conveyance, of the date of 130 b. a, has been dis- 
covered and translated ; the original, now in Paris, according to custom being 
written in the Egyptian language, and the enchorial characters. In this, after 
the date, parties, and descriptions, these phrases occur : " The Tombs (sold) 
are thine, and I have the price of them from thee ; and I make no demand on 
thee concerning them from this day. And if any person come upon thee (dis- 
turb thee) in this property, I will remove him, and if I do not remove him, I 
will remove him by force. Written by Orus, the son of Phabis, who belongs 
to the sacred rites of Amonrasonther and the Syennsean deities, as sole writer. 

"Witnesses, Erieus, son of Phanrees, Panas, the son of Petosiris, etc., — in all 
sixteen witnesses. 

"Registry. — In the year 36, Choiach 9th, at the table in Diospolis, at which 
Lysimachus presides, the 20th part, the usual tax . . . according to the . . . 
of Aschpiades and Zminis, farmers of the revenue, at which table Ptolemaeus 
signed the copy. Orus, the son of Orus, libation-power, who belongs to the 
collections, on account of the dead bodies in Thybanum in the Memnoneia of 
Lybia, of the part about Thebes, the tombs, for which they perform services, 
which he bought of Onnrophris, the son of Orus, for . . . pieces of brass. 
— Lysimachus. ' ' (Subscribed. ) 

(The above transaction of Jeremiah receives much light and corroboration from 
these curious discoveries, for which see) — Library of Entertaining Knowledge, 
Vol. XXX. 

Assyrian Contract. — The nail-mark of Sarru-ludari, the nail-mark of 
Atar-'suru, and the nail-mark of the woman, Amat-'Suhala, the wife of Bel-dum, 
the . . . , the owner of the house which is given up. {Here follow fotir nail- 
marks, in lieu of seal-impressions.) The whole house with its woodwork, and 
its doors, situated in the city of Nineveh, adjoining the houses of Mannuci-akhi 
and Ilu-ciya, and the property of 'Sukaki he has sold, and Tsillu-Assur the 
astronomer, an Egyptian, for one maneh of silver, according to the royal 
standard, in the presence of Sarru-ludari, Atar-'suru ; and Amat-'Suhala, the wife 
of its owner, has received it. The full sum thou hast given. This house has been 
taken possession of. The exchange and the contract are concluded. There is 
no withdrawal. Whosoever shall act feloniously among any of these men who 
have sworn to the contract and the agreement, which is before our prince Assur, 
ten manehs of silver shall he pay. The witnesses are : Su'san-kukhadnanis, 

Murmaza, the Ra'sua, the pilot, Nebo-dur-sanin, the partitioner of the 

enemy, Murmaza, the pilot, Sinnis-nacarat and Zedekiah. The 16th day of 
the month Sivan, the eponymy of Zaza of the city of Arpad (b. c. 692), before 
Samas-itsbat-nacara, Latturn and Nebo-sum-yutsur. — Records of the Past t Vol. I., 
Tablet V., p. 139. 



522 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD. 

Jer. xxxii: 17. — Ah, Lord God, behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great 
power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. 

Ovid. — Heaven's power is infinite : earth, air, and sea, 

The manufactured mass, the Making Power obey. — Meta., VIII. , 618. 
Callimachus. — If God thou knowest, know also that to the Deity all things 
are possible. — Ap. Plut. de placit. philos., lib. i., c. 7. 

PUTTING OUT THE EYES. 

Jer. xxxix : 7. — Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains to carry him 

to Babylon. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Putting out the eyes has been in all ages 
a common Oriental punishment. The earliest instance on record is that of 
Zedekiah, whose eyes were put out by Nebuchadnezzar. The frequency of the 
punishment in the time of the younger Cyrus is indicated by a passage in Xeno- 
phon, where it is said that men deprived of sight for their crimes were a com- 
mon spectacle along the highways within his government. Its continuance in 
later times is marked by such writers as Ammianus Marcellinus and Procopius. — 
Rawlinson's Herod., IV., p. 16. 

Jer. xxxix : 8. — And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with 
fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem. 

Berosus. — Nebuchadnezzar, having conquered the Jews, burnt the temple at 
Jerusalem, and removing the entire people from their homes, transported them 
to Babylon. — In Josephus c. Ap. 1 : 19. 

HIDDEN TREASURES. 

Jer. xli : 8. — But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not, for we 
have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, 
and slew them not among their brethren. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — A few yards below this was a 
circular opening in the ground, about a yard in diameter, like the mouth of a 
well, but really the mouth of an ancient granary or "silo," for keeping and 
concealing corn. It swelled into a round chamber below, about eight feet deep 
and more than nine in diameter, carefully plastered wherever it was not hewn 
out of the native rock, and having very much the shape of a large flask, or 
demijohn. Such "silos" are universally used by the nomad Bedouin for stor- 
ing their grain, and exist in great numbers in and around their favorite camping 
grounds. More than once I have had a fall, through my horse, when galloping 
over a plain, setting his foot on the treacherous roof of one of these empty 
granaries. It was to such hidden stores as these that the ten men referred, who 
appealed to the treacherous Ishmael, " Slay us not, for we have treasures in the 
field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey." — Land of Israel, p. 
108. 



JEREMIAH XLVI. 523 

QUEEN OF HEAVEN. 

Jer. xliv : 17. — But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to 
burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her. 

Strabo. — The gods worshipped by the Albanians are the sun, Jupiter, and 
the moon ; but the moon above the rest. She has a temple near Iberia, and 
human victims are offered to her in sacrifice. — Strab., lib. xi., c. 4. 

Assyrian Relics. — Mr. Layard discovered a bas-relief at Nimroud, which 
represented four idols, one of which he identifies with the " queen of heaven," 
who appears on the rock-tablets Pterium, standing erect on a lion, and crowned 
with a tower, or mural coronet, as in the Syrian temple of Hierapolis. — Nineveh, 

II., 45 J > 45 6 - 

Sir John Chardin. — Still in Georgia and other parts of the East, before 
feasting, it is customary to go out and raise the eyes to the naked heaven, and 
pour out a cup of wine on the ground. — In Comp. Coin., in loco. 
* Dr. Morrison. — In China, from the 1st to the 15th of the month, persons 
make cakes like the moon, of various sizes, and paint figures upon them ; these 
are called " Moon cakes." At full moon they spread out oblations, and make 
prostrations to the moon. — Ibid. 

PHARAOH-HOPHRA. 

Jer. xliv : 30. — I will give Pharaoh-hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and 
into the hand of them that seek his life. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — The Pharaoh-hophra of Jeremiah is the 
Pharaoh-Apries of Herodotus. His name occurs on a few of the monuments. — 
Rawlinson's Herod., Vol. II., p. 209, note. 

Herodotus. — Of the permanence of his authority Apries is said to have 
entertained so high an opinion that he conceived it not to be in the power 
even of a deity to overthrow him. He was however conquered and taken 
prisoner : after his captivity he was conducted to Sais, to what was formerly his 
own, but was then the palace of Amasis. He was here confined for some time, 
and afterwards delivered up to the Egyptians, who strangled him. — Euterfi., c. 
169. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Apries reigned 22 years. After many great victories, 
he was routed in a battle near to a town called Marinus, and being taken 
prisoner there by Amasis, was afterwards strangled. — Diod. Sic, lib. i., c. 5. 

PHARAOH-NECHO. 

Jer. xlvi: I, 2. — The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gen- 
tiles; against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, Brit Mus. — Herodotus calls this monarch Nekos, 
and assigns to him a reign of sixteen years, which is confirmed by the monu- 
ments. ... At the commencement of his reign, B. c. 610, he made war against 
the king of Assyria, and, being encountered on his way by Josiah, defeated and 
slew the king of Judah at Megiddo. . . . He was marching against Charchemish 



524 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

on the Euphrates, a place already of importance in the annals of the Egyptian wars 
of the XlXth dynasty. . . . Necho seems to have soon returned to Egypt, leaving 
the army posted probably at Charchemish, where it was defeated by Nebuchad- 
nezzar in the fourth year of Necho, or b. c. 607. This battle led to the loss 
of all the Asiatic dominions of Egypt, and " the king of Egypt came not again 
any more out of his land." — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2467. 

THE SHIELD. 

Jer. xlvi : 9. — The Lybians that handle the shield. 
Herodotus. — From the Lybians the Greeks borrowed the vest, and the aegis 
or shield, with which they decorate the shrine of Minerva. — Melpomene, c. 189. 

HEALING BALM. 

Jer. xlvi: II. — Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain 
shalt thou use many medicines, for thou shalt not be cured. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The balm of Gilead is an exuda- 
tion of a yellow color, very tenacious, and has a fragrant resinous scent. It is 
used as an internal medicine for stomachic complaints, and also externally 
for wounds. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 338. 

Herodotus. — Medicine is practised among the Egyptians on a plan of 
separation : each physician treats a single disorder, and no more ; thus the 
country swarms with medical practitioners, some undertaking to cure diseases 
of the eye, others of the head, others again of the teeth, others of the intestines, 
and some those which are not local. — Euterpe, c. 84. 

NOPH. 

Jer. xlvi: 19. — For Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, Brit. Mils. — We recognize in the singular disap- 
pearance of the city of Memphis and its temples in a country where several 
primeval towns yet stand, and scarce any ancient site is unmarked by temples, 
the fulfilment of the words of Jeremiah : " Noph shall be waste and desolate 
without an inhabitant ; " And those of Ezekiel, " I will also destroy the idols, 
and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph." — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 
686. 

NO-AMON. 

Jer. xlvi: 25. — The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith, I will punish the multitude of No, 
and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, Brit. Mus. — No — No-Amon — Populous No — a chief 
city of ancient Egypt, long the capital of the upper country, and the seat of the 
Diospolitan dynasties, that ruled over all Egypt at the era of its highest splen- 
dor. ... Its fame as a great capital had crossed the sea when Greece was yet hi 
its infancy as a nation. . . . Ezekiel proclaims its destruction by the arms of 
Babylon, and Jeremiah predicting the same overthrow, says, "The Lord of hosts, 
the God of Israel, saith, Behold I will punish the multitude of No, and Pha- 



JEREMIAH XLVI. 525 

raoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings." The Persian invader com- 
pleted the destruction that the Babylonian had begun ; the hammer of Camby- 
ses levelled the proud statue of Rameses, and his torch consumed the temples 
and palaces of the city of the hundred gates. No-Araon, the shrine of the 
Egyptian Jupiter, " that was situate among the rivers, and whose rampart was 
the sea," sank from its metropolitan splendor to the position of a mere provin- 
cial town ; and, notwithstanding the spasmodic efforts of the Ptolemies to revive 
its ancient glory, became at last only the desolate and ruined sepulchre of the 
empire it had once embodied. It lies to-day a nest of Arab hovels amid crum- 
bling columns and drifting sands. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3216-20. 

PRESERVATION OF THE JEV/S AND DESTRUCTION OF THEIR 

ENEMIES. 

[er. xlvi : 28. — Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord : for I am with thee; for I 
will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee : but I will not make a full 
end of thee. 

Bishop Newton. — The preservation of the Jews through so many ages, and 
the total destruction of their enemies, are wonderful events; and are made still 
more wonderful by being signified beforehand by the spirit of prophecy, as we 
find particularly in the prophet Jeremiah : " I will make a full end of the nations 
whither I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee." 

The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious 
acts of Divine Providenre. They are dispersed among all nations, and yet they 
are not confounded w'th any. The drops of rain which fall, nay, the great 
rivers which flow into the ocean, are soon mingled and lost in that immense 
body of waters ; and the same in all human probability would have been the 
fate of the Jews, they would have been mingled and lost in the common mass of 
mankind ; but on the contrary they flow into all parts of the world, mix with 
all nations, and yet keep separate from all. They still live as a distinct people, 
and yet they nowhere live according to their own laws, nowhere elect their own 
magistrates, nowhere enjoy the full exercise of their religion. Their solemn 
feasts and sacrifices are limited to one certain place, and that hath been now for 
many ages in the hands of strangers and aliens, who will not suffer them to 
come thither. No people have continued unmixed so long as they have done, 
not only of those who have sent forth colonies into foreign countries, but even 
of those who have abided in their own country. The northern nations have 
come in swarms into the more southern parts of Europe ; but where are they now 
to be discerned and distinguished ? The Gauls went forth in great bodies to 
seek their fortune in foreign parts; but what traces or footsteps of them are now 
remaining anywhere ? In France who can separate the race of the ancient Gauls 
from the various other people, who from time to time have settled there ? In 
Spain who can distinguish exactly between the first possessors, the Spaniards, 
and the Goths, and the Moors, who conquered and kept possession of the coun- 
try for some ages ? In England who can pretend to say with certainty which 



526 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

families are derived from the ancient Britons, and which from the Romans, or 
Saxons, or Danes, or Normans ? The most ancient and honorable pedigrees can 
be traced up only a certain period, and beyond that there is nothing but con- 
jecture and uncertainty, obscurity and ignorance : but the Jews can go up higher 
than any nation, they can even deduce their pedigree from the beginning 
of the world. They may not know from what particular tribe or family they 
are descended, but they know certainly that they all sprang from the stock of 
Abraham. And yet the contempt with which they have been treated, and the 
hardships they have undergone in almost all countries, should, one would think, 
have made them desirous to forget or renounce their original ; but they profess 
it, they glory in it : and after so many wars, massacres, and persecutions, they 
still subsist, they are still very numerous : and what but a supernatural power 
could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth 
hath been preserved? 

Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their 
enemies, than in their preservation. For from the beginning who have been 
the great enemies and oppressors of the Jewish nation, removed them from their 
own land, and compelled them into captivity and slavery? The Egyptians 
afflicted them much, and detained them in bondage several years. The 
Assyrians carried away captive the ten tribes of Israel, and the Babylonians 
afterwards the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Syro- 
Macedonians, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, cruelly persecuted them : and 
the Romans utterly dissolved the Jewish state, and dispersed the people so that 
they have never been able to recover their city and country again. But where 
are now these great and famous monarchies, which in their turn subdued and 
oppressed the people of God ? Are they not vanished as a dream, and not only 
their power, but their very names lost in the earth? The Egyptians, Assyrians, 
and Babylonians were overthrown, and entirely subjugated by the Persians : 
and the Persians (it is remarkable) were the restorers of the Jews, as well as the 
destroyers of their enemies. The Syro-Macedonians were swallowed up by 
the Romans : and the Roman empire, great and powerful as it was, was broken 
into pieces by the incursions of the northern nations; while the Jews are sub- 
sisting as a distinct people at this day. And what a wonder of providence is 
it, that the vanquished should so many ages survive the victors, and the former 
be spread all over the world, while the latter are no more ? (And have we not 
herein a demonstration of the Divine Inspiration of the prophets?) — Dissert., 
VIII., sec. 2. 

MOAB. 

Jer. xlviii : I, etc. — Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Wo unto 

Nebo ! for it is spoiled : etc. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, A. M. — The best, the fullest, the most instructive com- 
mentary on the 48th chapter of Jeremiah, I ever saw, was that inscribed by the 
finger of God on the Panorama spread out around me as I stood on the battle- 
ments of the castle of Salcah. . . . The harmony between the predictions of the 



JEREMIAH XLVIII. 527 

Bible and the state of the country is complete. No traveller can possibly fail 
to see it; and no conscientious man can fail to acknowledge it. — Giant Cities 
of Bashan, p. 81. 

Jer. xlviii : 8. — And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape : the valley 
also shall perish, and tie plain shall be destroyed. 

Captains Irby and Mangles. — The whole of the plains (of Moab) are cov- 
ered with the sites of towns, on every eminence or spot convenient for the con- 
struction of one. And as the land is capable of rich cultivation, there can be 
no doubt that the country, now so deserted, once presented a continued picture 
of plenty and fertility. — Travels, p. 370. 

Burckhardt. — The ruins of Eleale, Heshbon, Meon, Medaba, Dibon, Aroer, 
still subsist to illustrate the history of the Beni Israel. — Travels in Nubia, 
Introd., p. 38. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — The view from the top of Salcah is wide 
and wonderfully interesting. . . . For more than an hour I sat gazing on that 
vast panorama. Wherever I turned my eyes towns and villages were seen. 
Bozrah was there on its plain, twelve miles distant. The towers of Beth-Gamul 
were faintly visible far away on the horizon.- In the vale immediately to the 
south of Salcah are several deserted towns, whose names I could not ascertain. 
Three miles off, in the same direction, is a hill called Abd el-Maaz, with a la?-ge 
deserted town on its eastern side. To the southeast an ancient road runs 
straight across the plain as far as the eye can see. About six miles along it, on 
the top of a hill, is the deserted town of Maleh. On the section of the plain 
between south and east I counted fourteen towns, all of them, so far as I could 
see with my telescope, habitable like Salcah, but entirely deserted ! From this 
one' spot I saw upwards of thirty dese7'ted towns ! Well might I exclaim with 
the prophet, as I looked over that mournful scene of utter desolation : " Moab 
is spoiled, and judgment is come upon the plain country . . . and upon all the 
cities of the land of Moab, far and near ! " — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 77. 

Jer. xlviii : 9. — The cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — The people of Bozrah had told us, and we 

had known ourselves, that though the country on our proposed route is thickly 

studded with towns and villages, yet 7iot a single human being dwells in them. . . . 

After leaving Burd, we did not see a living creature, except a flock of partridges 

and a herd of gazelles. The desert of Arabia is not more desolate than this 

rich and once populous plain of Moab. . . . On approaching Salcah, we rode 

through an old cemetery, and then, passing the ruins of an ancient gate, entered 

the streets of the deserted city. The open doors, the empty houses, the rank 

grass and weeds, the long straggling brambles in the door-ways and windows, 

'formed a strange, impressive picture, which can never leave my memory. 

Street after street we traversed, the tread of our horses awakening mournful 

echoes, and starting the foxes from their dens in the palaces of Salcah. — Giant 

Cities of Bashan^ p. 74, 75, 76. 

33 



528 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Mr. Cyril Graham. — On reaching Beth-Gamul, I left my Arabs at one par- 
ticular spot, and wandered about quite alone in the old streets of the town, 
entered one by one the old houses, went up-stairs, visited the rooms, and, in 
short, made a careful examination of the whole place ; but so perfect was every 
street, every house, every room, that I almost fancied I was in a dream, wan- 
dering alone in this city of the dead, seeing all perfect, yet not hearing a sound. 
I don't wish to moralize too much, but one cannot help reflecting on a people 
once so great and so powerful, who, living in these houses of stone within their 
walled cities, must have thought themselves' invincible ; who had their palaces 
and their sculptures, and who, no doubt, claimed to be the great nation, as all 
eastern nations have done ; and that this people should have so passed away, 
that for so many centuries the country they inhabited has been reckoned as a 
desert, until some traveller from a distant land, curious to explore these regions, 
finds these old towns standing alone, and telling of a race gone by, whose his- 
tory is unknown, and whose very name is matter of dispute. Yet this very 
state of things is predicted by Jeremiah. Concerning this very country he says 
these very words : For the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell 
therein ; and Moab shall be destroyed from being a people. Here I think there 
can be no ambiguity. Visit these ancient cities, and turn to that ancient Book, 
no further comment is necessary. — In Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 80. 

Jer. xlviii : 12. — Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send unto him wanderers, 

that shall cause him to wander, 

Burckhardt. — The oppressions of the government on the one side, and those 
of the Bedouins on the other, have reduced the Fellah of the Hauran to a state 
little better than that of the wandering Arab. Few individuals, either among 
the Druses or Christians, die in the same village where they were born. 
Families are continually moving from one place to another. — Travels in 
Syria, p. 299. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — / will send unto him wanderers, that shall 
cause him to wander. What could be more graphic than this ? The wa?idering 
Bedawin are now the scourge of Moab ; they cause the few inhabitants that 
remain in it to settle down amid the fastnesses of the rocks and mountains, and 
often to wander from city to city, in the vain hope of finding rest and security. 
Giant Cities of ' Bashan, p. 86. 

Jer. xlviii: 13.— And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh. 
The Moabite Stone. — (That Chemosh was the national deity of the Moabites, 
to whom they ascribed their blessings in time of peace and their successes in 
time of war, and to whom they looked for deliverance in the day of peril, is 
sufficiently evident from the inscription on this stone, in which the following^ 
expressions occur:) I erected this stone to Chemosh at Karcha, a stone of sal- 
vation, for he saved me from all despoilers, and let me see my desire upon all 
my enemies. . . Chemosh had mercy on the land in my days. . . Chemosh 
said to me, Go take Nebo against Israel. . . And I took from it the vessels of 



JEREMIAH XLIX. 529 

Jehovah, and offered them before Chemosh. . . And Chemosh drove him out 
before me, etc. — See Gi?isburg' s Translation. 

Jer. xlviii : 32. — O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee, with the weeping of Jazer .... the 
spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — Another feature of the landscape impressed me 
still more deeply.. Not only is the country, plain and hill-side alike, 
chequered with fenced fields, but groves of fig-trees are here and there seen, and 
terraced vineyards still clothe the sides of some of the hills. These are 
neglected and wild, but not fruitless. Mahmood told us that they produce great 
quantities of figs and grapes, which are rifled year after year by the Bedawin 
in their periodical raids. How literal and how true have the words of Jeremiah 
become ! " O, vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee : the spoiler is fallen upon 
thy summer fruits, and upon thy vintage." — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 78. 

Jer. xlviii: 33. — And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of 

Moab. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — Nowhere on earth is there such a melancholy 
example of tyranny, rapacity and misrule, as here. Fields, pastures, vineyards, 
houses, villages, cities — all alike deserted and waste. Even the few inhabitants 
that have hid themselves among the rocky fastnesses and mountain defiles, drag 
out a miserable existence, oppressed by robbers of the desert on the one hand, 
and robbers of the government on the other. "Joy and gladness is taken from 
the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab." — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 78. 
Jer. xlviii: 41. — Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — Among the cities in the plain of Moab upon 
which judgment is pronounced by Jeremiah, Kerioth occurs in connection with 
Beth-Gamul and Bozrah; and here, on the side of the plain, only five miles 
distant from Bozrah, stands " Kureiyeh," manifestly an Arabic form of the He- 
brew Kerioth. Kerioth was reckoned one of the strongholds of the plain of 
Moab. Standing in the midst of widespread rock-fields, the passes through 
which could easily be defended ; and encircled by massive ramparts, the remains 
of which are still there, I saw, and every traveller can see, how applicable is 
Jeremiah's reference, and how strong this city must once have been. — Giant 
Cities of Bashan, p. S3. 

AMMON. 

Jer. xlix : 2. — Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be 
heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites, and it shall be a desolate heap. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. , Zona 7 . — Rabbah was the chief city of the 
Ammonites, a very ancient place, being mentioned even by Joshua. In the period 
between the Old and New Testament, it appears to have been a city of much 
importance, and the scene of many contests. The denunciations of the 
prophets may have been fulfilled, either at the time of the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, or five years afterwards, when the Assyrian armies overran the country 
east of Jordan on their road to Egypt. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 2655. 



§30 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Before noon we had lunched and 
set out to examine the ruins of Rabbah. In number, in beauty of situation, 
and in isolation, they were by far the most striking and interesting I had yet 
seen in Syria. Yet it was not old Rabbah, but Philadelphia, the Roman city, 
among whose prostrate marbles we groped our way. All is Grgeco-Roman, and 
all probably, except the citadel, subsequent to the Christian era. . . . Nowhere 
else had we seen the vestiges of public magnificence and wealth in such marked 
contrast with the relapse into savage desolation : ' ' Rabbah shall be a desolate 
heap. " — Land of Israel, p. 550. 

EDOM. 

Jer. xlix : 7. — Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts : Is wisdom no more in Teman ? 
Is counsel perished from the prudent ? Is their wisdom vanished ? 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — Fallen and despised as now it is, Edom, did not 
the prescription of many ages abrogate its right, might lay claim to the title of 
having been the first seat of- learning, as well as the centre of commerce. Sir 
Isaac Newton considers Edom to have been the nursery of the arts and sciences, 
and adduces evidence to that effect from profane as well as from sacred history. 
"The Egyptians," he remarks, "having learned the skill of the Edomites, 
began now to observe the position of the stars, and the length of the solar year, 
for enabling them to know the position of the stars at any time, and to sail by 
them at all times without sight of the shore, and this gave a beginning to 
astronomy and navigation. It seems that letters, and astronomy, and the trade 
of carpenters were invented by the merchants of the Red Sea, and that they 
were propagated from Arabia Petrsea into Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Asia Minor 
and Europe." While the philosopher may thus think of Edom with respect, 
neither the admirer of genius, the man of feeling, nor the child of devotion will, 
even to this day, seek from any land a richer treasure of plaintive poetry, of 
impassioned eloquence, and of fervid piety, than Edom has bequeathed to the 
world in the Book of Job. It exhibits to us, in language the most pathetic 
and sublime, all that a man could feel, in the outward pangs of his body and 
the inner writhings of his mind, of the frailities of his frame, and of the disso- 
lution of his earthly comforts and endearments; all that mortal can discern, by 
meditating on the ways and contemplating the works of God, of the inscrutable 
dispensations of his providence ; all that knowledge which could first tell, in 
written word, of Arcturus, and Orion, and the Pleiades; and all that devoted- 
ness of soul, and immortality of hope, which, with patience that faltered not 
even when the heart was bruised and almost broken, and the body covered over 
with distress, could say, Tlwugh he slay me, yet will I trust in him. 

But if the question now be asked, Is understanding perished out of Edom? 
the answer, like every response of the prophetic word, may be briefly given : 
It is. The minds of the Bedouins are as uncultivated as the deserts they 
traverse. Practical wisdom is, in general, the first that man learns, and the last 
that he retains. And the simple but significant fact, already alluded to, that 
the clearing away of a little rubbish, merely " to allow the water to flow" into 



JEREMIAH ■ XLIX. 531 

an ancient cistern in order to render it useful to themselves, "is an under- 
taking far beyond the views of the wandering Arabs," shows that unde7'standing 
is, indeed, perished from among them. They view the indestructible works of 
former ages, not only with wonder but with superstitious regard, and consider 
them as the work of genii. They look upon a European traveller as a magician, 
and believe that, having seen any spot where they imagine that treasures are 
deposited, " he can afterward command the guardian of the treasure to set the 
whole before him." In Teman, which yet maintains a precarious existence, the 
inhabitants possess the desire without the means of knowledge. The Koran is 
their only study, and contains the sum of their wisdom. And, although he was 
but a "miserable comforter," and was overmastered in argument by a kinsman 
stricken with affliction, yet no Temanite can now discourse with either the 
wisdom or the pathos of JEdiphaz of old. Wisdom is no more in Teman, and 
understanding has perished out of the Mount of Esau. — Evid. from Proph. , p. 157. 

Jer. xlix: 16. — Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that 
dvvellest in the clefts of the Rock, that holdest the height of the hill : though thou shouldest 
make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, sailh the Lord. 

Dr. Vincent. — The name of the capital of Edom, in all the various lan- 
guages in which it occurs, as Sela, Petra, etc., implies a roch, and as such it is 
described in the Scriptures, in Strabo, and Al Edrissi. — Commerce of the Ancients, 
Vol. II., p. 264. 

Pliny. — The Nabatsei (Edomites) have a city called Petra, which lies in a 
deep valley, somewhat less than two miles in length, and surrounded by inac- 
cessible mountains, between which a river Hows.— Hist. Nat., lib. vi., c. 32. 

Irby and Mangles. — The ruins of the city (of Petra, or the Reck, the capital 
of Edom) burst on the view in their full grandeur, shut in on the opposite side 
by barren craggy precipices, from which numerous ravines and valleys branch 
out in all directions; the sides of the mountains covered with an endless 
variety of excavated tombs and private dwellings presented altogether the most 
singular scene we ever beheld. . . . The high land (in the near neighborhood of 
Petra) was covered upon both its sides, and on its summits, with lines and solid 
masses of dry wall. The former appeared to be traces of ancient cultivation, 
the solid ruins seemed to be only the remains of towers for watching in harvest 
and vintage times. The whole neighborhood of the spot bears similar traces 
of former industry, all which seem to indicate the vicinity of a great metropolis. 
— Travels, p. 422, 402. 

Burckhardt. — Some of them (the excavated chambers and dwellings) are so 
high, and the side of the mountain is so perpendicular, that it seems impossible 
to approach the uppermost. {Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the 
eagle, 1 will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord). . . . The ground is cov- 
ered with heaps of hewn stones, foundations of buildings, fragments of columns, 
and vestiges of paved streets, all clearly indicating that a large city once existed 
here. On the left bank of the river is a rising ground, extending westward 
for nearly three-quarters of a mile, entirely covered with similar remains. 



532 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

On the right bank, where the ground is more elevated, ruins of the same de- 
scription are to be seen. There are also the remains of a palace and of several 
temples. In the eastern cliff there are upwards of fifty separate sepulchres close 
to each other. {Eden shall be a desolation?) — Travels in Syria, p. 422-432. 

Laborde. — What a people must they have not been who first opened the 
mountain to stamp upon it the seal of their energy and genius ! What a climate, 
too, which gilds with its light and graceful forms of a great variety of sculptures, 
without suffering its winters to crumble their sharp edges, or to reduce in the 
least their high reliefs ! Silence reigns all around, save where the solitary owl 
now and then utters its plaintive cry. The Arab passes through the scene with 
perfect indifference, scarcely deigning to look at works executed with so 
much ability, or to meditate, except with contempt, on an object which he in 
vain seeks to comprehend. — In Picl. Bib., in loco. 

Jer. xlix : 17, 18. — Also Edom shall be a desolation : every one that goeth by it shall be aston- 
ished. . . As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbor cities thereof, saith 
the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. 

Burckhardt. — The whole plain presented to the view an expanse of shifting 
sands, whose surface was broken by innumerable undulations and low hills. . . . 
And the Arabs told me that the valleys continue to present the same appearance 
beyond the latitude of Wady Musa (Petra). In some parts of the valley 
the sand is very deep, and there is not the slightest appearance of a road,, or of 
any work of human art. A few trees grow among the sand-hills, but the depth 
of sand precludes all vegetation of herbage. The sand which thus covers the 
ancient cultivated soil appears to have been brought from the shores of the Red 
Sea by the south winds. — Travels in Syria, p. 442. 

Dr. Olin. — Such was the language uttered by the Jewish prophets while this 
doomed region was yet prosperous and powerful. It portrays a state of desola- 
tion and ruin the most absolute and irretrievable, such as probably no portion of 
the globe once fertile and populous now exhibits. These fearful denunciations 
and their fulfilment furnish an invulnerable argument in favor of the inspiration 
of the Holy Scriptures ; and the present state of this once rich and beautiful 
region is a terrible monument of the divine displeasure against wickedness and 
idolatry. — Travels in the East, Vol. II., p. 15, etc. 

OVERTHROW OF BABYLON. 

Jer. 1 : I. — The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans 

by Jeremiah the prophet. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This and the following chapter contain most important 
and instructive predictions concerning Babylon, every one of which has been ful- 
filled, as historians and travellers have concurred to demonstrate. The prophecies 
relate by anticipation the circumstances which should attend, and which did 
attend, the conquest of Babylon by the Medes and Persians ; and they also de- 
scribe that condition of the city and country which should be the immediate or 
final effect of that great overthrow, and which has been and is its condition. 
—Pict. Bib. 



JEREMIAH L. 533 

Jer. 1 : 2. — Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces ; her idols are 
confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 

Sir Henry Rawlinson. — The great temple of Babylon is consecrated to 
Merodach, and that god is the tutelar divinity of the city. In the Assyrian 
Inscriptions, however, Bel is associated with Babylon. Pul and Tiglath-Pileser 
both sacrificed to him in that city as the supreme local deity, and Sargon 
expressly calls Babylon "the dwelling-place of Bel." — Rawlinson's Herodotus, 
Vol. I., p. 247, note. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — The names of the Thirteen Great Gods of 
Assyria occur on the upright tablet of the king, which was discovered at Nim- 
roud — among these names are Asshur, Merodach, Nebo, Dagon, Bel. — Nineveh 
and Babylon, p. 537. 

Ibid. — The "images" of Dagon, Nebo, Nisroch, etc., in a more or less 
"broken" condition, have been discovered amid the ruins of Babylon. — Nin. 
and Bab., 294, 301, etc. 

jer. 1 : 9. — For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great 
nations from the north country : and they shall set themselves in array against her, from thence 
she shall be taken. 

Xenophon. — The great army which Cyrus led against Babylon was composed 
of the united forces of the Medes, Persians, Armenians, Hyrcaneans, Lydians, 
Phrygians and Cappadocians — " an assembly of great nations." — See Cyrop., II., 
408; III., 156; IV., 215, 427. 

Jer. 1 : 10. — And Chaldea shall be a spoil : all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord. 

Xenophon. — On taking Babylon Cyrus became at once the possessor of its 
immense wealth. . . . Having assembled his principal officers, he publicly 
applauded their courage and prudence, their zeal and attachment to his person, 
and distributed rewards to his whole army. . . . He ordered the superior officers 
of the Persians and allies to attend him in a procession, and gave each of them 
a dress after the Median fashion ; that is to say, long robes, which hung down 
to the feet. These were f various colors, all of the finest and brightest dye, a7id 
richly embroidered with gold and silver. Besides those that were for themselves, 
he gave them others, very splendid also, but less costly, to present to the sub- 
altern officers. ... Some days after, at the conclusion of a feast, he made every 
one a noble present ; so that they all went home with hearts overflowing with joy, 
admiration, and gratitude. — See Cyrop., lib. vii., 197, 200; viii., 206; viii., 
220-224. 

Jer. 1 : 10. — All that spoil her shall be satisfied. 

Quintus Curtius. — When Alexander entered Babylon after it had been sur- 
rendered to him by Mazaeus, Bagophanes, the keeper of the royal purse, strewed 
the whole of the way which he had to traverse with flowers and crowns : on 
either side silver altars were erected, which smoked, not with incense alone, but 
with all kinds of precious spices. Gifts were carried after him, flocks of sheep 
and of horses, lions also and panthers in cages. On the following day he took 



534 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

an account of the possessions and money of Darius. . . . And when the treasures 
of Babylon became his spoil, he gave six minae (about $75) to each Macedonian 
horseman, to each Macedonian soldier and foreign horseman two minae, and to 
every other man in his army a donation equal to two months' pay. — Q. Curl., < 
lib. v., c. 1, etc. 

Plutarch. — Demetrius ordered his soldiers to plunder the land of Babylon 
for their own use. — Vit. Demet. 

Gibbon. — Under Severus, Ctesiphon was taken by assault, and an hundred 
thousand captives, and a rich booty, rewarded the fatigues of the Roman sol- 
diers. — Decline and Fall of R. E., chap. viii. 

Idem. — The Emperor Julian, having taken Perisabor, reduced it to ashes. 
The remnant of a flourishing people were permitted to retire : the plentiful maga- 
zines of corn, of arms, and of splendid furniture, were partly distributed among 
the troops, and partly reserved for the public service : the useless stores were 
destroyed by fire, or thrown into the stream of the Euphrates. — Ibid., c, xxiv. 

Idem. — (Julian to his army). Riches are the objects of your desires; those 
riches are in the hands of the Persians ; and the spoils of this fruitful country 
are proposed as the prize of your valor and discipline. — Decline a?id Fall of 
F. E., chap. xxiv. 

Jer. 1 : 13. — Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly 
desolate ; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. 

Mignan. — Babylon, the tenantless and desolate metropolis. — Travels, p. 234. 

Keppel. — The eye wandered over a barren desert, in which the ruins were 
nearly the only indication that it had been inhabited. — Narrative, p. 196. 

Idem. — A more complete picture of desolation could not well be imagined.- — 
Narrative, p. 196. 

Mignan. — I cannot portray the overpowering sensation of reverential awe 
that possessed my mind while contemplating the extent and magnitude of ruin 
and devastation on every side. — Travels, p. 117. 

Jer. 1; 15. — Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of 

the Lord. 

Berosus. — Hereupon Cyrus took Babylon, and gave order that the outer walls 
of the city should be demolished, because the city had proved very troublesome 
to him. — In Josephus, c. Ap. I., 20. 

Herodotus. — Darius having become master of the place (Babylon,) destroyed 
the wall, and tore down all the gates ; for Cyrus had done neither the one nor 
the other when he took Babylon. — Herodt., lib. iii., c. 159. 

Jer. 1: 16. — Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of 

harvest. 

Mignan. — Those splendid accounts of the Babylonian lands yielding crops of 
grain two or three hundred-fold, compared with the modern face of the country, 
afford a remarkable proof of the singular desolation to which it has been sub- 



JEREMIAH L. 535 

jected. The canals at present can only be traced by their decayed banks. — 
Travels, p. 2. 

Sir R. K. Porter. — The abundance of the country has vanished as clean 
away as if the " besom of desolation " had swept it from north to south; the 
whole land from the outskirts of Babylon to the farthest stretch of sight lying a 
melancholy waste. Not a habitable spot appears for countless miles. — Travels 
in Babylonia, Vol. II., p. 285. 

Jer. 1 : 24. — I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not 
aware: thou art found and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord. 

Herodotus. — Cyrus was now reduced to great perplexity, as time went on, 
and he made no progress against the place. In this distress either some one 
made the suggestion to him, or he bethought himself of a plan, which he pro- 
ceeded to put in execution. He placed a portion of his army at the point where 
the river enters the city, and another body at the back of the place where it is- 
sues forth, with orders to march into the town by the bed of the stream, as soon 
as the water became shallow enough : he then himself drew off with the unwar- 
like portion of his host, and made for the place where Nitocris dug the basin for 
the river, where he did exactly what she had done formerly : he turned the Eu- 
phrates by a canal into the basin, which was then a marsh ; on which, the river 
sank to such an extent that the natural bed of the stream became fordable. 
Hereupon the Persians who had been left for the purpose at Babylon by the river- 
side, entered the stream, which had now sunk so as to reach about midway up a 
man's thigh, and thus got into the town. (This occurred in the dead of night.) 
Had the Babylonians been apprised of what Cyrus was about, or had they no- 
ticed their danger, they would not have allowed the entrance of the Persians 
within the city, which was what ruined them utterly, but would have made fast 
all the street-gates which gave upon the river, and mounting upon the walls 
along both sides of the stream, would so have caught the enemy as it were in a 
trap. But, as it was, the Persians came upon them by surprise, and. so took the 
city. Owing to the vast size of the place, the inhabitants of the central parts 
(as the residents of Babylon declare), long after the outer portions of the town 
were taken, knew nothing of what had chanced, but as they were engaged in a 
festival, continued dancing and revelling until they learned the capture but too 
certainly. Such were the circumstances of the first taking of Babylon. — Herodt., 
lib. i., c. 191. 

Jer. 1 : 26. — Cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly : let nothing of her be left. 

Keppel. — Vast heaps constitute all that now remains of ancient Babylon. — 
Narrative, Vol. I., p. 196. 

Sir Robert K. Porter. — From the excavations in every possible shape and 
direction, the regular lines of the original ruins have been so broken that nothing 
but confusion is seen to exist. — Travels, II., 338. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — Rising in the distance, high above all sur- 
rounding objects, is the one square mound, in form and size more like a natural 



536 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

hill than the work of men's hands — this the Arabs name " Babel." The travel- 
ler, before reaching this ruin, still four miles distant, follows a beaten track 
winding amidst low mounds, and crossing the embankments of canals long since 
dry, or avoiding the heaps of drifted earth which cover the walls and founda- 
tions of buildings. ... As yet no traces whatever have been discovered of that 
great wall described by Herodotus, nor of the ditch that encompassed it. The 
mounds seem to be scattered without order, and to be gradually lost in the vast 
plains to the eastward. But southward of Babel, for the distance of nearly three 
miles, there is almost an uninterrupted line of mounds, the ruins of vast edifices, 
collected together as in the heart of a great city. . . . Between its most southern 
point and Hillah, as between Mohawill and Babel, there can be traced of the 
ancient city only low heaps and embankments scattered irregularly over the 
plain. — Nineveh and Babylon, Chap. XXII. 

Jer. 1 : 30. — Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be 
cut off in that day, saith the Lord. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus sent a body of horse up and down through the streets, 
bidding them kill those that they found abroad, and ordering some who under- 
stood the Syrian language to proclaim to those who were in the houses to re- 
main within, and that if they were found abroad they should be killed. — Cyrop.^ 
VII., 5. 

Jer. 1 : 38. — A drought is upon her waters ; and they shall be dried up. 
Xenophon. — When they were encamped before Babylon, Cyrus summoned 
the leaders of the army to him. Then Chrysantas said, " Does not this river, 
which is above two stadia over, run through the midst of the city? " " Yes, by 
Jove," said Gobryas, " and it is of so great a depth that two men, one standing 
on the other, would not reach above the water ; so that the city is yet stronger 
by the river than by its walls." Then Cyrus said, " Chrysantas, let us lay aside 
these things that are above our force : we must dig, as soon as possible, a broad 
and deep ditch, each party of us measuring out his proportion, that by this 
means we may want the fewer men to keep watch." When this was done, and 
the ditches opened, into the river, the water ran off in the night by the ditches, 
and the passage of the river through the city became passable. — Cyrop., lib. vii., 
c. 5. 

Jer. 1: 39. — Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall 
dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein : and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; 
neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 

Sir R. K. Porter. — There are dens of wild beasts in various parts of the 
ruins. — Travels, Vol. II., p. 342. 

Mignan. — Thousands of bats and owls have filled many of these cavities. — 
Travels, p. 167. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard. — Resides the great mound, other shapeless heaps 
of rubbish cover for many an acre the face of the land. The lofty banks of an- 
cient canals fret the country like natural ridges of hills. Some have been long 



JEREMIAH LT. 537 

choked with sand ; others stiU carry the waters of the river to distant villages 
and palrn-groves. On all sides, fragments of glass, marble, pottery and inscribed 
brick, are mingled with that peculiar nitrous and blanched soil, which, bred from 
the remains of ancient habitations, checks or destroys vegetation, and renders 
the site of Babylon a naked and hideous waste. Owls, which are of a large 
gray kind, and often found in flocks of nearly a hundred, start from the scanty 
thickets, and the foul jackal skulks through the furrows. — Nineveh and Babylon, 
Chap. XXI. 

Jer. 1 : 41, 42. — Behold a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings 
shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance : they 
are cruel, and will not show mercy : their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride 
upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of 
Babylon. 

Xenophon. — In his march to Babylon Cyrus overthrew the Phrygians of the 
Greater Phrygia. He overthrew the Cappadocians, and he subjected the 
Arabians ; and out of all these he armed no less than forty thousand Persian 
horsemen. Abundance of the horses, that belonged to prisoners taken, he dis- 
tributed amongst all his allies. He came at last to Babylon, bringing with him 
a mighty multitude of horse, a mighty multitude of archers and javelin men ; but 
slingers innumerable. — Cyrop., VII., 4. 

Jer. li : 14. — The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men 
as with caterpillars ; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. 

Xenophon. — (The host which filled Babylon after it was taken was enor- 
mous. The first time Cyrus marched in procession out of his palace he made a 
display of his cavalry in the sight of the Babylonians.) There stood first before 
the gates 4,000 of the guards drawn up, four in front, 2,000 on each side of the 
gates ; when the chariot of Cyrus advanced 4,000 of the guards led the way 
before it, and 2,000 attended on each side of it. The staff officers about his per- 
son, to the number of about 300, followed. Then were led the horses main- 
tained for Cyrus himself, with their bridles of gold ; these were about 200. 
After these marched 2,000 spearmen : after these the first formed body of horse, 
10,000 in number : after these another body of 10,000 Persian horse, led by 
Hystaspes : after these another body of 10,000, led by Datamas : after these 
another, led by Gadatas. After these marched the Median horse ; then the 
Armenian; then the Hyrcanian ; then the Caducian, then the Sacian. And 
after the horse went the chariots, ranged four abreast, led by the Persian Arta- 
bates. A brief period after this, Cyrus reviewed at Babylon the whole of his 
army, consisting of 120,000 horse, 2,000 chariots armed with scythes, and 
600,000 foot. — Cyrop., lib. viii., c. 3 and 233. 

Jer. li : 30. — The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight ; they have remained in their 
holds : their might hath failed ; they became as women. 

Herodotus. — As Cyrus advanced, the Babylonians met him; but were 
defeated, and chased into the town. — Clio, c. 190. 

Xenophon. — As the Assyrians refused to come out from Babylon, Cyrus com- 



538 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

manded Gobrias to ride on before, and to declare that if the king were willing to 
come out and fight for his territory he would fight him. The answer he 
brought back was — We are not at leisure to fight now, being still employed in 
our preparations. — Cyrop., lib. v., c. 3. 

Idem. — There are great numbers of men in the city, said Cyrus, but they will 
not come out to fight. — Cyrop., lib. vii., c. 5. 

Jer. li : 31. — One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another to show 
the king of Babylon that his city is taken, at one end. 

Herodotus. — Such is the extent of the city, that, as the inhabitants them- 
selves affirm, they who lived in the extremities were made prisoners before any 
alarm was communicated to the centre of the place. — Clio, c. 191. 

Jer. li : 39, 57. — In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they 
may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord. . . . And I will make 
drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men : and 
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake saith the King, whose name is the Lord of 
hosts. 

Herodotus. — It was a day of festivity in Babylon ; and while the citizens 
were engaged in dance and merriment, Babylon was for the first time taken. — 
Clio, c. 191. See also Xen. Cyrop., VII., 5, § 15. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — When all was prepared, Cyrus deter- 
mined to wait for the arrival of a certain festival, during which the whole popu- 
lation were wont to engage in drinking and revelling, and then silently in the 
dead of night to turn the water of the river and make his attack. All fell out 
as he hoped and wished. The festival was even held with greater pomp and 
splendor than usual ; for Belshazzar, with the natural insolence of youth, to 
mark his contempt for the besieging army, abandoned himself wholly to the 
delights of the season, and himself entertained a thousand lords in his palace. 
Elsewhere the rest of the population was occupied in feasting and dancing. 
Drunken riot and mad excitement held possession of the town : the siege was 
forgotten : ordinary precautions were neglected. Following the example of 
their king, the Babylonians gave themselves up for the night to orgies in which 
religious frenzy and drunken excitement formed a strange and revolting medley. 

Meanwhile, outside the city, in silence and darkness, the Persians watched at 
the two points where the Euphrates entered and left the walls. Anxiously they 
noted the gradual sinking of the water in the river-bed ; still more anxiously 
they watched to see if those within the walls would observe the suspicious cir- 
cumstances and sound an alarm through the town. Should such an alarm be 
given, all their labors would be lost. But as they watched no sounds of alarm 
reached them — only a confused noise of revel and riot, -which showed that the 
unhappy townsmen were quite unconscious of the approach of danger. 

At last shadowy forms began to emerge from the obscurity of the deep river- 
bed, and in the landing places opposite the river-gates scattered clusters of men 
grew into solid columns, the undefended gate-ways were seized, a war shout was 
raised, the alarm was taken and spread, and swift runners started off to show 




(539) 



JEREMIAH LI. 541 

the king of Babylon that his city was taken at one end. In the darkness and 
confusion of the night a terrible massacre ensued. The drunken revellers could 
make no resistance. The king, paralyzed with fear at the awful hand-writing 
on the wall, which too late had warned him of his peril, could do nothing even 
to check the progress of the assailants, who carried all before them everywhere. 
Bursting into the palace, a band of Persians made their way to the presence of 
the monarch, and slew him on the scene of his impious revelry. Other bands 
carried fire and sword through the town. When morning came, Cyrus found 
himself undisputed master of the city. — Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern 
World, Vol. III., p. 516-518. 

Jer. li : 58. — Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, 
and her high gates shall be burned with fire. 

Herodotus. — As soon as Darius became master of the place, he levelled the 
walls and took away the gates. — Thalia, c. 159. 

Major Keppel. — In common with other travellers we totally failed in 
discovering any trace of the city walls. — JVarr., I., 175. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — As yet no traces whatever have been dis- 
covered of that great wall of earth rising, according to Herodotus, to the height 
of 200 cubits, and no less than 50 cubits broad, nor of the ditch that encom- 
passed it. — Nin. and Bab., Chap. XXII. 

Recapitulation. — According to the most correct chronology we have, the 
foregoing words of the Lord against Babylon came to Jeremiah sixty years before 
its capture by Cyrus, and while it was yet in all its strength and magnificence. 
Babylon in Jeremiah's day was a very great city, a very strong city, and the 
metropolis of a vast empire. Its defences, both in magnitude and strength, were 
unrivaled. Its walls, with its hundred brazen gates, were among the wonders 
of the world. Its palaces and temples within, and its artificial lakes and 
canals without, were among the mightiest works mortals had ever accomplished. 
"She sat as Queen, and as Lady of Kingdoms." In short, it was the most 
famous city in all the world. 

Yet while thus in the plenitude of its power, and at the meridian of its glory, 
Jeremiah pronounced its doom — that it should be captured, destroyed and wiped 
out of existence. He plainly predicted that an assembly of great nations from 
the north should come against it — that it should be encompassed by a great army, 
embracing a prodigious host of horsemen — that its own forces would be dis- 
pirited, become as women, and refuse to fight — that it should be taken by a 
snare — that its river should be dried up — that it should be captured during the 
drunkenness and revelry of a feast — that its spacious avenues and arenas should 
swarm with the forces of the enemy as with caterpillars — that its young men 
should be cut down and slain in the streets — that its wealth and its hidden 
treasures should become the spoil of the conquerors — that its temples and 
palaces should become heaps — that its broad and high walls should be broken 
and utterly demolished — that it should become desolate and without an inhab- 
itant — that it should become the abode of wild beasts and owls and satyrs — that 



542 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

sower and reaper should be cut off from her fertile and extended plains — and 
that the whole site and its surroundings should become a scene of desolation 
forever. All this, I say, was clearly and minutely foretold, while Babylon was 
in the plenitude of its power and wealth and magnificence, and when no 
human reason or sagacity could have discerned the faintest indication of such a 
fate. And the reader has now seen that all this, step by step, was brought to 
pass to the very letter; he has had set before him the united testimony of 
ancient historians and modern travellers and explorers, that of all that this 
prophet foretold, not one jot or tittle has failed. Have* we not here then a' 
clear demonstration that Jeremiah spoke by the inspiration of the Omniscient 
God, who alone sees the end from the beginning? — The Compiler. 



Lamentations. 



THE SABBATH. 

Lamentations i : 7. — The adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths. 

Juvenal. — The Jews, to whom every seventh day was a blank, and formed 
not any part of their life. — Sat., V. 

Seneca. — They lost the seventh part of their life in keeping their sabbaths, 
and injured themselves by abstaining from the performance of many necessary 
things in such times. — In A. Clarke' s Comment. 

THE LAST TREASURE. 

Lam. i: II. — All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for 

meat to relieve the soul. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts.— The people of the East retain their little valuables, 
such as jewels and rich robes, to the last extremity. To part with that which 
has perhaps been a kind of heirloom in the family, is like parting with life. 
Have they sold the last wreck of their other property? are they on the verge of 
death? The emaciated members of the family are called together, and some 
one undertakes the heart-rending task of proposing such a bracelet or armlet, 
anklet or ear-ring, or the pendant of the forehead, to be sold. For a moment 
all are silent, till the mother or daughters burst into tears ; and then the con- 
tending feelings of hunger, and love for their "pleasant things," alternately 
prevail. In general, the conclusion is to pledge, and not to sell, their much- 
loved ornaments. — Orient. Illust., p. 480. 

i 
AFFLICTION. 

Lam. iii : 33.— For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. 



LAMENTATIONS V. 543 

Seneca. — The man is mistaken who thinks the gods afflict any one willingly. 
They cannot do so. — Epist., 95. 

MARINE MAMMALS. 

Lam. iv : 3. — Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The prophet here exhibits a knowl- 
edge of the habits of the whale tribe, which proves his familiarity with some 
species, at least, of these marine mammals. It is well known that the whales, 
grampuses, porpoises, and dolphins, are not fishes, but air-breathing mammals, 
adapted to an aquatic life, which bring forth their young alive and suckle them. 
— Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 152. 

HANGING BY THE HAND. 

Lam. v : 12. — Princes are hanged up by their hand. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts. — No punishment is more common than this in the 
East, especially for slaves and refractory children. Has a master an obstinate 
slave? has he committed some great offence with his hands? several men are 
called, who tie the offender's hands, and hoist him to the roof, till he begs for 
forgiveness. School -boys, who are in the habit of playing truant, are also thus 
punished. To tell a man that you will hang him by the hands is extremely pro- 
voking. See, then, the lamentable condition of the princes in Babylon : they 
were " hanged up by their hands," as common slaves. — Orient. Illust., p. 482. 

FOXES IN ZION. 

Lam. v : 18. — Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. 

Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — The jackal and the fox were called in 
Hebrew by one and the same name, shual ; and in many respects they resemble 
each other. They both burrow in the ground, and alike frequent old ruins. 
We have started up the jackal amidst the fallen temples of Baalbec and other 
remains of antiquity, and have repeatedly spied the fox running along the top 
of an old wall. — Bible Lands, p. 278. 



EZEKIEL. 



CHEBAR. 

Ezekiel i : I. — I was among the captives by the river of Chebar. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This is doubtless the same river that still bears the name 
of Khabur — being the same Oriental name, differently represented in European 
orthography. It is the only stream of note that enters the Euphrates, which it 
does from Mesopotamia. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 



544 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

INSCRIBED TILES. 

Ezek. iv : I. — Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon 

it the city, even Jerusalem. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This is a striking reference to the Chaldean usage of writ- 
ing and portraying by indented figures upon broad and thin bricks (or tiles). 
Great numbers of such bricks charged with inscriptions in the arrow-headed 
characters, and with figures of animals and other objects, are found among the 
ruins of Babylon, and other ancient sites in Chaldea. The bricks applied to 
this use are of fine clay, much hardened in the fire {after the inscriptions had 
been formed). They are of different sizes, but very commonly a foot square, 
by three inches in thickness. — Pict. Bib., in loco ; See also Layard's Nineveh 
and Babylo7i, passim. 

Pliny. — Epigenes, a writer of very great authority, informs us that the Baby- 
lonians have a series of observations on the stars for a period of 720,000 years, 
inscribed on baked bricks. — Hist. Nat., lib. vii., c. 57. 

BATTERING RAM. 

Ezek. iv : 2. — And set battering rams against it round about. 
Pliny. — The battering horse, which is at present styled "The Ram," was in- 
vented by Epeus, at Troy. — Hist. Nat., lib. vii., c. 57. 

HAUNTS OF IDOLATRY. 

Ezek. vi : 13. — And under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did 
offer sweet savour to all their idols. 

Pliny. — The robur is selected by the Druids to form whole groves; and they 
perform none of their religious rites without employing branches of it. It is 
probable the priests themselves receive their name from the Greek name of that 
tree. — Hist. Nat., lib. xvi., 95. 

IDOLATROUS FIGURES. 

Ezek. viii : 10. — So I went in and saw : and behold every form of creeping things, and abomin- 
able beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Here begins the description of the idolatries which the 
Hebrews borrowed from their neighbors.. This first was unquestionably taken 
from the Egyptians. How exactly it describes the inner chambers and sanctu- 
aries of the Egyptian temples, the tombs, and mystic cells, must be obvious to 
any one who has read the various descriptions, and seen the representations 
which modern travellers have supplied. The walls were covered with represen- 
tations, sculptured or painted in vivid colors, of sacred animals, and of gods rep- 
resented in human forms, and under various circumstances, or in various mon- 
strous combinations of the animal and human forms. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

ZEDEKIAH. 

Ezek. xii : 13. — And I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not 

see it, though he shall die there. 



EZEKIEL XXL 545 

Dr. John Kitto. — The prophet Jeremiah foretold of Zedekiah that his eyes 
should behold the eyes of the king of Babylon ; and here Ezekiel predicts that 
he should not see Babylon though he should die there. We are informed by 
Josephus, that the king, thinking these prophecies contradicted each other, gave 
no credit to either. But both proved true ; for, being taken captive and carried 
to Riblah, he there saw Nebuchadnezzar, and then his eyes were put out, and he 
was sent to Babylon, where he remained for the rest of his life ; so that he saw 
not that city, though he died in it. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

ALL SOULS GOD'S. 

Ezek. xviii : 4. — Behold, all souls are mine ; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is 

mine. 

Plato. — The gods take care of us, and we men are one of their possessions. 
It is God who takes care of us, and we are his property. — Phczd., c. 6, 7. 

SMITING THE THIGH. 

Ezek. xxi : 12. — Terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people; smite therefore upon 

thy thigh. 

Homer. — With shame repulsed, with grief and fury driven, 

He smote his thigh, and thus upbraided heaven. — //., XII., 162. 
Xenophon. — Cyrus, on learning of the death of Abradatus, smote himself 
upon his thigh. — Cyrofi., VII., 3. 

Plutarch. — When Fabius Maximus saw the army of the Minucius surrounded 
and broken by Hannibal, he smote upon his thigh. — Pad. Max., c. 12. 

DIVINATION. 

Ezek. xxi : 21. — For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two 
ways, to use divination : he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in 
the liver. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Belomancy, or divination by arrows, was a practice widely 
diffused among the ancients. — Pict. Bib. 

D'Herbelot. — On all occasions the Arabs consulted futurity by arrows. — See 
under the word Acdah. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, M. A. — Wooden images were consulted as Idols, from 
which the excited worshippers fancied that they received oracular responses. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 608. 

Livy. — The Roman consuls before they led out their forces to the field, per- 
formed sacrifices. We are told that the haruspex showed to Decius that the 
head of the liver was wounded on the side which respected himself; in other 
respects the victim was acceptable to the gods. — Liv., lib. viii., c. 9. 
. Diodorus Siculus. — Among the Gauls there are prophets who foretell future 
events by viewing the entrails of the sacrifices ; and of these soothsayers all the 
people generally are very observant. — Diod. Sic, V., 2. 
34 



546 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

METALLURGY. 

Ezek. xxii : 20. — As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of 
the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my 
fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 

William Aldis Wright, M. A. — In modern metallurgy lead is employed for 
the purpose of purifying silver from other mineral products. The alloy is 
mixed with lead, exposed to fusion upon an earthen vessel, and submitted to a 
blast of air. By this means the dross is" consumed. This process is called the 
cupelling operation, with which the description in Ezekiel (xxii : 20) accurately 
coincides. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1619. 

WALL PICTURES. 

Ezek. xxiii: 14. — And that she increased he*- whoredoms : for when she saw men pourtrayed 
upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Semiramis built two palaces on the Euphrates. One of 
these was surrounded by three walls, on the innermost of which were represented 
the shapes of a 1/ sorts of living creatures, drawn with great art, in various colors. 
— Diod. Sic, II. , 1. 

Virgil. — Great Pan arrived, and we behold him too, 

His cheeks and temples of vermilion hue. — Eel., X., 26. 

Pliny. — It was the custom upon festivals to color the face of the statue of 
Jupiter with red lead, as well as the bodies of triumphant generals. It was in 
this guise that Camillus celebrated his triumph. — Hist. Nat., XXXIII., 36. 

Pausanias. — Of the images of Bacchus, at Corinth, the faces were colored 
-with, red paint. — Corinth, p. 115. 

WAR CHARIOTS. 

Ezek. xxiii : 23, 24. — The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa and Koa, and 
all the Assyrians with them, . . . shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, 
and with an assembly of people. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — The Elamites, we find from the bas-reliefs, 
used even in war, besides chariots, a kind of cart drawn by mules, and con- 
sisting of a flat stage raised upon lofty wheels, which had as many as twelve, and 
even sixteen spokes. The largest of these cars could hold five or six persons, 
and were adorned with a fringed or embroidered cloth. The smallest, it would 
appear, contained only two, the warrior and the charioteer, who sat on a kind 
of raised seat. Such carts are probably alluded to by the prophet Ezekiel, when 
he speaks of "the chariots, wagons, and wheels," belonging to "the Babylon- 
ians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians," 
who should come up against Jerusalem. — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 383. 

CUTTING OFF THE NOSE. 

Ezek. xxiii : 25. — And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with, 
thee : they shall take away thy nose and thine ears ; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The cutting off of the nose was a frequent punishment 



EZEKIEL XXV. 547 

among the Persians and Chaldeans, as ancient authors tell. Adulteries were 
punished in this way, and to this Martial refers, — (t Who has counselled thee 
to cut off the adulterer's nose." Women were thus treated in Egypt. — Note, in 
loco. 

Strabo. — Rhinocolura is so called from the colonists whose noses had been 
mutilated. Some Ethiopians invaded Egypt, and instead of putting the male- 
factors to death, having cut off their noses, they settled them at Rhinocolura, 
supposing that they would not venture to return to their own country, on 
account of the disgraceful state of their faces. — Strab., XVI., 2. 

SACRIFICING CHILDREN. 

Ezek. xxiii : 39. — For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same 
day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. 

Plato. — With us (Athenians) it is not lawful to sacrifice human beings, for 
it is an unholy act ; but the Carthaginians sacrifice them, as being a holy and 
lawful thing with them ; so that some of them sacrifice even their own sons to 
Kronos. — Min. t c. 5. 

Lucian. — Some of the Galli sacrifice their children. — De Dea Syr., c. 58. 

Silius Italicus. — It was the custom in that state which Dido founded to 
propitiate the gods, and, dreadful to be told, to sacrifice their little children 
upon the fiery altars. — Sil. ItaL, IV., 767. 

AMMON. 

Ezek. xxv : 4, 5. — Behold, therefore, I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, 
and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee : they shall eat thy 
fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the 
Ammonites a couching place for flocks. 

Buckingham. — Among the ruins of Ammon, we came to an open square 
court, with arched recesses on each side, the sides nearly facing the cardinal 
points. The recesses in the northern and southern walls were originally open 
passages, and had arched door-ways facing each other ; but the first of these 
was found wholly closed up, and the last was partially filled up, leaving only a 
narrow passage, just sufficient for the entrance of one man, and of the goats, 
which the Arab keepers drive in here occasionally for shelter during the night. 
. . . Close by the ruins of Ammon, I laid me down among flocks of sheep and 
goats, but was prevented nearly the whole night from sleeping by the bleating 
of flocks. — Travels Among the Arab Tribes, p. 72, 73. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — As at Heshban, so at Amman, the 
ruins, magnificent and extensive though they be, reveal, if we except the walls 
of the citadel, nothing of Rabbah. It is only the Roman Philadelphia that has 
left its story in its stones, and nowhere else have I seen any sculpture nore 
elaborate or delicate. " Rabbah of the Ammonites shall be a desolate heap." 
It has been "delivered into the hands of brutish men, and skilful to destroy." 
At this season the flocks and herds were all on the surrounding wolds, and the 



548 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

spring was too far advanced to drive them to seek shelter at night. When I 
looked out about midnight, the gaunt ruins were dimly reflected by the glim- 
mering watch-fires which flickered round three sides of the camp, and the star- 
light just revealed the sleeping forms, grouped under their spears by their picketed 
horses, or crouching like little heaps of clothing round the embers. All was 
silent, save the occasional snorting of a horse, the tinkling of the mule-bells, 
and the ripple of the stream. " I will deliver thee to the men of the East for a 
possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in 
thee : they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. And I will make 
Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks." 
What pen, unguided by the foreknowledge of Omniscience, indited that? I 
asked myself, as I closed the book and extinguished the light. — The Land of 
Israel, p. 555. 

Ezek. xxv : 7. — And I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the 

countries. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — While the Jews, who were long their hereditary 
enemies, continue as distinct a people as ever, though dispersed among all 
nations, no trace of the Ammonites remains ; none are now designated by their 
name, nor do any claim descent from them. " They are not remembered 
among the nations. " — Evid. from Proph., p. 124. 

TYRE. 

Ezek. xxvi : 3. — Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee, O Tyrus, and 
will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. 

Bishop Newton. — Palae-Tyrus, or Old Tyre, was seated on the continent ; 
New Tyre was built in an island almost over against it (half a mile distant). It 
is commonly said, that when Old Tyre was closely besieged, and was near fall- 
ing into the hands of the Chaldeans, then the Tyrians fled from thence, and 
built New Tyre in the island ; but the learned Vitringa hath proved at large 
from good authorities that New Tyre was founded several ages before, and 
was the station for ships, and considered as part of Old Tyre. The prophecies, 
therefore, appertain to both, some expressions being applicable only to the 
former, and others only to the latter. — Xlth. Dissert, on Proph. 

Ezek. xxvi : 4. — And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers. 
Arrian. — The wall of Tyre was nearly one hundred and fifty feet high, and 
of breadth proportionate ; it was built with vast stones strongly cemented 
together. — Exped. Alex., lib. ii. ? c. 21. 

Ezek. xxvi : 7. — Behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, a king of 

kings. 

Josephus. — On the seventh year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar he began to 
besiege Tyre. — Cont. Ap., lib. i., c. 21. 

Phoenician Records. — Nebuchodonosor besieged Tyre for thirteen years, in 
the days of Ithobal, their king. — Ibid. 



EZEKIEL XXVI. 549 

Ezek. xxvi : io. — By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee : thy 
walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when 
he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Soon after his departure from Syria, 
Judaea rebelled, and Phoenicia appears about the same time to have thrown off 
the yoke. Nebuchadnezzar, having called in the aid of Cyaxares, king of 
Media, led in person the vast army — which, according to Polyhistor, consisted 
of 10,000 chariots, 120,000 cavalry, and 180,000 infantry — to chastise the 
rebels. He immediately invested Tyre, the chief of the Phoenician cities. — 
Rawlinson's Herod., Vol. L, p. 414. 

Ezek. xxvi: 12. — And they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and 
they shall lay thy 'stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Alexander, seeing that it would be a difficult thing to 
carry on the siege of Tyre, because the city was separated from the continent 
by an arm of the sea, and was well furnished with provisions, and protected by 
a powerful navy, demolished Old Tyre, as it was then called, and with the 
stones and fragments of the buildings formed a mole 200 feet in breadth, extend- 
ing from the main land to the peninsula. — Diod. Sic, XVII., 4. 

Arrian. — Alexander laying siege to Tyre, endeavored to connect the city 
with the continent by a huge bank or rampart. The sea is there shallow near 
the shore, but as you draw nigh the city it is nearly three fathoms deep. But 
as there was abundance of stone not far off, and a sufficient quantity of timber 
and rubbish to fill up the vacant spaces, they found no difficulty in laying the 
foundations of their rampart. — Exped. Alex., II., 18. 

Bishop Newton. — The ruins of Old Tyre contributed much to the taking of 
the New City; for with the stones and timber and rubbish of the old city Alex- 
ander built a bank or causeway from the continent to the island, thereby liter- 
ally fulfilling the words of the prophet Ezekiel, — " they shall lay thy stones, and 
thy timber, and thy dust, in the midst of the water." — Xlih. Dissert, on Proph. 

Ezek. xxvi: 14. — And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread 

nets upon. 

Maundrell. — This city (Tyre) standing in the sea upon a peninsula, promises 
at a distance something very magnificent. But when you come to it, you find 
no similitude of that glory, for which it was so renowned in ancient times, and 
which the prophet Ezekiel describes. On the north side it has an old Turkish 
ungarrisoned castle ; besides which you see nothing here, but a mere Babel of 
broken walls, pillars, vaults, etc., there being not so much as one entire house 
left : its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches harboring themselves 
in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in 
this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his 
word concerning Tyre, viz., that "it should be as the top of a rock, a place for 
fishers to dry their nets on." — -Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 82. 

Volney. — Instead of that ancient commerce, so active and so extensive, Tyre 



550 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

is reduced to a miserable village. They live obscurely on the produce of their 
little ground and a trifling fishery. — Travels, II. , 212, 225. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — In the burden of Tyre, by Ezekiel, 
it is said, "I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to 
spread nets upon" — a prediction which, in the present ruined and degraded 
condition of Tyre, has been fulfilled to the very letter. The inhabitants of the 
wretched village subsist principally by fishing ; their boats are the only craft in 
the harbor of her whose merchants were princes; and the old wharves and the 
columns-strewn promontory, whence all the palaces have been long since swept 
away, are covered with nets, spread out to dry over the ruins. — Nat. Hist, of 
Bible, p. 288. 

Ezek. xxvi : 21. — I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more : though thou be sought 
for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This is literally true : there is not the smallest vestige 
of the Ancient Tyre, that which was erected on the main land. Even the 
ground seems to have been washed away. — Note, in loco. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, A. M. — I have pitched my tent on the site of An- 
cient Tyre, and searched, but searched in vain, for a single trace of its ruins. 
Then, but not till then, did I realize the full force and truth of the prophetic de- 
nunciation upon it : " Thou shalt be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found 
again . ' ' — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 19. 

Ezek. xxvii : 32. — And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament 
over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea ? 

Diodorus Siculus. — In the meantime the rams battered down a great part of 
the wall in another place ; and now the Macedonians entered through the breach 
on one side, and Alexander, with his party, passed over the wall on the other ; 
so that the city was now taken. Yet the Tyrians behaved valiantly ; and encourag- 
ing one another, guarded and blocked up all the narrow passes, and fought with 
desperation ; insomuch that above 7,000 of them were cut to pieces on the spot. 
The king made all the women and children slaves, and hanged all the young 
men who survived the battle, to the number of 2,000. So great was the 
number of captives, that though the greatest part of the inhabitants were trans- 
ported to Carthage, no less than 13,000 remained behind. — Into so great mis- 
eries fell the Tyrians, after they had, with more obstinacy than prudence, en- 
dured a siege of seven months. — Diod. Sic., lib. xvii., c. 4. 

Arrian. — The rest of the survivors, to the number of 30,000, including 
strangers, were sold as slaves. — Exped. Alex., 1. ii., c. 24. 

Ezek. xxviii : 18. — Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the 
iniquity of thy traffic ; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour 
thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 

Quintus Curtius. — Alexander, when he besieged Tyre, ordered the city to 
be burnt. — Q. Curl., lib. iv., c. 4. 

EGYPT. 

Ezek. xxix: 3. — Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 



EZEKIEL XXIX. . 551 

the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, 
and I have made it for myself. 

Herodotus. — Of the permanence of his authority Apries (Pharaoh-Hophni) 
is said to have entertained so high an opinion, that he conceived it not to be in 
the power even of a deity to dethrone him. — Euterpe, c. 169. 

Ezek. xxix : 4. — But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick 
unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy 
rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The sucking-fish {Echeneis remord) attaches itself 
to sharks and other large fish ; and the powers of adhesion of which are so great 
that it is sometimes employed, when secured by a ring, for the purpose of 
taking turtles, to which it attaches itself in its endeavors to escape, when both 
are hauled in together. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 292. 

Ezek. xxix : 12. — And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that 
are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years : 
and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the coun- 
tries. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The country from Migdol, or Magdolan, which was on 
the isthmus between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, was so completely 
ruined that it might well be called desert ; and it is probable that this desola- 
tion continued during the whole of the reign of Amasis, which was just forty 
years. — (See Herod., lib. iii., c. 10.) — Note, in loco. 

Ezek. xxix : 14, 15. — And they shall be there a base kingdom : it shall be the basest of the king- 
doms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — " It shall be a base kingdom," — that is, it shall con- 
tinue to be tributary. It is upwards of two thousand years since this prophecy 
was delivered, and it has been uninterruptedly fulfilling to the present hour. 
1. Egypt became tributary to the Babylonians under Amasis. 2. After the 
ruin of the Babylonish Empire it became subject to the Persians. 3. After the 
Persians it came into the hands of the Macedonians. 4. After the Macedonians 
it fell into the hands of the Romans. 5. After the division of the Roman Empire 
it was subdued by the Saracens. 6. About a. d. 1250, it came into the hands 
of the Mameluke slaves. 7. Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks, conquered 
the Mamelukes, a. d. 15 17, and annexed Egypt to the Othman Empire, of which 
it still continues to be a province, governed by a pacha and twenty-four beys, 
who are always advanced from servitude to the administration of public affairs. 
So true is it that Egypt, once so glorious, is "the basest of kingdoms." — Note, 
in loco. 

Volney. — In Egypt the system of oppression is methodical, Everything 
the traveller sees or hears reminds him he is in the country of slavery and 
tyranny. , . . There is no middle class, neither nobility, clergy, merchants, 
landholders. A universal air of misery, manifest in all the traveller meets, 
points out to him the rapacity of oppression, and the distrust attendant upon 
slavery. The profound ignorance of the inhabitants equally prevents them from 



552 " TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

perceiving the causes of their evils, or applying the necessary remedies. Igno- 
rance, diffused through every class, extends its effects to every species of moral 
and physical knowledge. Nothing is talked of but intestine troubles, the public 
misery, pecuniary extortions, bastinadoes and murders. Justice herself puts to 
death without formality. ("It shall be the basest of kingdoms.") — Travels, 
Vol. I., 190-198. 

Ezek. xxix: 18. — Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a 
great service against Tyrus ; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled : yet 
had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Nebuchadnezzar was thirteen years employed in the 
siege. (Joseph. Ant., X., n.) In this siege his soldiers endured great hard- 
ships. Being continually on duty, their heads became "bald" by wearing 
their helmets; and their shoulders bruised and "peeled " by carrying baskets 
of earth to the fortifications, wood to build towers, etc. "Yet had he no 
wages, nor his army." The Tyrians, finding it at last impossible to defend the 
city, put all their wealth aboard their vessels, sailed out of the port, and escaped 
for Carthage : and thus Nebuchadnezzar lost all the spoil of one of the richest 
cities in the world. — Note, in loco. 

St. Jerome. — We have read in the histories of the Assyrians, that when the 
Tyrians saw that the works for carrying on the siege were perfected, and the 
foundations of the walls were shaken by the battering rams, whatsoever precious 
things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture the nobility had, 
they put them on board their ships, and carried to the islands ; so that the city 
being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labor. — Hieron. in 
Ezk., c. 29. 

Ezek. xxix: 19. — Therefore thus saith the Lord God : Behold I will give the land of Egypt unto 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and 
take her prey ; and it shall be the wages for his army. 

Dr. John Kitto. — When the siege of Tyre had terminated in such an 
unprofitable result, Nebuchadnezzar marched his army into Egypt, which was 
then in a state of such deplorable disorder as promised him an easy conquest, 
and an ample indemnity for his recent disappointment. What opposition he 
met with, or what arrangement he made on withdrawing finally from the 
country, is not certainly known. But it is certain that he ravaged the country 
from one end to the other, committing much devastation, and slaying great 
numbers of the people, and that he finally returned with an immense booty, 
which probably formed no small part of the treasure he expended in his magnifi- 
cent improvements and great undertakings at Babylon. — (See Univ. Hist., II., 
88; Hale's Anal., II., 454.) — Note in Jerm., c. 43. 

Ezek. xxx : 13. — Thus saith the Lord God, I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their 

images to cease out of Noph. 

Herodotus. — About the time when Cambyses arrived at Memphis (which is 
Noph), Apis appeared to the Egyptians. He bade the priests go and fetch the 



EZEKIEL XXXIII. 553 

god to him. When the priests returned, bringing Apis with them, Cambyses, 
like the hare-brained person that he was, drew his dagger and aimed at the 
belly of the animal, but missed his mark, and stabbed him in the thigh. Then 
he laughed, and said to the priests : " Oh ! blockheads, and think ye that gods 
become like this, of flesh and blood, and sensible to steel? A fit god indeed 
for Egyptians, such an one ! " . . . Apis, thus wounded, lay some time pining 
in the temple. At last he died of his wound, and the priests buried him secretly 
without the knowledge of Cambyses. 

While he still stayed at Memphis, Cambyses, among other wild outrages, 
opened the ancient sepulchres, and examined the bodies that were buried in 
them. He likewise went into the temple of Vulcan, and made great sport of 
the image — for it is a figure resembling that of a pigmy. He went also into 
the temple of the Cabiri, which it is unlawful for any one to enter except the 
priests, and not only made sport of the images, but even burnt them. — Thalia, 
c. 29 and 37. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Ochus (another Persian king), having subdued the 
Egyptians again after they had revolted, plundered their temples, and caused 
Apis to be slain, and served up in a banquet to him and his friends. — JDiod. Sic, 
XVI., 51 ; see also Plut. de Isid. el Osir., § 31. 

Ezek. xxx ; 13. — And there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt. 

Gibbon. — A more unjust and absurd constitution cannot be devised than that 
which condemns the natives of a country to perpetual servitude, under the arbi- 
trary dominion' of strangers and slaves. Yet such has been the state of Egypt 
above five hundred years. The most illustrious sultans of the Baharite and 
Borgite dynasties were themselves promoted from the Tartar and Circassian 
bands ; and the four-and-twenty beys, or military chiefs, have ever been suc- 
ceeded, not by their sons, but by their servants. ("And there shall be no more 
a prince of the land of Egypt."} — Decline a?id Fall of the R. E., Chap. LIX. 

Volney. — The Mamelukes, purchased as slaves, and introduced as soldiers, 
soon usurped the power and elected a leader. If their first establishment was a 
singular event, their continuance is not less extraordinary. They are replaced 
by slaves brought from their original country. — Travels, Vol. I., 103-110. 

CARELESS HEARERS. 

Ezek. xxxiii : 32. — And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant 
voice, and. can play well on an instrument : for they hear thy words, but they do them not. 

Seneca. — The misfortune is, some come only to hear, not to learn ; as they 
attend the theatre for pleasure's sake, to delight the ear with some speech, or a 
sweet tone of voice, or a diverting story exhibited in comedy. Such you will 
find great part of an audience, who make the philosophical school but a place 
of idle resort. They come not thither in order to dispossess themselves of any 
vice, or to receive any law for the better regulation of manners or better conduct 
of life; but to please the ear with the twang of eloquence. — Eflist., 108. 



554 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

SPOILS OF THE SYRIANS. 

Ezek. xxxix : 9, 10. — And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on 
fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows, and the arrows, and the 
handstaves, and the spears; and they shall burn them with fire for seven years: so that 
they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forest. 

Mariana. — The Spaniards, after they had given that signal overthrow to the 
Saracens, a. d. 121 2, found such a vast quantity of lances, javelins, and such like, 
that they served them for four years for fuel. — History of Spain, lib. xi., c. 24. 



Daniel. 



CAPTURE AND PLUNDER OF JERUSALEM. 

Daniel i: I. — In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar 
king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it. 

Bishop Usher. — This event occurred 606 b. c. 

Dan. i : 2. — And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels 
of the house of God : which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his god. 

Berosus. — Nabolassar, king of Babylon, sent his son Nebuchodonosor against 
Egypt, and against Judea, with a great army, upon his being informed that they 
had revolted from him ; and by that means he subdued them all, and set the temple 
that was at Jerusalem on fire ; nay, and removed the Jews entirely out of their 
own country, and transferred them to Babylon ; when it so happened that Jeru- 
salem was desolate during the interval of seventy years, until the days of Cyrus 
king of Persia. — Ap. Joseph., B. I., c. 19, con. Ap. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The vessels of the temple he carried ... to the house 
of his god — to the .temple of BeldX Babylon. This was a temple of great mag- 
nificence, and the worship of Bel was celebrated there with great splendor. . . . 
As the temples of the gods were sacred, and were regarded as inviolable, it 
would be natural to make them the repository of valuable spoils and treasures. 
Many of the spoils of the Romans were suspended around the walls of the 
temples of their gods, particularly in the temple of victory.— Note, in loco. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts.— In all heathen temples there is a place for the sacred 
jewels and other treasures. The ornaments of the idols are sometimes of great 
value. — Orient. Jllust., p. 496. 

COURT OFFICERS. 

Dan. 1 : 3, 4.— And the king spake unto Ashpenaz,the master of his eunuchs, that he should 
bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; children in 
whom there was no blemish, but well-favored, etc. 

Curtius. — In all barbarous or uncivilized countries, the stateliness of the body 
is held in great veneration ; nor do they think him capable of great, services or 



DANIEL II. 



555 



act'ion to whom nature has not vouchsafed to give a beautiful form and aspect. 
It has always been the custom of Eastern nations to choose such for their prin- 
cipal officers, or to wait on princes and great personages. — In Burder's Oriental 
Customs. 

Sir Paul Ricant. — The youths that are designed for the great offices of the 
Turkish empire must be of admirable features and looks, well-shaped in their 
bodies, and without any defects of nature : for it is conceived that a corrupt 
and sordid soul can scarce inhabit in a serene and ingenuous aspect ; and I have 
observed not only in the seraglio, but also in the courts of great men, their per- 
sonal attendants have been of comely lusty youths, well habited, deporting them- 
selves with singular modesty and respect in the presence of their masters. — In 
Burder's Oriental Customs. 



NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. 

Dan. ii : I, 2. — Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his 
sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, 
and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The Chaldeans being the most 
ancient of the Babylonians, hold the same station in the 
commonwealth as the Egyptian priests do in Egypt ; for 
being appointed to divine offices they spend all their time 
in the -study of philosophy, and are especially famous for 
their knowledge of astrology. They are much given to 
divination, and foretell future events ; they also endeavor 
by purifications, sacrifices or other enchantments, to avert 
evils and to procure good fortune and success. They are 
skilful also in the art of divination by the flight of birds, 
and profess to interpret dreams and prodigies. — Diod. Sic, 

II., 3- 

Cicero. — Among the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, by a very 
long course of observations of the stars, are considered to 
have established a complete science, so that it became pos- 
sible to predict what would happen to each individual, and priest with gazelle. 
with what destiny each separate person was born. — De —a magician. 
Div., L, c. i. 

Herodotus. — Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, succeeded to the throne. He 
had a daughter whose name was Mandane, concerning whom he had a won- 
derful dream. He dreamed that from her such a stream of water flowed forth as 
not only to fill his capital, but to flood all Asia. This vision he laid before 
such of the Magi as had the gift of interpreting dreams,' who expounded its 
meaning to him in full, whereat he was greatly terrified. On this account, 
when his daughter was now of ripe age, he would not give her in marriage to 
any of the Medes who were of suitable rank, lest the dream should be accom- 
plished, but he married her to, a Persian, of good family, indeed, but of a quiet 




556 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

temper, whom he looked on as much inferior to a Mede of even middle condi- 
tion. — Clio, c. 107. 

Idem. — Astyages saw another vision. He fancied that a vine grew from the 
womb of his daughter and overshadowed the whole of Asia. After this dream, 
which he submitted also to the interpreters, he sent to Persia and fetched away 
Mandane, who was now with child and was not far from her time. On her 
arrival he set a watch over her, intending to destroy the child to which she 
should give birth ; for the Magian interpreters had expounded the vision to 
foreshow that the offspring of his daughter would reign over Asia in his stead. 
Clio, c. 108. 

Idem. — While everything was making ready for his departure, Xerxes saw a 
third vision. The Magi, to whom it was related, were of opinion that it por-. 
tended to Xerxes unlimited and universal empire. — Polymnia, c. 19. 

Dan. ii: 20-22. — Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: 
for wisdom and might are his: and he changelh the times and the seasons; he removeth 
kings, and setteth up kings : he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that 
know understanding : he revealeth the deep and secret things : he knoweth what is in the 
darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 

Epictetus. — Is not God capable of surveying all things, and being present 
with all, and receiving a certain communication from all? Is the sun capable 
of illuminating so great a portion of the universe, and leaving only that small 
portion of it unilluminated which is covered by the shadow of the earth : and 
cannot he who made the sun and causes it to revolve — a small part of himself if 
compared with the whole — cannot he perceive all things ? When you have shut 
your doors and darkened your room, remember never to say that you are alone ; 
for you are not : but God is within, and your genius is within : and what need 
have they of light to see what you are doing? — Epict., I., 14. 

Dan. ii: 31-33. — Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose 
brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's 
head was of fine gold, and his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 
his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 

Dr. John Kitto. — In ancient coins and medals, nothing is more common 
than to see Cities and Nations represented by human figures, male or female. 
According to the ideas which, suggested such symbols, a vast image in the human 
figure was, therefore, a very fit emblem of sovereign power and dominion, 
while the materials of which it was composed did most significantly typify the 
character of the various empires, the succession of which was foreshown by this 
vision. This last idea, of expressing the condition of things by metallic symbols, 
was prevalent before, the time of Daniel. Hesiod, who lived about two centuries 
before Daniel, characterizes the succession of ages (four) by the very same metals 
— the ages of gold, silver, brass and iron. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Dan. ii: 37, 38. — Thou, O king, art a king of kings. . . . Thou art this head of gold. 

Bishop Newton. — All the ancient Eastern histories almost are lost; but there 



DANIEL II. 557 

are some fragments even of heathen historians yet preserved, which speak of this 
mighty conqueror and his extended empire. Perosus, in Josephus, saith that 
he held in subjection Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia, and by his exploits sur- 
passed all the Chaldeans and Babylonians who reigned before him. Josephus 
subjoins, that in the archives of the Phoenicians there are written things conso- 
nant to those which are said by Berosus concerning this king of the Babylo- 
nians, that he subdued Syria and all Phoenicia. With these likewise agrees 
Philostratus in his history, and Megasthenes in the fourth book of his Indian 
history, throughout which he attempts to show that the forementioned king 
of the Babylonians exceeded Hercules in fortitude and greatness of exploits ; 
for he affirms that he subdued the greatest part of Lybia and Spain. Strabo 
likewise, from the same Megasthenes, asserts that this king among the Chal- 
deans was more celebrated than Hercules, and that he proceeded as far as to the 
pillars of Hercules, and led his army out of Spain into Thrace and Pontus. But 
his empire, though of great extent, was yet of no long duration ; for it ended in 
his grandson Belshazzar, not seventy years after the delivery of this prophecy, 
nor above twenty-three years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar.- — Dissert, on 
Proph.,p. 1 86. 

Dan. ii : 39. — And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee. 

Bishop Newton. — " His breast and his arms of silver " — which Daniel inter- 
prets, "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." It is very 
well known that the kingdom which arose after the Babylonians was the Medo- 
Persian. The two hands and the shoulders, saith Josephus, signify that the 
empire of the Babylonians should be dissolved by two kings. The two kings 
were the kings of the Medes and Persians, whose powers were united under 
Cyrus, who was son of one of the kings and son-in-law of the other, and who 
besieged and took Babylon, put an end to that empire, and on its ruins erected 
the Medo-Persian, or the Persian as it is more usually called, the Persians 
having soon gained the ascendency over the Medes. This empire is said to be 
"inferior," as being less than the former, and as being worse than it. Dr. 
Prideaux asserts, and I believe he may assert very truly, that the kings of Persia 
were "the worst race of men that ever governed an empire." This empire 
from its first establishment by Cyrus to the death of the last king, Darius 
Codomannus, lasted not much above 200 years. — Dissert, on- Proph., p. 187. 

Lyman. — From the time of Xerxes, b. c. 479, symptoms of decay and cor- 
ruption were manifest in the Persian empire ; the national character gradually 
degenerated ; the citizens were corrupted and enfeebled by luxury; and confided 
more in mercenary troops than in native valor and fidelity. The kings sub- 
mitted to the control of their wives, or the creatures whom they raised to posts 
of distinction ; and the satraps, from being civil functionaries, began to usurp 
military authority. — Historical Chart. 

Dan. ii : 39. — And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 

Bishop Newton. — "His belly and his thighs of brass" — which Daniel 



558 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

interprets, *Aa<3 another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all 
the earth." It is universally known, that Alexander the Great subverted the 
Persian empire. The kingdom, therefore, which succeeded to the Persian was 
the Macedonian; and this kingdom was fitly represented by "brass; " for the 
Greeks were famous for their brazen armour, their usual epithet being the brazen- 
coated Greeks. (Iliad, II., 47.) Daniel's interpretation in Josephus is, that 
another coming from the west, completely armed in brass, shall destroy the 
empire of the Medes and Persians. This third kingdom is also said to "bear 
rule over all the earth," by a figure usual in almost all authors. Alexander 
himself commanded that: he should be called The King of all the World; not 
that he really conquered or near conquered the whole world, but he had con- 
siderable dominions in Europe, Asia and Africa, that is, in all the three parts 
of the world then known ; and Diodorus Siculus, and other historians, give an 
account of ambassadors coming from almost all the world to congratulate him 
upon his success, or to submit to his empire: and then especially, as Arrian 
remarks, did Alexander himself appear to himself and to those about him to be 
master of all the earth and sea. That the third kingdom, therefore, was the 
Macedonian (including the Rule of Alexander and his successors), every one 
allows and must allow. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 188. 

Dan. ii: 40. — And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in 
pieces and subdueth all things : and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces 
and bruise. 

Bishop Newton. — The Romans succeeded next to the Macedonians. The 
Roman empire was stronger and larger than any of the preceding. The 
Romans brake in pieces and subdued all the former kingdoms. — Dissert, o't 
Pi'oph., p. 191. 

Gibbon. — The arms of the Republic — sometimes vanquished in battle, always 
victorious in war — advanced with rapid strides to the Euphrates, the Danube, 
the Rhine, and the Ocean ; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that 
might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken 
by the iron monarchy of Rome. — Dec. and Fall, p. 1 642, Lond. Ed., 1830. 

Irving. — The Roman empire did beat down the constitution and establish- 
ment of all other kingdoms; abolishing their independence, and bringing them 
into the most entire subjection; humbling the pride, subjecting the will, using 
the property, and trampling upon the power and dignity of all other states. 
For by this was the Roman dominion distinguished from all the rest, that it. was 
the work of almost as many centuries as those were of years; the fruit of a thou- 
sand battles, in which millions of men were slain. It made room for itself as 
doth a battering-ram, by continual successive blows ; and it ceased not to beat 
and bruise all nations, so long as they continued to offer any resistance. — Disc, 
on Dan. Visions, p. 180. ^ 

Dan. ii : 41. — And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, 
the kingdom shall be divided ; and there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch 
as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry clay. 



DANIEL II. 559 

Bishop Newton. — The Romans were defiled, and weakened, with a mixture 
of barbarous nations . . . and in the fourth century after Christ, the empire 
began to be torn in pieces by the incursions of the barbarous nations. — Dissert, 
on Proph., p. 191. 

Rev. Albert Barnes.- 1 — Iron and clay cannot be welded ; and the idea here 
clearly is, that in the empire here referred to there would be two main elements 
which could never be made to blend — there would be the element . of great 
power, there would be also an element of weakness. " There shall be in it of the 
strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry 
clay." No one can fail to perceive how this applies to the Roman empire; a 
mighty power which, through all its long history, was distinguished for the 
vigor with which it carried forward its plans, and pressed on to universal 
dominion. As to the element of weakness, symbolized by the clay . . . there 
was the intermingling of nations of other languages, laws, and customs which 
were never truly amalgamated with the original materials, and which constantly 
tended to weaken and divide the kingdom. . . . Though the essential element 
of the empire remained always — the Roman, — yet there was an intermingling of 
other influences under the same general government, which could be appropri- 
ately compared with clay united with iron, and which ultimately contributed to 
its fall. — Note, in loco. 

Dan. ii : 42. — And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom 
shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 

Bishop Newton. — The Roman empire was at length divided into ten lesser 
kingdoms, answering to the ten toes of the image, as we shall see hereafter, 
(vii : 24.) These kingdoms retained much of the old Roman strength, and 
manifested it upon several occasions, so that "the kingdom was partly strong, 
and partly broken." — Dissert, on Proph., p. 191. 

Dan. ii : 43. — And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miiy clay, they shall mingle them- 
selves with the seed of men : but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not 
mixed with clay. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The Romans aspired at the dominion of the world ; 
and, in their strides at universal conquest, they brought nations under their 
subjection, and admitted them to the rights of citizenship, which had no affinity 
with the original material which composed the Roman power, and which really 
never amalgamated with it, any more than clay does with iron. This was true, 
also, in respect to the hordes that poured into the empire from other countries, 
and particularly from the Scandinavian regions, in the latter periods of the 
empire, and with which the Romans were compelled to form alliances, while, at 
the same time, they could not amalgamate with them. ... No reader of the 
Roman history can be ignorant of the invasions of the Goths, the Huns, and 
the Vandals, or of the effects of these invasions on the empire. No one can be 
ignorant of the manner in which they became intermingled with the ancient 
Roman people, or of the attempts to form alliances with them, by intermarriages 



560 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and otherwise, which were always like attempts to unite iron and clay. "Pla- 
cidia, daughter of Theodosius the Great, was given in marriage to Adolphus, 
king of the Goths ; the two daughters of Stilicho, the Vandal, were successively 
married to Henorius ; and Genseric, another Vandal, gave Eudocia, a captive 
imperial princess, to his son to wife." They shall mingle themselves with the 
seed of men ; but they shall not cleave one to another. — Note, in loco. 

Gibbon. — Millions of servile provincials received the name, without adopting 
the spirit, of Romans. A mercenary army, levied among the subjects and bar- 
barians of the frontier, was the only order of men who preserved and abused 
their independence. By their tumultuary election, a Syrian, a Goth, or an 
Arab, was exalted to the throne of Rome, and invested with despotic power 
over the conquests and over the country of the Scipios. ... To the undiscerning 
eye of the vulgar, Philip appeared a monarch no less powerful than Hadrian or 
Augustus had formerly been. The form was still the same, but the animating 
health and vigor were fled. — DecL and Fall, Vol. L, p. in. Harp. Ed. 

Dan. ii : 44. — And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which 
shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break 
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — There can be no reasonable doubt as to what king- 
dom is here intended. ... Its distinctly declared Divine Origin; the declara- 
tion that it shall never be destroyed ; the assurance that it would absorb all 
other kingdoms, and that it would stand for ever ; and the entire accordance of 
these declarations with the account of the kingdom of the Messiah in the New 
Testament, show beyond a doubt that the Kingdom of the Redeemer is intended. 
"Which shall never be destroyed." The others would pass away. The Baby- 
lonian would be succeeded by the Medo-Persian, that by the Macedonian, that 
by the Roman, and that in its turn by the one which the God of heaven would 
set up. This would be perpetual. Nothing would have power to overthrow it. 
It would live in the revolutions of all other kingdoms, and would survive them 
all. 

" It shall never be destroyed" — " it shall stand forever." The efforts which 
have been made to destroy this kingdom have shown that this cannot be done by 
any human power. Eighteen hundred years have now passed away — a period 
sufficiently long to test the question whether it can be destroyed by force and 
violence, by argument and ridicule. The experiment has been fairly made, and 
if it were possible that it should be destroyed by external force, it would have 
been done. It cannot be imagined that more favorable circumstances for such 
a purpose will ever occur. The Church of Christ has met every form of oppo- 
sition that we can conceive could be made against it, and has survived them 
all. Particularly it has survived the trial which has been made in the following 
respects : (a) The Roman Power, the whole might of the Roman arms, that 
had subdued and crushed the world, was brought to bear upon the kingdom of 
Christ to crush and destroy it, but wholly failed. It cannot be supposed that a 
new power will ever arise that will be more formidable to Christianity than the 



DANIEL III. 561 

Roman was. (b) The Power of Persecution. That has been tried in every way, 
and has failed. The most ingenious forms of torture have been devised to ex- 
tinguish this religion, and have all failed. It has always been found that perse- 
cution has only contributed ultimately to the triumph of the cause which it was 
hoped to crush. (c) The Power of Philosophy. The ancient philosophers 
opposed it, and attempted to destroy it by argument. This was early done by 
Celsus and Porphyry, but it soon became apparent that the ancient philosophy 
had nothing that could extinguish the rising religion, and not a few of the 
prominent philosophers themselves were converted, and became the advocates 
of the faith, {d) The Power of Science. Christianity had its origin in an age 
when science had comparatively made but little progress, and in a country where 
it was almost unknown. The sciences since have made vast advances; and each 
one in its turn has been appealed to by the enemies of religion, to furnish an 
argument against Christianity. Astronomy, History, the discoveries in Egypt, 
the asserted antiquity of the Hindoos, and Geology, have all been employed to 
overthrow the claims of the Christian religion, and have all been compelled to 
abandon the field, (e) The Power of Ridicule. At one time it was held that 
"Ridicule is the test of Truth," and this has been applied unsparingly to the 
Christian religion. But the religion still lives, and it cannot be supposed that 
there will be men endued with the power of sarcasm and wit superior to those 
who, with these weapons, have made war on Christianity, or that infidelity has 
any hope from that quarter. It may be inferred, therefore, that there is no ex- 
ternal source of corruption and decay which will prevent its being perpetual. 
Other kingdoms usually have ; and after a few centuries at most the internal 
corruption — the defect of the organization — develops itself, and the kingdom 
falls. But nothing of this kind occurs in the kingdom of Christ. It has lived 
now through eighteen hundred years, through periods of the world in which 
there have been constant changes in the arts, in the sciences, in manners, in 
philosophy, in forms of government. During that time many a system of phi- 
losophy has been superseded, and many a kingdom has fallen, but Christianity 
is as fresh and vigorous as it meets each coming generation as it ever was ; and 
the past has demonstrated that the enemies of the Gospel have no reason to 
hope that it will become weak by age, and will fall by its own decrepitude. 
Christianity has, at this day, an extent of dominion which it never had before ; 
and there are clearer indications that it will spread over all the earth than ever 
existed at any previous time. " It is a kingdom which shall never be destroyed 
— it shall stand forever." — Notes on Daniel, p. 155, 160. 

NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S IMAGE. 

Dan. iii : 1. — Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was three-score 
cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Semiramis built a temple to Jupiter, whom the Babylo- 
nians call Belus : upon the top she placed three statues of beaten gold, of Jupi- 
ter, Juno, and Rhea; that of Jupiter stood erect in the attitude of walking; it 
35 



562 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 




THE IMAGE OF GOLD. 



was forty feet in height, and 
weighed one thousand Baby- 
lonish talents. The statue of 
Rhea was of the same weight, 
sitting on a golden throne, 
having two lions standing, on 
either side one, at her knees, 
and near them two enormous 
serpents of silver, weighing 
thirty talents each. The im- 
age of Juno stood upright, and 
weighed eight hundred tal- 
ents: her right hand grasped 
a serpent by the head, and in 
her left was a sceptre adorned 
with precious stones. — Biod. 
Sic., II., i. 

Herodotus. — In the temple 
of the Theban Jupiter there 
was formerly an image of solid 
gold, twelve cubits in height. 
— Euterpe, c. 183. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. 
— Nebuchadnezzar had con- 
quered and ravaged Egypt 
but a few years before this, 
and had doubtless been struck 
with the wonders of art which 
he had seen there. Colossal 
statues in honor of the gods 
abounded, and nothing would 
be more natural than that this 
monarch should wish to make 
his capital rival everything 
which he had seen in Thebes. 
— Notes on Da?tiel, in loco. 

Prof. Charles Anthon, 
LL. D. — The Colossus, a 
celebrated brazen image at 
Rhodes, passed for one of the 
seven wonders of the world. 
It was the workmanship of 
Chares, who was employed 
twelve years in making it. 



DANIEL III. 563 

Its height was one hundred and five Grecian feet ; there were few persons who 
could compass the thumb with their arms, and its fingers were larger than most 
statues. It stood with distended legs upon the two moles which formed the 
entrance of the harbor. It was erected 300 b. c, and, after having stood about 
fifty-six years, was broken off below the knees, and thrown down by an 
earthquake. Many centuries after the metal was sold to a Jewish merchant of 
Edessa, who therewith loaded no less than nine hundred camels. The city of 
Rhodes had, according to Pliny, one hundred other colossuses, of inferior size, 
in its different quarters. — Class. Diet., p. 366. 

Dan. iii : I. — He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 
Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — M. Oppert places the plain of Dura to 
the southeast of Babylon, in the vicinity of the .mound of Dowair or Duair. 
He has discovered on this site the pedestal of a colossal statue, and regards the 
modern name as a corruption of the ancient appellation. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, 
p. 628. 

Dan. iii : 1 5. — Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, 
sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, etc. 

Quintus Curtius. — When Alexander the Great entered Babylon, there were 
in the procession singing Magi, and artists playing on stringed instruments of a 
peculiar kind, accustomed to chant the praises of the king. — Q. Curt., v. 3. 

Dan. iii: 19, 20. — Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was 
changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego : therefore he spake, and commanded that 
they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he 
commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and 
Abednego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 

Babylonian Relic. — Upon a signet, found among the ruins of Babylon, now 
in the possession of Mr. Burgoyne, an English gentleman, is portrayed a scene 
that is in striking accord and corroboration of this Scripture record. There are 
three figures in an enclosure, which seems to represent a furnace ; not far off is 
a gigantic figure or idol ; devotees or worshippers are seen on the plain without; 
while several other minute representations appear among all these. Whether 
this actually refers to "the three Hebrew worthies," or to some other similar 
ordeal, certain it is that the Bible scene could hardly be represented more un- 
equivocally and completely on so small a space. — See Murray's Truth of Reve- 
lation Demonstrated, p. 24. 

Annals of Assurbanipal. — Saulmagina, my rebellious brother, who made war 
with me, into a burning fiery furnace they threw him, and destroyed his life. . . . 
Many of the followers of Saulmagina made their escape, and so with their lord 
were they not thrown into the fire. The burning fire they escaped from. — 
Columns IV. and V. 

Author of Maccabees. — It came to pass also, that seven brethren with their 
mother were taken, and compelled by the king (Antiochus) against the law to 
taste swine's flesh, and were tormented with scourges and whips. But one of 
them that spake first said thus, What wouldest thou learn or ask of us ? we are 



564 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers. Then the king 
being in a rage commanded pans and caldrons to be made hot : which forth- 
with being heated, he commanded to cut out the tongue of him that first spake, 
and to cut off the utmost parts of his body, the rest of his brethren and his 
mother looking on. Now when he was thus maimed in all his members, he com- 
manded him being yet alive to be brought to the fire, and to be fried in the pan : 
and as the vapor of the pan was for a good space dispersed, they exhorted one 
another with the mother to die manfully. — //. Mace, vii : 1-5. 

Sir J. Chardin. — Besides these more common modes of execution, there are 
in Persia other modes of inflicting the punishment of death on those who have 
violated the police laws, especially those who have contributed to produce 
scarcity of food, or who have used false weights, or who have disregarded the 
laws respecting taxes. The cooks were fixed on spits and roasted over a gentle 
fire, and the bakers were cast into a burning oven. In the year 1668, when the 
famine was raging, I saw in the royal residence in Ispahan one of these ovens 
burning to terrify the bakers, and to prevent their taking advantage of the 
scarcity to increase their gains. — Voyage en Perse, IV., 276. 

Dan. iii : 21. — Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their 
other garments, and were cast, etc. 

Prof. M. Stuart. — According to Herodotus, L, 195, the Babylonish costume 
consisted of three parts ; first, the wide and long pantaloons for the lower part 
of the person ; secondly, a woollen shirt ; and thirdly, a large mantle with a gir- 
dle around it. On the cylinder rolls found at Babylon, Miinter discovered the 
same costume. In Daniel iii: 21, the same three leading and principal articles 
of dress are particularized. Other parts of clothing are merely referred to, but 
not specified ; but these garments being large and loose, and made of delicate 
material, are mentioned in order to show how powerless the furnace was, since 
they were not even singed. — Com. on Daniel, p. 448. 

ROYAL PALACE. 

Dan. iv: 29. — At the end of twelve months Nebuchadnezzar walked in {jnarg. upon) the palace 

of the kingdom of Babylon. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The new palace built by Nebuchadnezzar was prodigious 
in size, and superb in embellishments. Its outer wall embraced six miles; 
within that circumference were two other embattled walls, besides a great tower. 
Three brazen gates led into the grand area, and every gate of consequence 
throughout the city was of brass. The palace was beautifully decorated with 
statues of men and animals, with vessels of gold and silver, and furnished with 
luxuries of all kinds, brought thither from conquests in Egypt, Palestine, and 
Tyre. Its greatest boast were the hanging gardens, which acquired, even from 
the Grecian writers, the appellation of one of the wonders of the world. They 
are attributed to the gallantry of Nebuchadnezzar, who constructed them in 
compliance with a wish of his queen Amytis to possess elevated groves, such as 
she had enjoyed on the hills around her native Ecbatana. Babylon was all flat, 



DANIEL IV. 5g5 

i 

and to accomplish 50 extravagant a desire, an artificial mountain was reared, 400 
feet on each side, while terraces one above another rose to a height that over- 
topped the walls of the city, that is, above 300 feet in elevation. The ascent 
from terrace to terrace was made by corresponding flights of steps, while the ter- 
races themselves were reared to their various stages or ranges of regular piers, 
which forming a kind of vaulting, rose in succession one over the other to the 
required height of each terrace, the whole being bound together by a wall 
twenty-two feet in thickness. The level of each terrace or garden was then 
formed in the following manner : the tops of the piers were first laid over with 
flat stones, sixteen feet in length, and four feet in width ; in these stones were 
spread beds of matting, then a thick layer of bitumen, after which came two 
courses of brick, which were covered with sheets of solid lead. The earth was 
heaped on this platform, and in order to admit the roots of large trees, pro- 
digious hollow piers were built and filled with mould. From the Euphrates, 
which flowed close to the foundation, water was drawn up by machinery. The 
whole, says Q. Curtius (V., 5), had, to those who saw it at a distance, the 
appearance of woods overhanging mountains. The remains of this palace are 
found in the vast mound or hill called by the natives Jiasr. It is of irregular 
form, 800 yards in length, and 600 yards in breadth. Its appearance is con- 
stantly undergoing change from the continual digging which takes place in its 
inexhaustible quarries for brick of the strongest and finest material. Hence the 
mass is furrowed into deep ravines, crossing and recrossing each other in every 
direction. — Cyclop, of Bib. Lit., p. 270. 

BABYLON, ITS GRANDEUR. 

Dan. iv : 30. — The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the 
house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? 

Herodotus. — The Assyrians are masters of many capital towns ; but their 
place of greatest strength is Babylon, where, after the destruction of Nineveh, 
was the royal residence. — Clio, 178. 

Strabo.— Babylon is situated in a plain. The wall is 385 stadia in circum- 
ference, and 32 feet in thickness. The height of the space between the towers 
is 50 cubits, and of the towers 60 cubits. The roadway upon the walls will 
allow chariots with four horses, when they meet, to pass each other with ease; 
whence among the seven wonders of the world are reckoned this wall and the 
hanging garden. — Strabo, lib. xvi., c. 1. 

Abydenus. — Nebuchadnezzar, having ascended the throne, fortified Babylon 
with a triple enceinte, which he completed in fifteen days. He made likewise 
the Armacales, or Royal River, a branch stream from the Euphrates ; and he 
excavated above the city of Sippara a great reservoir, forty farsakhs in cir- 
cumference, and twenty fathoms deep, and arranged floodgates so that by 
opening them it was possible to irrigate the entire plain. Moreover, he built 
quays, etc. — Ap. Euseb., Prcep. Ev., IX., 41. 

Berosus. — Nebuchadnezzar adorned the temple of Belus, and other temples, 



566 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 




with the spoils which he had taken in war; and having strongly fortified 
the city, and beautified the gates exceedingly, he added to his ancestral 

palace a second palace in the imme- 
diate neighborhood, very lofty and 
costly — it were tedious, perchance, to 
describe it at length, wherefore I say 
no more than this, that, vast as was 
its size, and magnificent as was its 
character, the whole was begun and 
finished in fifteen days. And he 
reared in this palace a stone erection 
of great height, to which he gave an 
appearance as nearly as possible like 
that of mountains, and planted it 
with trees of various kinds, thus 
Babylonian Baked Brick, with Nebuchad- forming the far-famed Hanging Gar- 
nezzar's name; 12 inches square and 3 inches den. — Apud Josephus, Coilt. Ap., 
thick. I., 20. 

Standard Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. — (This inscription begins with 
the various titles of Nebuchadnezzar, which are followed by certain prayers and 
invocations to the gods Merodach and Nebo ; it then gives an account of the 
extent of his dominion, and of the wonders and glories of Babylon, his capital, 
of which the following is a part :) The Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel — the great 
double wall of Babylon — I finished. With two long embankments of brick and 
mertar I built the sides of its ditch. I joined it on with that which my father 
Nabopolassar had made. I strengthened the city. Across the river to the west 
I built the wall of Babylon with brick. The Yapur-Shapu — the reservoir of 
Babylon — by the grace of Merodach, I filled completely full of water. With 
bricks burnt hard as stones, and with bricks in huge masses like mountains, the 
Yapur-Shapu, from the gate of Mula as far as Nana, who is the protectress of 
her votaries, by the grace of his godship (i. e., Merodach), I strengthened. 
With that which my father had made I joined it. I made the way of Nana the 
protectress of her votaries. The great gates of the Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti- 
Bel, the reservoirs of Babylon at the time of fulness inundated them. These 
gates I raised. Against the waters their foundations with brick and mortar I 
built. . . For the delight of mankind I filled the reservoir. Behold ! besides 
the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon, I constructed inside 
Babylon on the eastern side of the river a fortification such as no king had ever 
made before me, namely, a long rampart, 4,000 ammas square, as an extra 
defence. I excavated the ditch : with brick and mortar I bound its bed ; a 
long rampart at its head I strongly built. I adorned its gates. The folding- 
doors and the pillars I plated with copper. Against presumptuous enemies, 
who were hostile to the men of Babylon, great waters, like the waters of the 
ocean, I made use of abundantly. Their depths were like the depths of the vast 



DANIEL IV. 567 

ocean. I did not allow the waters to overflow, but the fulness of their floods I 
caused to flow on, restraining them with a brick embankment. . . Thus I com- 
pletely made strong the defences of Babylon. May it last forever ! ... In 
Babylon — the city which is the delight of my eyes, and which I have glorified 
— when the waters were in flood, they inundated the foundations of the great 
palace called Tapraia-nisi, or the "Wonder of Mankind;" a palace with many 
chambers and lofty towers • the high-place of Royalty, situated in the land of 
Babylon, and in the middle of Babylon ; stretching from the Ingur-bel to the bed 
of the Shebil, the eastern canal, and from the bank of the Sippara river to the 
water of the YapurShapu, which Nabopolassar my father built with brick and 
raised up ; when the reservoir of Babylon was full, the gates of this palace were 
flooded. I raised the mound of brick on which it was built, and made smooth its 
platform. I cut off the floods of the water, and the foundations of the palace I 
protected against the water with bricks and mortar, and I finished it completely. 
Long beams I set up to support it : with pillars and beams plated with copper 
and strengthened with iron I built up its gates. Silver and gold, and precious 
stones whose names were almost unknown, I stored up inside, and placed there 
the treasure-house of my kingdom. . . — See Rawlinson's/jfe/W., Vol. II., p. 485. 
Dr. William Fraser. — Nebuchadnezzar contributed so much to the exten- 
sion and adornment of the city that, naturally, as recorded in Scripture, "He 
walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, and said, Is not this great Baby- 
lon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and 
for the honor of my majesty ? " In the clear Standard Inscription of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, his account of what he did is in every sense only an amplification of 
the above brief announcement, — "The double enclosure which Nabopolassar, 
my father, had made, but not completed, / finished. . . . The great double wall 
of Babylon /finished. . . / strengthened the city. . . Across the river to the west 
/ built the wall of Babylon with brick. . . The reservoir of Babylon, by the 
grace of Merodach, /filled completely full of water. . . /made the way of Nana, 
the protectress of her votaries. . . These gates / raised. . . For the delight of 
mankind, /filled the reservoir. Behold ! besides the Ingur-Bel, the impregna- 
ble fortification of Babylon, /constructed inside Babylon, on the eastern side 
of the river, a fortification such as no king had ever made before me, namely, a 
long rampart, 4,000 ammas square, as an extra defence, /excavated the ditch; 
with brick and mortar /bound its bed; a long rampart at its head / strongly 
built, /adorned its gates. The folding-doors and pillars /plated with copper " 
— and so on. Can any historical light more vividly reveal the accuracy of the 
photograph of Nebuchadnezzar as it is set in the Book of Daniel ?— -Blending 
Lights, p. 288. 

NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S MADNESS. 

Dan. iv : 33. — The same hour wfes the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven 
from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his 
hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The true account in regard to Nebuchadnezzar's car- 



568 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

amity undoubtedly is this, — He became a maniac, by a direct Divine judg- 
ment on account of his pride. The particular form of the insanity with which 
he was afflicted, seems to have been that he imagined himself to be a beast : and 
this idea having taken possession of hi, mind, he acted accordingly: such a 
fancy is no uncommon thing among maniacs. Numerous instances may be found 
in works on Insanity — or, indeed, may be seen in any lunatic asylum. One 
imagines that he is a king, and decks himself out with a sceptre and diadem ; 
another that he is glass, and is filled with anxiety lest he should be broken; 
others have regarded themselves as deprived of their proper nature as human 
beings; etc., etc. (See Arnold on Insanity, Vol. I., p. 176-195.) In all 
these cases, when such a fancy takes possession of the mind, there will be an 
effort on the part of the patient to act in exact conformity to this view of him- 
self, and his whole conduct will be adapted to it. Nothing can convince him 
that it is not so ; and there is no absurdity in supposing that, if the thought 
had taken possession of the mind of Nebuchadnezzar that he was a beast, he 
would live and act as a wild beast — that forsaking human society, he roamed 
through the royal parks and gardens, among the rare animals there kept — de- 
vouring green herbs, or vegetables, such as commonly furnish food for man, for 
such is the import of the original term. — Notes in loco. 

Dr. Mead. — All the circumstances of Nebuchadnezzar's case agree so well 
with an hypochondriacal madness, that to me it appears evident that he was 
seized with this distemper, and under its influence ran wild into the fields; and 
that, fancying himself transformed into an ox, he fed on grass after the manner 
of cattle. For every sort of madness is the result of a disturbed imagination ; 
which this unhappy man labored under for full seven years. And through 
neglect of taking proper care of himself, his hair and nails grew to an uncom- 
mon length ; whereby the latter, growing thicker and crooked, resembled the 
claws of birds. Now the ancients call this kind of madness Lychanthropy. 
The daughters of Prcetus, it is related, fancying themselves cows, ran into the 
fields, bellowing like those animals. Others fancied themselves to be wolves, 
and howled and barked, etc. — Medica Sacra, Vol. VII. 
Virgil. — The maids of Argos, (though with rage possess'd 
Their imitated lowings fill'd the grove), 
Yet shunn'd the guilt of fair Europa's love, 
Nor sought the youthful husband of the herd, 
Though laboring yokes on their own necks they fear'd, 
And felt for budding horns on their smooth foreheads rear'd. 

Eclog., VI., v. 48. 
BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. 

Dan. v ; I-30. — Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine 
before the thousand. . . . Now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the in- 
terpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, 
and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. ... In that night was Belshazzar the king of the 
Chaldeans slain. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — From the narrative of events belonging 




(569) 



570 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, our author (Daniel) makes a sudden transition 
to the fatal night when the Babylonian kingdom came to an end, being absorbed 
into the Medo-Persian. As he is primarily a prophet, and only secondarily a 
historian, he is no way bound to make his narrative continuous ; and thus he 
does not relate the death of Nebuchadnezzar, nor the accession of his son, nor 
the troubles that followed thereupon, but, omitting a period of some five and 

twenty years, proceeds at once from Nebuchadnezzar's 
recovery of his senses to the closing scene of Babylo- 
nian history, the feast of Belshazzar, and the Persian 
capture of Babylon. Until a few years since, this 
portion of his narrative presented difficulties to the 
historical inquirer which seemed quite insoluble. 
Profane historians of unimpeachable character related 
that the capture of Babylon by the Medo-Persians, 
took place in the reign of a Babylonian king, called 
Nabonnedus (or Labynetus), not of one called Bel- 
shazzar; they said that this Nabonnedus was not of the 
royal stock of Nebuchadnezzar, to which, according to 
Daniel (v : n), Belshazzar belonged; they stated, 
moreover, that he was absent from Babylon at the time 
of its capture; and that, instead of being slain in the 
sack of the town, as Belshazzar was (Dan. v: 30), he 
was made prisoner, and kindly treated by the con- 
queror. Thus the profane and sacred narrative 
seemed to be contradictory at all points ; and ration- 
alists were never tired of urging that here at least the 
narrative of Scripture was plainly unhistoric and un- 
trustworthy. 

A very simple discovery, made a few years ago in 
Lower Babylon, has explained in the most satisfactory 
way all these apparent contradictions. Nabonnedus, 
the last native king of Babylon, according to Berosus, 
Herodotus, and Ptolemy, states that his eldest son 
bore the name of Bel-shar-ezer, and speaks of him 
in a way which shows that he had associated him in 
the government. Hence we learn that there were two 
kings of Babylon at the time of the last siege, Nabon- 
nedus (or Labynetus), the father, and Belsharezer (or 
Belshazzar), the son. The latter was intrusted with the* command within the 
city, while the former occupied a stronghold in the neighborhood; the latter 
alone perished, the former escaped. It is the former only of whom trustworthy 
historians relate that he was not of the royal stock ; the latter may have been, if 
his father took the ordinary precaution of marrying into the deposed house. 
The fact that the Babylonian throne was at this time occupied conjointly by 




DANIEL V. 571 

two monarchs is indicated in the sacred narrative by a curious casual touch. 
Belshazzar, anxious to obtain the interpretation of the miraculous "handwriting 
upon the wall," proclaims that whoever reads it shall be made " the third ruler 
in the kingdom." In every other similar case, the reward is the elevation of the 
individual, who does the service, to the second place in the kingdom, the place 
next the king. The only reason that can be assigned for the variation in this 
instance is that the first and second places were both filled, and that therefore 
the highest assignable reward was the third place. — Hist. Must, of the Old Tes- 
tament, p. 179-182. 

Dr. William Fraser. — Is not this (the discovery of the clay cylinders in Ur 
of the Chaldees, recording the co-regency of Nabonnedus and Belshazzar, and 
thus reconciling the statement of Daniel with profane history) is not this 
another striking testimony to the exactness of the sacred record? That which 
was long a stumbling-block to ignorance, has, in the light of recent discoveries, 
proved a source of strength to the Bible student, and it carries with it an 
emphatic warning against hasty conclusions unfavorable to the word of God. 
The seeming historical inaccuracies in Daniel, of which some German critics 
have complained so loudly, have been turned into an impregnable defence of 
its claims to a reliableness which, in even minute details, no other ancient his- 
tory can profess and establish. — Blending Lights, p. 293. 

Dan. v : 27. — Tekel : Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 
Dr. John Kitto. — The Egyptians entertained the belief that the actions of 
the dead were solemnly weighed in balances before Osiris, and that the condi- 
tion of the departed was determined according to the preponderance of good or 
evil. Such judgment scenes are very frequently represented in the paintings 
and papyri of ancient Egypt. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Homer. — Jove lifts the golden balances, that show 

The fates of mortal men, and things below: 

Here each contending hero's lot he tries, 

And weighs with equal hand their destinies ; 

Low sinks the scale surcharged with Hector's fate ; 

Heavy with death it sinks, and hell receives the weight. 

—Iliad, XXII., 209. 
Virgil. — Jove sets the beam : in either scale he lays 

The champion's fate, and each exactly weighs: 

On this side life and lucky chance ascends; 

Loaded with death that other scale descends. — AZneid, XII., 725. 

Dan. v : 30. — In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 
Xenophon. — They that were with Gobryas, marching on the shortest way they 
could, got round about the palace. Then they that attended Gadatas and Go- 
bryas, in military order, found the doors of the palace shut ; and they that were 
posted opposite to the guard fell on them, and used them immediately in a hos- 
tile manner. As soon as the noise and clamor began, they that were within, per- 



572 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ceiving the disturbance, and the king commanding them to examine what the 
matter was, ran out, throwing open the gates. They that were with Gadatas, 
as soon as they saw the gates loose, broke in ; pressing forward on the runaways, 
and dealing their blows amongst them, they came to the king, and found him 
now in a standing posture, with his sword drawn. They that were with Gada- 
tas and Gobryas, being many in number, mastered him ; they, likewise, that 
were with him were killed. . . . When day came, and they that guarded the castles 
perceived that the city was taken, and the king dead, they gave up the castles. 
—Cyrop., VII., 5. 

Prof. M. Stuart. — Xenophon relates that the party which assailed the 
palace, who were led on by Gobryas and Gadatas, fell upon the guards, who 
were carousing at broad daylight. (Cyrop., VII., 5, 27.) In other words, the 
Persians did not accomplish their onset upon the palace until the night was far 
spent, and daylight was dawning. How now are matters presented in the Book 
of Daniel ? First, there is the feast (of course in the evening) ; then the quaff- 
ing of wine ; then the handwriting on the wall ; then the assembling of all the 
Magi to interpret it ; then the introduction of Daniel, whose interpretation was 
followed by his being clothed with the insignia of nobility, and being pro- 
claimed the third ruler in the kingdom. All this must of course have taken up 
much of the night. Here, then, one writer confirms and illustrates the other. 
— Com. on Dan., p. 438-449. 

DARIUS. 

Dan. vi : 1. — It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes, which 
should be over the whole kingdom. 

Xenophon. — Satraps were set over all the conquered nations, when Cyrus 
was in Babylon. — Cyrop., VIII., 6, 1 seq. 

Herodotus. — Darius, son of Hystaspes, proceeded to establish twenty gov- 
ernments of the kind which the Persians call satrapies, assigning to each its 
governor, and fixing the tribute which was to be paid him by the several nations. 
— Thalia, c. 89. 

Dan. vi : 7. — Whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O 
king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. 

Arrian. — Alexander deemed himself not unworthy to be worshipped by the 
Arabians as a third god, his actions being in no respect inferior to those of 
Bacchus, to whom, as well as to the Firmament, they offered adoration. — Ex. 
Alex., VII., 20. 

Isocrates. — The vilest worship and adoration in the palace, adoring a mortal 
man and calling him a god. — Oral., 4. 

Dan. vi : 14, 15. — Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself 
and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him : and he labored to the going down of the sun to 
deliver him. Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O 
king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king 
establisheth may be changed. 

Sir John Malcolm.— The character of the power of the king of Persia has 



DANIEL VI. 573 

undergone no change. The late king, Aga Mohammed Khan, when encamped 
near Shiraz, said, He would not move till the snow was off the mountain in the 
vicinity of his camp. The season proved severe, and the snow remained longer 
than was expected ; the army began to suffer distress and sickness, but the king 
said, while the snow remained upon the mountain he would not move : and his 
word was law, and could not be broken. A multitude of laborers were collected 
and sent to remove the snow : their efforts, and a few fine days, cleared the 
mountain, and Aga Mohammed Khan marched. This anecdote was related to 
me by one of his principal chiefs, who told it to me with a desire of impressing 
my mind with a high opinion of Aga Mohammed Khan, who knew, he observed, 
the sacred nature of a word spoken by the king of Persia. — Hist, of Persia, Vol. 
I., p. 268. 

DANIEL CAST INTO THE BEN. 

Dan. vi : 16. — Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den 

of lions. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This is a new kind of punishment not previously men- 
tioned in scripture ; and that it first occurs here at Babylon, is a remarkable 
fact, showing the accuracy of the sacred writers in their references to the manners 
and usages of different nations. We are not aware that any ancient writer 
mentions that the inhabitants of Babylon were in the habit of throwing 
offenders to be devoured by lions kept in dens for the purpose. But we have 
the still more conclusive evidence of Monuments brought to light by modern 
travellers, on the sites not only of Babylon but of Susa also, representing lions 
destroying and preying upon human beings. The first was found at Babylon, 
near the great mass of ruin which is supposed to mark the site of the grand 
western palace. The second was also dug from the ruins of Babylon by Cap- 
tain Mignan. The third was found near the tomb of Daniel at Susa. — Pict. 
Bib., in loco. 

Dan. vi : 17. — And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den ; and the king sealed 
it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords. 

Herodotus. — The Babylonians wear turbans on their heads, and anoint their 
whole body with perfumes. Every one carries a seal, and a walking-stick, etc. 
— Clio, c. 195. 

Idem. — When the king (Rhampsinitus) next paid a visit to the Treasure- 
Chamber, he was astonished to see that the money was sunk in some of the 
vessels wherein it was stored away. Whom to accuse, however, he knew not, as 
the seals were all perfect, and the fastenings of the room secure. — Euterpe, 
c. 121. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — Of engraved cylinders or gems, a large 
collection was brought by me to England, which form an important as well as 
an interesting class of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities. . . . The most 
interesting specimen of this class is the well-known gem of green chalcedony in 
the British Museum, on which is engraved king Darius in his chariot, with his 



574 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

name and that of his father. This was probably a royal signet. — Nineveh and 
Babylon, p. 514, 517. 

Dan. vi: 24. — And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Dan- 
iel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the 
lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the 
bottom of the den. 

Annals of Assurbanipal. — The rest of the people alive, among the bulls 
and lions, as Sennacherib, the father of my father, into the midst used to throw ; 
lo ! again, I following in his footsteps, those men into the midst of them I threw. 
— Colu??in V., lines 6-9. 

Ammianus Marcellinus. — The laws among the Persians are formidable ; among 
which, those which are enacted against the ungrateful and deserters, and similar 
abominable crimes, surpass others in cruelty, by which, on account of the guilt 
of one, all the kindred perish. — Rerum Gestarum Lib?i., XXIII. , 6, 81. 

VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 

Dan. vii : 1. — In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions 

of his head upon his bed. 

Bishop Newton. — What was exhibited to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a 
great image, was represented to Daniel in the shape of great wild beasts. 
" These beasts, which are four (say, the angel) are four kings," or kingdoms. — 
Dissert, on Proph., p. 201. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Daniel is, to a very great extent, his own interpreter; and 
the reader who compares the visions with each other, and who possesses the 
slightest acquaintance with history, cannot fail to discover the subjects to which 
they refer, and the remarkable and literal fulfilment they have all received — with 
the exception of those concluding ones which are left for the time yet future 
to reveal. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Dan. vii : 2. — I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens strove 

upon the great sea. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This symbol would naturally denote some wild com- 
motion among the nations, as if the winds of heaven should rush together upon 
the sea. . . It is certain that all that is here said would find a counterpart in the 
period which immediately preceded the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, or the king- 
dom which he founded and adofned. His rapid and extensive conquests; the 
agitation of the nations in self-defence, and their wars against one another, 
would be well denoted by the agitation of the ocean as seen in vision by Daniel. 
— Note, in loco. 

Dan. vii : 3. — And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — It is not uncommon for the prophets to make use of 
animals to represent or symbolize kingdoms and nations. Thus the dragon or 
the crocodile of the Nile is put for Pharaoh. So on ancient coins, animals are 
often used as emblems of kingdoms, as it may be added, the Lion and the Uni- 
corn represent Great Britain, and the Eagle the United States. — Note, in loco. 



DANIEL VII. 575 

Dan. vii : 4. — The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings : I beheld till the wings thereof 
were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earih, and made stand on the feet as a man, and 
a man's heart was given to it. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The lion, the king of beasts, is the symbol of strength 
and courage, and becomes the proper emblem of a king. . . Eagles' wings are the 
emblem of swiftness. . . Plucking or clipping the wings symbolizes a check on 
the speed or progress of the conqueror. . . The lion being made to stand on its 
feet as a man, and receiving the heart of a man, imply a change as if the lion 
was changed to a man ; that is, as if the ferocity, and the power, and the energy 
of the lion had given place to the comparative weakness of a man. 

Now in regard to the application of this symbol, there can be but little diffi- 
culty, and there is almost no difference of opinion among expositors. All, or 
nearly all agree that it refers to the kingdom of Babylon, of which Nebuchad- 
nezzar was the head, and to the gradual diminution of the ferocity of conquest 
under a succession of comparatively weak princes. The wings of the eagle well 
represent the rapidity with which the arms of the Babylonians were carried into 
Palestine, Egypt, Assyria, etc. The plucking of these wings as truly denotes the 
cessation of its conquests. All who are acquainted with history know that, after 
the conquests of that kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar, it ceased characteristically 
to be a kingdom distinguished for conquest, but that, though under his succes- 
sors, it held a pre-eminence or headship among the nations, yet that its victories 
were extended no further. The successors of Nebuchadnezzar were compara- 
tively weak and indolent princes — as if the wings of the monster had been 
plucked. . . The change in the character of the empire, until it ceased under the 
feeble reign of Belshazzar, is well denoted by the symbol here employed. — 
Note, in loco. 

D'.n. vii : 5. — And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one 
side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it : and they said thus unto 
it, Arise, devour much flesh. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The character of the kingdom symbolized by the 
bear would be one of ferocity, roughness and fierceness in war; and that, here 
intended, is evidently the Medo-Persian, which succeeded the Babylonian. Of 
this, the bear was not an inappropriate symbol. Taking the whole nation 
together, it was fierce and rough and unpolished, little disposed to friendliness 
with the nations, and dissatisfied while any around it had peace or prosperity. 
The symbol here employed is equally appropriate and truthful : the mad 
projects of Cambyses, and his savage rage against the Ethiopians, are well rep- 
resented by the ferocity of the bear ; the ill-starred expedition to Greece under 
Xerxes, an expedition in its fierceness and folly is well represented by the bear ; 
and the degeneracy of the national character, after Xerxes, is well represented 
by the bear as compared with the lion. No one acquainted with the history of 
that nation can doubt the propriety and applicability of the emblem. . . . The 
bear " raising itself on one side," or from a recumbent posture, as if it had been 
in a state of repose and was now arousing itself for action, is a representation 



576 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

every way applicable to the condition of the Medo-Persian empire, after the con- 
quest by Cyrus, as he overran the kingdom of Lydia, etc., then reposing, and 
now about arousing to the conquest and subjugation of Babylon. The precise 
time, therefore, indicated would be about b. c. 544 (Calmet), when having over- 
come the Medes, and having secured the conquest of Lydia, and the dethrone- 
ment of Croesus, he is meditating the destruction of Babylon. . . . The " three 
ribs in the mouth of the beast " may refer to the three kingdoms of Persia, Media 
and Lydia, that were actually under the dominion of Cyrus, when the aggressive 
movement was made on Babylon. . . . The command to " arise and devour much 
flesh : " no one can fail to see the appropriateness of this, considered as addressed 
to the Medo-Persian power — that power which subdued Babylon ; which brought 
under its dominion a considerable part of the world, and which under Darius 
and Xerxes poured its millions on Greece. The emblem here used is, there- 
fore, one of the most striking and appropriate that could be employed, and it 
cannot be doubted that it had reference to this kingdom, and that, in all the 
particulars, there was a clear fulfilment. — From Notes, in loco. 

Bishop Newton. — "Arise, devour much flesh" — this was said to denote the 
cruelty of the Medes and Persians. Cambyses, Ochus, and others of their 
princes, were indeed more like bears than men. Instances of their cruelty 
abound in almost all the historians who have written of their affairs, from 
Herodotus down to Ammianus Marcellinus. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 203. 

Dan. vii : 6. — After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of 
it four wings of a fowl ; the beast had also four heads ; and dominion was given to it. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The leopard is a well-known beast of prey, distin- 
guished for blood-thirstiness and cruelty, for lying in wait and springing unex- 
pectedly upon its victim. . . . By " the four wings upon its back," celerity of 
movement is undoubtedly intended. . . . " Having four heads," being divided 
into so many powers or sovereignties. . . . We naturally look for the fulfil- 
ment of this symbol in the kingdom or dynasty that followed directly that of 
Medo-Persia, namely the Macedonian dynasty or kingdom, founded by Alex- 
ander the Great, extending over the same countries before occupied by Babylon 
and the Medo-Persian empire, and continuing till it was swallowed up in the 
conquests of Rome. We shall find that all the circumstances agree with this 
supposition. The animal, "a leopard;" the comparative nobleness of the 
animal ; a beast of prey ; the celerity of its movements ; the spring or bound 
with which it leaps upon its prey — all agree well with the kingdom of which 
Alexander was the founder. Indeed there was no other kingdom among the 
ancients to which it could be better applied ; and it will be admitted that — on 
the supposition that it was the design of Daniel to choose a symbol that would 
represent the Macedonian empire— he could not have selected one that was 
better adapted to it than the leopard. All the characteristics of the animal agree 
with the characteristics of Alexander, and his movements among the nations, 
and with the kingdom that was founded by him in the East. The four wings—' 
these represent well the rapidity of the conquests of Alexander, for no more 



DANIEL VII. 



577 



rapid conquests were ever made than were his. The four heads united to one 
body : it is well known that when Alexander died his empire was left to four 
of his generals, and that they came to be at the head of as many distinct 
dominions, yet all springing from the same source, and all, in fact, but the 
Macedonian empire. Thrace and Bythinia fell under Lysimachus ; Syria and 
the East under Seleucus ; Egypt under Ptolemy Soter ; and Macedonia under 
Cassander. It was these four powers, thus springing out of the one empire 
founded by Alexander, that was clearly represented by the four heads. The 
dominion given to it — the dominion of the world was practically conceded to the 
Macedonian dynasty. — From Notes, hi loco. 

Bochart. — The leopard is of small stature, but of great courage, so as not to 
be afraid to engage with the lion and the largest beasts ; and so Alexander, a 
little king in comparison, of small stature too, and with a small army, dared to 
attack the king of kings, that is, Darius, whose kingdom was extended from the 
./^Egean sea to the Indies. — Hieroz., lib. iii., c. 7. 

Jerome. — Nothing was swifter than the victories of Alexander, who ran 
through all the countries from Illyricum and the Adriatic Sea to the Indian 
Ocean and the river Ganges, not so much fighting as conquering, and in twelve 
years, subjugated part of Europe, and all Asia to himself. — Hieron., Co?n. in 
loco. 

Prideaux. — After the death of Alexander, his empire was divided among his 
four captains ; Cassander reigning over Macedon and Greece, Lysimachus over 
Thrace and Bythinia, Ptolemy over Egypt, and Seleucus over Syria. — Connect., 
Part I., lib. 8. 

Bishop Newton. — And dominion was given to it — which showeth that this was 
not owing to the fortitude of Alexander, but proceeded from the will of the 
Lord. And, indeed, unless he had been directed, preserved, and assisted by the 
mighty power of God, how could Alexander with 30,000 men have overcome 
Darius with 600,000, and in so short a time have brought all the countries from 
Greece as far as to India into subjection? — Disserts, on Profih., p. 205. 

Dan. vii : 7, 8. — After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful, and 
terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, 
and stamped the residue with the feet of it : and it was diverse from all the beasts that were 
before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, thei-e came up among 
them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the 
roots : and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great 
things. 

"Rev. Albert Barnes. — A beast dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly 
— As a symbol, this would denote some power much more fearful, and much 
more to be dreaded ; having a wider dominion ; and more stern, more oppres- 
sive in its character, more severe in its exactions, and more entirely destroying 
the liberty of others ; advancing more by power and terror, and less by art and 
cunning, than either of those that went before. . . . It had great iron teeth — 
this would denote a nation signally fierce and formidable to all others. . . . 
36 



578 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet — expressive of a determina« 
tion to crush all in its way to universal dominion. . . . And it had ten horns — • 
The horn is a symbol of power; " and the ten horns, out of this kingdom, (said 
the angel,) are ten kings that shall arise ; " out of that one kingdom there would 
spring up ten. . . . There came up among them another little horn — little at first, 
but subsequently grew, and crowded and pressed on the others, so that three of 
them were uprooted by it. . . . In this horn were eyes — eyes denote intelligence, 
a 1 we see objects by their aid. . . . And a mouth speaking great things — indicative 
of pride and arrogance. . . . The fourth beast, so mighty, so terrific, so powerful, 
so unlike all the others — armed with iron teeth, and claws of brass — trampling 
down and stamping on all the earth — well represents the Roma?t Dominion. The 
symbol is such an one as we would now use appropriately to represent that 
power, and in every respect that empire was well represented by the symbol. 
... In the prophecy, the entire Roman dominion seems to be contemplated as 
one — one mighty and formidable power trampling down the liberties of the 
world ; oppressing and persecuting the people of God — the true church ; and 
maintaining an absolute and arbitrary dominion over the souls of men — as a 
mighty domination standing in the way of the progress of truth, and keeping 
back the reign of the saints on the earth. — From Notes, in loco. 

Bishop Newton. — The Roman Empire was " dreadful, and terrible, and strong 
exceedingly," beyond any of the former kingdoms. It was diverse from all 
kingdoms, not only in its republican form of government, but likewise in 
strength, and power, and greatness, and length of duration, and extent of 
dominion. " It devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the 
feet of it ; " it reduced Macedon into a Roman province about 168 years, the 
kingdom of Pergamus about 133 years, Syria about sixty-five years, and Egypt 
about thirty years before Christ. And besides the remains of the Macedonian 
empire, it subdued many other provinces and kingdoms, so that it might by a 
very usual figure be said to devour the whole earth, and to tread it down, and 
brake it in pieces ; and became in a manner, what the Roman writers delighted 
to call it, " Terrarum orbis Imperium," the empire of the whole world. — Dissert, 
on Pi-oph., p. 207. 

Dionysius Halicarnassus. — The city of Rome ruleth over all the earth, as 
far as it is inhabited ; and commands all the sea, not only that within the 
pillars of Hercules, but also the ocean, as far as it is navigable, having first and 
alone, of all the most celebrated kingdoms, made the East and the West the 
bounds of its empire : and its dominion hath continued not a short time, but 
longer than that of any other city or kingdom. — Antq. Pome, I., 2, 3. 

Dan. vii : 7, 24. — And the beast had ten horns. — And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten- 

kings that shall arise. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — One has only to look into any historical work, to see 
how in fact the Roman power became distributed and broken up in this way into 
a large number of kingdoms, or comparatively petty sovereignties, occupying 



DANIEL VII. 579 

the portions of the world once governed by Rome. In the decline of the 
empire, and as the "new power, represented by the "little horn," arose, there 
was a complete breaking up of the one power that was formerly wielded, and a 
large number of states and kingdoms sprang out of it. (See Lyman's Historical 
Chart.) — Note, in loco. 

Bishop Lloyd. — Within the bounds and out of the territory of the great 
empire of Rome, there arose, successively, the kingdoms following; to wit — 
First, the Huns, about a. d. 356 : second, Ostrogoths, A. d. 377 : third, Visigoths, 
A. d. 378 : fourth, Franks, a. d. 407 \ fifth, Vandals, a. d. 407 : sixth, Sueves and 
Alans, a. d. 407: seventh, Burgundians, a. d. 407: eighth, Herules and Reigians, 
a. d. 476: ninth, Saxons, a. d. 476: tenth, Longobards, A. D. 526. — Lowth's 
Com., in Adden. 

Bishop Newton. — The principal states and governments into which the 
Roman empire was divided, in the eighth century, stood as follows : 

1. The senate of Rome, revolted from the Greek emperors. 

2. The Greeks in Ravenna. , 

3. The Lombards in Lombardy. 

4. The Huns in Hungary. 

5. The Alemanes in Germany. 

6. The Franks in France. 

7. The Burgundians in Burgundy. 

8. The Goths in Spain. 

9. The Britons. 

10. The Saxons in Britain. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 210. 

Dan. vii : 8, 24. — I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little 
horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. — And another 
shall rise after them ; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The "little horn" finds a proper fulfilment in the 
Papacy. The slightest acquaintance with the history and claims of the Papal 
Power will show that there was a striking appropriateness in this symbol — such 
an appropriateness, that if we desired now to find a symbol that would represent 
this, we could find no one better adapted to it than that employed by Daniel, 
(a.) The little horn would spring up among the others, and stand among 
them — as dividing the power with them, or sharing or wielding that power. 
That is, (on the supposition that it refers to the Papacy,) the Papal Power would 
spring out of the Roman empire ; would be one of the sovereignties among 
which that vast power would be divided, and share with the other ten in wield- 
ing authority. It would be an eleventh power added to the ten. And who can 
be ignorant that the Papal Power at the beginning, when it first asserted civil 
authority, sustained just such a relation to the crumbled and divided Roman 
empire as this ? It was just one of the powers into which that vast sovereignty 
passed, (b.) It would not spring up contemporaneously with them, but would 
arise in their midst, when they already existed. They are seen in vision as 
actually existing together, and this new power starts up among them. What 



580 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

could be more strikingly descriptive of the Papacy — as a power arising when 
the great Roman authority was broken to fragments, and distributed into a 
large number of sovereignties ? Then this new power was seen to rise— small 
at first, but gradually gaining strength, until it surpassed any one of them in 
strength, and assumed a position in the world which no one of them had. The 
representation is exact. It is not a foreign power that invaded them ; it starts 
up in the midst of them — springing out of the head of the same beast, and con- 
stituting a part of the same mighty domination that ruled the world, (c.) It 
would be small at first, but would soon become so powerful as to pluck up and 
displace three of the others. And could any symbol have been better chosen 
to describe the Papal Power than this ? Could we find any now that would 
better describe it ? Any one needs to have but the slightest acquaintance with 
the history of the Papal Power, to know that it was small at its beginnings, and 
that its ascendency over the world was the consequence of slow but steady 
growth. Indeed, so feeble was it at its commencement, so undefined was its 
first appearance and form, that one pf the most difficult things in history is to 
know exactly when it did begin, or to determine the exact date of its origin as 
a distinct power, (d.) It would grow to be mighty, for the " little horn " thus 
grew to be so powerful as to pluck up three of the horns of the beast. Of the 
growth of the power of the Papacy, no one can be ignorant who has any 
acquaintance with history. It held nations in subjection, and claimed and 
exercised the right of displacing or distributing crowns as it pleased, (e.) It 
would subdue " three kings; " that is, three of the ten represented by the ten 
horns. The prophet saw this at some point in its progress when three fell be f ore 
it, or were overthrown by it. — Notes, in loco. 

Machiavel. — (This writer, himself a Roman Catholic, having shown how the 
Roman empire was broken and divided by the incursions of the northern nations, 
says,) — About this time the bishops of Rome began to take upon them, and to 
exercise greater authority than they had formerly done. At first, the successors 
of St. Peter were venerable and eminent for their miracles, and the holiness «of 
their lives; and their examples added daily such numbers to the Christian 
Church, that to obviate or remove the confusions which were then in the world, 
many princes turned Christians, and the emperor of Rome being converted 
among the rest, and quitting Rome, to hold his residence at Constantinople ; 
the Roman empire (as we have said before) began to decline, but the church of 
Rome increased as fast, and continued to do so under the Goths, then under 
the Lombards ; and afterwards by the calling in of the Franks. — Hist, of Florence, 
lib. i., p. 6. 

Dan. vii: 8, 24. — Before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. — 

And he shall subdue three kings. 

Sir Isaac Newton. — "Kings" are put for kingdoms; and therefore the 
" little horn " is a little kingdom. It was a horn of the fourth beast, and rooted 
up three of his first horns ; and therefore we are to look for it among the nations 
of the Latin empire, after the rise of the ten horns. ... In the eighth century, 



DANIEL VII. 581 

by rooting up and subduing the Exarchate of Ravenna, the Kingdom of the 
Lombards, and the Senate and Dukedom of Rome, he acquired Peter's patrimony 
out of their dominions. ... It was certainly by the victory of the See of Rome 
over the Greek emperor, the king of Lombardy, and the senate of Rome, that 
she acquired Peter's patrimony, and rose up to her greatness. — Obs. on Dan., 
chap, vii., p. 74-76. 

Bishop Newton. — First, the Exarchate of Ravenna, which of right belonged 
to the Greek emperors, and which was the capital of their dominions in Italy, 
having revolted at the instigation of the Pope, was unjustly seized by Aistul- 
phus, king of the Lombards, who thereupon thought of making himself master 
of Italy. The Pope in this exigency applied for help to Pepin, king of France, 
who marched into Italy, besieged the Lombards in Pavia, and forced them to 
surrender the Exarchate and other territories, which were not restored to the 
Greek emperor, as in justice they ought to have been, but at the solicitation of 
the Pope were given to St. Peter and his successors for a perpetual succession. 
This was effected in the year 755. Secondly, the Kingdom of the Lombards was 
often troublesome to the Popes : and now again king Desiderius invaded the 
territories of Pope Adrian I. So that the Pope was obliged to have recourse 
again to the king of France, and earnestly invited Charles the Great, the son 
and successor of Pepin, to come into Italy to his assistance. He came accord- 
ingly with a great army, being ambitious also himself of enlarging his dominions 
in Italy, and conquered the I ombards, and put an end to their kingdom, and 
gave great part of their dominions to the Pope. He not only confirmed the 
former donations of his father, Pepin, but also made an addition of other 
countries to them, as Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the Sabine territory, the whole 
tract between Luca and Parma, and that part of Tuscany which belonged to 
the Lombards : and the tables of these donations he signed himself, and caused 
them to be signed by the bishops, abbots, and other great men then present, 
and laid them so signed upon the altar of St. Peter. And this was the end of 
the kingdom of the Lombards, in the year of Christ 774. Thirdly, after 
Charles the Great had overthrown the kingdom of the Lombards, he came 
again to Rome, was chosen Roman patrician, and then settled the affairs of 
Italy, and permitted the Pope to hold under him the Duchy of Rome, with other 
territories. After the death of Charles, his son and successor, Lewis the Pious, 
at the request of Pope Paschal, confirmed the donations which his father and 
grandfather had made to the See of Rome. These, as we conceive, were the 
"three horns," which fell before the little horn: and the Pope hath in a man- 
ner pointed himself out for the person by wearing the Triple Crown. — Disserts, 
on the Proph ., p. 218-220. 

Gibbon. — The gratitude of the Carlovingians was adequate to these obliga- 
tions, and their names are consecrated as the saviours and benefactors of the 
Roman Church. Her ancient patrimony of farms and houses was transformed 
by their bounty into the temporal donation of cities and provinces, and the dona- 
tion of the Exarchate was the first fruits of the conquests of Pepin. . . The 



582 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Exarchate comprised the territories of Ravenna, Bologna and Ferrara; its in- 
separable dependency was the Pentapolis, which stretched along the Adriatic. 
. . . The splendid donation was granted in supreme and absolute dominion, 
and the world beheld for the first time a Christian Bishop invested with the 
prerogatives of a Temporal Prince, the choice of magistrates, the exercise of 
justice, the imposition of taxes, and the wealth of the palace of Ravenna. In 
the dissolution of the Lombard kingdom, the inhabitants of the Duchy of Spoleti 
sought a refuge from the storm, shaved their heads after the Ravenna fashion, 
declared themselves the servants and subjects of St. Peter, and co?npleted, by 
this voluntary surrender, the present circle of the Ecclesiastical State. — Decline 
and Fall, Chap. XLIX. 

'He shall be diverse from the first. 

Bishop Newton. — His kingdom shall be of a different nature and constitution. 
And the power of the Pope differs greatly from that of all other princes, being 
an ecclesiastical and spiritual, as well as a civil and temporal authority. — 
Dissert, o n Proph . , p . 220. 

And behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man. 

Bishop Newton. — This denotes his cunning and foresight, his looking out and 
watching all opportunities to promote his own interests. And the policy of the 
Roman hierarchy hath almost passed into a proverb. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 220. 

And he had a mouth that spake very great things. 

Bishop Newton. — And who hath been more noisy and blustering than the 
Pope, especially in former ages, boasting of his supremacy, thundering out his 
bulls and anathemas, excommunicating princes, and absolving subjects from 
their allegiance. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 220. 

His look was more stout than his fellows. 

Bishop Newton. — And the Pope assumes a superiority, not only over his 
fellow-bishops, but even over crowned heads, and requires his foot to be kissed, 
and greater honors to be paid to him than to kings and emperors themselves. — 
Dissert, on Proph., p. 220. 

And he shall speak great words against the Most High. 

Bishop Newton. — Setting up himself above all laws divine and human; 
arrogating to himself godlike attributes and titles of holiness and infallibility; 
exacting obedience to his ordinances and decrees, in preference to, and open 
violation of reason and scripture, insulting men and blaspheming God. — 
Dissert, on Proph., p. 221. 

And he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. 

Bishop Newton. — By wars and massacres, and inquisitions, persecuting and 
destroying the faithful servants of Jesus, and the true worshippers of God, who 
protest against his innovations, and refuse to comply with the idolatry practised 
in the church of Rome. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 221. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — " Making war with the saints" — "wearing out the 



DANIEL VIII. 583 

saints of the Most High." Can any one doubt that this is true of the Papacy? 
The Inquisition ; the persecutions of the Waldenses ; the ravages of the Duke 
of Alva ; the fires of Smithfield ; the tortures of Goa, — indeed, the whole 
history of the Papacy may be appealed to in proof that this is applicable to that 
power. If anything could have " worn out the saints of the Most High" — 
could have cut them off from the earth so that evangelical religion would have 
become extinct, it would have been the persecutions of the Papal power. In 
the year 1208, a crusade was proclaimed by Pope Innocent III. against the 
Waldenses and Albigenses, in which a million of men perished. From the 
beginning of the order of the Jesuits in the year 1540 to 1580 nine hundred 
thousand were destroyed. One hundred and fifty thousand perished by the 
Inquisition in thirty years. In the Low Countries fifty thousand persons were 
hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive for the crime of heresy within the 
space of thirty-eight years from the edict of Charles V., against the Protestants, 
to the peace of Chateau Cambreses in 1559. Eighteen thousand 'suffered by the 
hand of the executioner, in the space of five years and a half, during the admin- 
istration of the Duke of Alva. Indeed, the slightest acquaintance with the 
history of the Papacy will convince any one that what is here said of " making 
war with the saints," and " wearing out the saints of the Most High," is strictly 
applicable to that power, and will accurately describe its history. — Note, in loco. 
And he shall think to change times and laws. 
Bishop Newton. — Appointing fasts and feasts, canonizing saints, granting 
pardons and indulgences of sins, instituting new modes of worship, imposing 
new articles of faith, enjoining new rules of practice, and reversing at pleasure 
the laws both of God and man. Who knoweth not that the Pope doeth all 
these things ? — So then, if exquisite fitness of application may assure us of the 
true sense of the prophecy, we can no longer doubt concerning the person 
represented by the " little horn." — Dissert, on Profh., p. 220, 221. 

VISION OF THE RAM AND HE-GOAT. 

Dan. via: 2. — And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shusan in 
the palace, which is in the province of Elam. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Shusan or Susa was originally the capital 
of the country, in Scripture called Elam, but by the classical writers sometimes 
Susiana. . . . Mention of the town has been found in the Inscriptions of 
Asshur-bani-pal, the son and successor of Esar-Haddon, who states that he took 
the place, and exhibits a ground-plan of it upon his sculptures. The date of 
this monument is about b. c. 660. The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus trans- 
ferred Susa to the Persian dominion, and, in the course of time, became the 
capital of that country. — Smith's Diet, of Bible. 

Strabo. — The palace at Susa was embellished more than the rest : Alexander 
transferred everything that was precious in Persia to Susa, which was itself full 
of treasures and costly materials ; he did not, however, consider this place, but 
Babylon, as the royal residence, and intended to embellish it. — Strab., lib. 
xv., c. 13. 



584 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Sir John Malcolm. — The site of ancient Shusan is generally believed to be 
marked by the present village of Shus. Here are extensive ruins, consisting, 
like other ruins in that country, of hillocks of earth, and rubbish, covered with 
broken pieces of brick and colored tile. At the foot of these mounds is the * 
so-called tomb of Daniel, a small building erected on the spot where the 
remains of Daniel are believed in that region to rest — and nothing but the 
belief that this was the site of the prophet's sepulchre could have led to its 
being built in the place where it stands. It is a small edifice, but sufficient to 
shelter some dervishes who watch the remains of the prophet, and are supported 
by the alms of pious pilgrims, who visit the holy sepulchre. The dervishes 
are now the only inhabitants of Susa ; and every species of wild beasts roams at 
large over the spot on which some of the proudest palaces ever raised by human 
art once stood. — History of Persia, Vol. I., p. 255, 256. 

Dan. viii : 3. — Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a 
ram which had two horns : and the two horns were high ; but one was higher than the other, 
and the higher came up last. — Ver. 20. — The ram which thou sawest having two horns are 
the kings of Media and Persia. 

Bishop Newton. — The empire which was formed by the conjunction of the 
Medes and Persians was not unfitly represented by a ram with two horns. 
Cyrus, the founder of this empire, was son of Cambyses, king of Persia, and by 
his mother Mandane was grandson of Astyages, king of Media ; and afterwards 
marrying the daughter and only child of his uncle Cyaxares, king of Media, he 
succeeded to both crowns, and united the kingdoms of Media and Persia. It 
was a coalition of two very formidable powers, and therefore it is said that 
" the two horns were high : but one," it is added, " was higher than the other, 
and the higher came up last." The kingdom of Media was the more ancient of 
the two, and more famous in history • Persia was of little note or account till 
the time of Cyrus : but under Cyrus the Persians gained and maintained the 
ascendant. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 236. 

Ammianus Marcellinus. — The king of Persia was wont to wear a ram's 
head made of gold, and adorned with precious stones, instead of a diadem. — 
Amm. Mar., XIX., 1. 

Bishop Chandler. — Rams' heads with horns, one higher, and the other lower, 
are still to be seen on the pillars at Persepolis. — Vindication, c. 1, § 4, p. 154. 

Dan. viii: 4. — I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no 
beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but 
he did according to his will, and became great. 

Lengerke. — Nothing could more truly set forth the conquests made by the 
Medo-Persian empire than this representation. On the west the conquests 
embraced Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor; on the north, Col- 
chis, Armenia, Iberia, and the regions round the Caspian Sea; and on the 
south, Palestine, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Lybia. — Comment, in loco. 

Bishop Newton. — Under Cyrus himself, the Persians pushed their conquests 
westward, as far as the ^Egean Sea and the bounds of Asia. (Herod., I., 169.) 



DANIEL VIII. 585 

Northward they subdued the Armenians, Cappadbcians, and various other 
nations. (Xen. Cyro., III., 2, 7 ; c. 4.) Southward they conquered Egypt 
under Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus. (Herod., III., 39.) The 
ram was so strong and powerful, "so that no beast could stand before him" — 
none of the neighboring kingdoms were able to contend with the Persians, but 
all fell under their dominion. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 237. 

Dan. viii : 5. — And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west on the face of 
the whole earth, and touched not the ground : and the goat had a notable horn between his 
eyes. Ver. 21. — The rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between 
his eyes is the first king. 

Bishop Newton. — A goat is very -properly made the type of the Grecian or 
Macedonian Empire, because the Macedonians at first, about 200 years before 
Daniel, were denominated sEgeadoz, or the Goats' People ; and upon this occa- 
sion, as heathen authors report, Caranus, their first king, going with a great 
multitude of Greeks to seek new habitations in Macedonia, was commanded by 
the oracle to take the goats for his guides to empire : and afterwards seeing a 
herd of goats flying from a violent storm, he followed them to Edessa, and 
there fixed the seat of his empire, made the goats his ensigns or standards, and 
called the city AZgece, or the Goats' Town, and the people sEgeadaz or the 
Goats' People. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 238. 

Justinus. — Caranus, with a great number of Greeks, being directed by the 
! oracle to seek a settlement in Macedonia, when he arrived at ^Emathia, seized 
upon the city of Edessa. This city he obtained through the agency of a large 
flock of goats, which had been driven there for shelter. This circumstance 
recalled the mandate of the oracle, which had commanded him to seek an 
establishment under the conduct of a herd of goats. On which account he 
religiously adopted goats as the standards of his army, and retained them still as 
his leaders, who had proved the source of his good fortune. In commemoration 
of this the city Edessa is called ^Egeae, and the people ^Egeadae.— -Just., lib. 
vii., c. 1. 

And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes — this is the first king. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Alexander the Great — he was the first that consoli- 
dated the whole power of Greece, and was known in the East as her first king. 
So he is expressly called in 1 Mace, i : 1 : " The first over Greece." — Note, in loco. 

Idem. — In the reign of Amyntas I., nearly 300 years after Caranus, and about 
547 b. c, the Macedonians, upon being threatened with an invasion, became 
tributary to the Persians. In one of the pilasters of Persepolis, this very event 
seems to be recorded in a manner that throws considerable light on this subject. 
A goat is represented with an immense horn growing out of the middle of his 
forehead, and a man in a Persian dress is seen by his side, holding the horn by 
his left hand, by which is signified the subjection of Macedon. ... In the reign 
of Archelaus of Macedon, b. c. 413, there occurs, on the reverse of a coin of that 
king, the head of a goat having only one horn. — Notes, in loco. 

Taylor Combe. — I have lately had an opportunity of procuring an ancient 



586 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

bronze figure of a goat with one horn, which was the old symbol of Macedon. 
It was dug up in Asia Minor. . . . Not only many of the individual towns in 
Macedon and Thrace employed this type, but the kingdom itself of Macedon, 
which is the oldest in Europe, of which we have any regular and connected 
history, was represented also by a goat, with this peculiarity, that it had but one 
horn. — See Calmet, V., 410. 

Dan. viii : 5. — A he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not 

the ground. 

Bishop Newton. — Europe, as all know, is to the west of Asia. Alexander came 
" on the face of the whole earth," carrying everything before him in all the three 
parts of the world then known : his marches were so swift and his conquests so 
rapid, that he might be said in a manner to fly over the ground, without touching 
it. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 238. 

Prideaux. — iVlexander flew with victory swifter than others can travel, often 
with his horse pursuing his enemies upon the spur whole days and nights, and 
sometimes making long marches for several days, one after the other, as once he 
did in pursuit of Darius, of near forty miles a day for eleven days together. So 
that by the speed of his marches he came upon his enemy before they were 
aware of him, and conquered them before they could be in a posture to resist 
him. — Conn., part I., lib. 8. 

Verse 6. — And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the 
river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. 

Bishop Newton. — One can hardly read these words without having some im- 
age of Darius's army standing and guarding the river Granicus, and Alexander 
on the other side with his forces plunging in, swimming across the stream, and 
rushing on the enemy with all the fire and fury that can be imagined. — Dissert, 
on Proph., p. 239: See also Arrian. de Exped. Alex., lib. i., c. 14. 

Verse 7. — And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, 
and smote the ram, and brake his two horns. 
Bishop Newton. — Alexander had several " close" engagements or set battles 
with the king of Persia, and particularly at the river Granicus in Phrygia, at the 
straits of Issus in Cilicia, and in the plains of Arbela in Assyria. "And he was 
moved with choler against him," for the cruelties which the Persians had exer- 
cised towards the Grecians : and for Darius's attempting to corrupt sometimes 
his soldiers to betray him, and sometimes his friends to destroy him ; so that he 
would not listen to the most advantageous offers of peace, but determined to 
pursue the Persian king, not as a generous and noble enemy, but as a prisoner 
and a murderer, to the death that he deserved. "And he smote the ram, and 
brake his two horns: " he subdued Persia and Media, with the other provinces 
and kingdoms of the Persian empire, and burned the royal city of Persepolis, the 
capital of the empire. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 240. 

Verse 7. — And there was no power in the ram to stand before him. 

Arrian.— After the battle of the Granicus had been fought, and Alexander 



DANIEL VIII. 587 

had advanced into Cilicia, Darius himself took the command of the Persian 
army. At Issus he was defeated, and fled with such precipitation that he left 
behind him his bow, his shield, and his mantle. His camp was plundered, and his 
mother, and wife, and children, fell into the hands of the conqueror. At the 
battle of Arbela, Darius again commanded, and again was put to flight: He 
now lost Babylon, Susa, Persepolis, and all his treasures, and sought for per- 
sonal safety at Ecbatana, where he was seized by Bessus, governor of Bactriana, 
who assumed the royal authority in his stead. Alexander closely pursued the 
usurper and his captive beyond the Caspian straits. On reaching the camp of 
Bessus, Darius was found extended in his chariot pierced with many darts. In 
him the* empire of Persia was extinguished, 228 years after it had been first 
founded by Cyrus the Great. — See Arr. Exped. Alex., lib. iii., c. 3. 

Dan. viii; 8. — Therefore the he-goat waxed very great: and when he was strong .the great horn 

was broken. 

Dr. Charles Anthony. — The Macedonian power and dominion increased 
most rapidly. In the year 334 b. c, Alexander invaded Persia, and defeated 
the Persians in the battle of the Granicas ; in the year ^^^, he again defeated 
them at the battle of Issus, and conquered Parthia, Bactria, Hyrcania, Sogdiana, 
and Asia Minor. In the year 332, he conquered Tyre and Egypt, and built 
Alexandria. In the year 331, he defeated Darius Codomannus, and in 330 com- 
pleted the conquest of the Persian empire. In the year 328, he defeated Porus, 
king of India, and intended to pursue his march to the Ganges. In these few 
years, he overran nearly all the then known world, in conquests more rapid and 
more decisive than had ever been done before. — See Anthony's Classical Dic- 
tion., art. * 'Alexander." 

Dan. viii: 8. — And when he was strong the great horn was broken. 

Bishop Newton. — The empire of the goat was in its full strength, when Alex- 
ander died suddenly at Babylon. — Disserts., p. 246. 

Rev. A. Barnes. — At no time was the empire so strong as at the death of 
Alexander. — Note, in loco. 

Charles Anthony, LL. D. — Alexander went to Babylon, where many for- 
eign ambassadors waited for him, and was engaged in extensive plans for the 
future, when he became suddenly sick after a banquet, and died in a few days, 
b. c. 323. Such was the end of this conqueror, in his 32d year, after a reign 
of twelve years and eight months. He left behind him an immense empire, 
which became the scene of continual wars. The body of Alexander was in- 
terred by Ptolemy in Alexandria, in a golden coffin : and the sarcophagus in 
which the coffin was enclosed has been in the British Museum since 1802. — 
Class . Diet. , p. 107. 

Dan. viii : 8. — And for it (the great horn) came up four notable ones toward the four winds of 

heaven. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — In the place of this one horn in which all the power 



588 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

was concentrated there sprang up four others that were distinguished and re- 
markable. . . This accords with the accounts in history of the effect of Alexan- 
der's death, for though the kingdom was not by him divided into four parts, yet, 
from the confusion and conflicts that arose, power was ultimately concentrated 
into four dynasties. — Note, in loco. 

Bishop Newton. — Alexander was succeeded in the throne by his natural 
brother, Philip Aridaeus, and by his own two sons, Alexander ^Egus and Hercules: 
but in the space of about fifteen years they were all murdered, and then the first 
"horn" or kingdom was entirely "broken." The royal family being thus ex- 
tinct, the governors of provinces, who had usurped the power, assumed the title of 
kings : and by the defeat and death of Antigonus in the battle of Issus, they were 
reduced to four, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, who parted Alex- 
ander's dominions between them, and divided and settled them into four king- 
doms. These four kingdoms are the four notable horns, which came up in the 
room of the first "great horn". . . They were likewise to extend "toward the 
four winds of heaven ' ' : and in the partition of the empire, Cassander held 
Macedon and Greece and the western parts; Lysimachus had Thrace, Bithynia, 
and the northern regions ; Ptolemy possessed Egypt, and the southern countries ; 
and Seleucus obtained Syria and the eastern provinces. Thus were they di- 
vided toward the four winds of heaven. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 246. 

Author of Maccabees. — So Alexander reigned twelve years, and then died. 
And his servants had rule every one in his place. And after his death, they 
all put crowns upon themselves ; so did their sons after them many years ; and 
evils were multiplied in the earth. — 1 Mace, i: 7-9. See also Diod. Sic., XX., 
53; XXI., 1. 

Dan. viii: 9. — And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, 
toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — From one, " out of one," of the four powers or king- 
doms, into which the empire of Alexander would be divided, there would 
spring up a power or king, at first small but ultimately great and mighty, 
ambitious and persecuting. There can be no doubt that Antiochus Epiphanes is 
denoted here. All the circumstances of the prediction find a fulfilment in him, 
and if it were supposed that this was written after he had lived, and that it was 
the design of the writer to describe him by these symbols, he could not have 
found symbols that would have been more striking or appropriate than this. 
This prince was che seventh in the line of succession from Seleucus, and had 
his capital at Antioch. — Notes, in loco. 

Which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant 

land. 

Author of Maccabees. — Now when the kingdom was established before 
Antiochus, he thought to reign over Egypt, that he might have the dominion 
of two realms. Wherefore he entered Egypt with a great multitude, with 
chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and a great navy. And made war 
against Ptolemee, king of Egypt : but Ptolemee was afraid of him, and fled ; and 



DANIEL VIII. 589 

many were wounded to death. Thus they got the strong cities in the land of 
Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof. (Thus he "waxed great toward the 
south".) — i Mace, i: 16-19. 

Idem. — Wherefore, Antiochus, being greatly perplexed in his mind (in view 
of his depleted treasury), determined to go into Persia ("toward the east' 1 ), 
there to take the tributes of the countries, and to gather much money. So the 
king departed from Antioch, his royal city, the hundred fifty and seventh year ; 
and having past the river Euphrates, he went through the high countries. — 1 
Mice, iii : 28-37. 

Idem. — And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again, in 
the hundred forty and third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem 
(" the pleasant land ") with a great multitude. . . . And when he had taken 
all (the treasure he could find) away, he went into his own land, having made a 
great massacre, and spoken very proudly. — 1 Mace, i: 20-25. 

Jerome. — Antiochus fought against Ptolemy Philometer and the Egyptians, 
that is against the south; and again against the east, and those who attempted a 
change of government in Persia; and lastly he fought against the Jews, took 
Judcea, entered into Jerusalem, and in the temple of God set up the image of 
Jupiter Olympius. — Hieron. in Dan., c. 8. 

Verse 10. — And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host 
and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — It is usual to compare princes and rulers, and espe- 
cially ecclesiastical rulers, with the sun and moon and stars. Now Antiochus 
did all this — he cast down and trampled on the princes and rulers and people 
of the holy host or army of God. All that is implied in this was abundantly 
fulfilled in what he did to the Jewish people. A?id stamped upon them: 
nothing could better express the conduct of Antiochus towards the Jews. — Note 
in loco: Comp. 1 Mace, i : 1-64 and 2 Mace, viii : 2. 

Josephus. — Daniel the prophet had signified that from among these Greek 
rulers there should arise a certain king, that should overcome our nation, and 
their laws, and should take away our political government, and should spoil the 
temple, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three years' time. And 
indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus 
Epiphanes, according to Daniel's vision, and what he wrote many years before 
it came to pass. — Antiquities, B. X.,c. 11, § 7. 

Verse II, 12. — Yea, he magnified himself to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacri- 
fice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. . . . And it cast down 
the truth to the ground. 

Author of Maccabees. — And Antiochus entered proudly into the sanctuary 
and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels 
thereof. And the table of the shew-bread, and the pouring vessels, and the 
vials, and the censers of gold, and the vail, and the crowns, and the golden 
ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off. He took also 
the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels : also he took the hidden treas- 



590 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ures which he found. . . . And after two years fully expired, the king sent his 
chief collector of tribute unto the cities of Judah, who fell suddenly upon the 
city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel. And when 
he had taken the spoils of the city, he set it on fire, and pulled down the houses 
and walls thereof on every side. . . . Her sanctuary was laid waste like a 
wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, 
her honor into contempt. . . . Moreover, the king sent letters by messengers 
unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, forbidding burnt-offerings, and sacri- 
fices, and drink-offerings in the temple ; and commanded that they should pro- 
fane the Sabbaths and festival days : and pollute the sanctuary and holy people : 
set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh, and 
unclean beasts : that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and 
make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and abomination : 
to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. — i Mace. 
i : 20-64. 

Verses 13, 14. — How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgres- 
sion of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot ? And he 
said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 

Berthold. — This writer reckons from the date of the command issued 
by Antiochus to set up idol altars to the date of Nicanor's defeat, 2,271 days; 
and the time consumed for the due celebration of the victory and the 
cleansing of the temple to have occupied 29 days more : and these figures, 
2,271-4-29=2,300, agree exactly with the statement in the prediction. — In 
Barnes' Notes. 

Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 

Josephus. — When the generals of Antiochus' armies had been beaten so 
often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that "after these 
many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to Jerusalem, 
and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacrifice." But as soon as he 
and the whole multitude were come to Jerusalem, and found the temple 
deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the temple of their 
own accord on account of its desertion, he and those that were with him began 
to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of the temple : so he chose 
out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against those guards that 
were in the citadel, until he should have purified the temple. When, therefore, 
he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the 
table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense, which were made of gold ; he hung 
up the vails at the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down the 
altar of burnt-offering, and built a new one of stones that he gathered together, 
and not such as were hewn with iron tools. So on the five and twentieth day 
of the month Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the| 
lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar, and laid 
the loaves upon the table, and offered burnt-offerings upon the new altar. 
Now, it so fell out, that these things were done on the very same day on which 



DANIEL IX. 591 

their divine worship had fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common 
use after three years' time. . . . Now Judas celebrated the festival of the resto- 
ration of the sacrifices at the temple for eight days ; and omitted no sort of 
pleasures thereon, but he feasted them on very rich and splendid sacrifices ; and 
he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. . . . And from 
that time to this we celebrate this festival. — Antiq., B. XII., c. 7, § 6, 7. 

Verse 25. — And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — He shall owe his success in a great measure to a 
crafty policy, to intrigue, and to cunning. — This was true in an eminent sense 
of Antiochus. He came to the kingdom by deceit, and a great part of his 
success was owing to craft and policy. His policy always was to preserve the 
appearance of friendship, that he might accomplish his purpose while his 
enemies were off their guard. — Notes, in loco. 

Author of Maccabees. — And he spake peaceable words unto them, but all 
was deceit : for when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the 
city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel. — 1 Mace. 

i: 30. 

But he shall be broken without hand. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — That is, without the hand of man. He shall be 
overcome by a divine and invisible power. And so he died. He was on an 
expedition to Persia, and there laid siege to Elymais, and was defeated, and fled 
to Babylon, when learning that his forces in Palestine had been repulsed, pene- 
trated with grief and remorse, he sickened and died. All the statements given 
of his death, in the books of Maccabees, by Josephus, by Polybiics, by Q. Cur- 
tius, and by Arrian, agree in representing it as attended with every circumstance 
of horror that can be well supposed to accompany a departure from this world, 
and as having every mark of the just judgment of God. — Note, in loco. 

THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 

Dan. ix : 24. — Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish 
the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to 
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the 
Most Holy. 

Prof. M. Stuart. — Daniel had been meditating on the close of the seventy 
years of Hebrew exile, and the angel now discloses to him a new period of 
seventy times seven, in which still more important events are to take place. 
Seventy sevens, or (to use the Greek phraseology,) seventy heptades, are deter- 
mined upon thy people. Heptades of what ? Of days or of years ? No one 
can doubt what the answer is. Daniel had been making diligent search 
respecting the seventy years ; and, in such a connection, nothing but seventy 
heptades of years could be reasonably supposed to be meant by the angel. — 
Hints 07t Interp., p. 82. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The meaning is seventy sevens of years, or 490 years. 
' — Note, in loco. 



592 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Dan. ix : 25. — Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment 
to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three- 
score and two weeks. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — "From the going forth of the commandment to 
restore and build Jerusalem " — not the temple. The permission to rebuild the 
temple, and the permission to rebuild the city, were quite different things, and 
were separately granted by different sovereigns, and the work was executed by 
different persons. The edict to rebuild the temple was issued by Cyrus, in the 
first year of his reign ; that to restore and rebuild the city and its walls, by 
Artaxerxes Longimanus, in the twentieth year of his reign. The Royal Letters 
authorizing and empowering the Jews to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and to 
restore it from its ruinous condition, were given to Nehemiah, and of which he 
gives a particular account in the 2d chapter of the sacred book bearing his 
name. Now this occurred according to the chronology of both Usher and 
Hengstenberg in the year 454 b. c. From this the date of issuing the command- 
ment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the appearing of Messiah the Prince 
was to be " seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks," that is sixty-nine 
weeks, or 483 years: and 483 years bring us down to a. d. 29; just the time 
when Jesus by his public baptism in Jordan, and by the descent of the Holy 
Ghost upon him, assumed the office and work of the Messiah — and when, as the 
evangelist Luke tells us, "Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age." 
— See Notes, in loco. 

Hengstenberg. — According to the prophecy, the terminus a quo, the twen- 
tieth year of Artaxerxes, is separated from the terminus ad quern, the public 
appearance of Christ, by a period of sixty-nine weeks of years, or 483 years. 
If now we compare history with this, it must appear, even to the most preju- 
diced, in the highest degree remarkable, that among all the current chrono- 
logical determinations of the period, not one differs over ten years from the 
testimony of the prophecy. This wonder must rise to the highest pitch, when it 
appears from an accurate examination of these determinations, that the only one 
among them, which is correct, makes the prophecy and history correspond with 
each other, even to a year I- — Christ., II., 394. 

From the going forth of the commandment . . . unto the Messiah, shall be seven weeks, and 

three-score and two weeks. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The whole period of sixty-nine weeks is divided into 
two smaller portions, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, or forty-nine years and 
434 years. . . . The fair interpretation of which undoubtedly is, that it would 
require the "seven weeks," or the first forty-nine years to rebuild the city and 
settle its affairs on a permanent foundation ; and that from the close of that 
time, another period of "sixty-two weeks," or 434 years, would elapse to the 
appearing of the Messiah. ... As a matter of fact, the completion of the work 
undertaken by Nehemiah, under the command of the Persian kings, reached to 
the period here designated, and his last act as governor of Judea, in restoring the 
people, and placing the affairs of the nation on its former basis, occurred at just 



DANIEL IX. 593 

about the period of the forty-nine years after the issuing of the command by 
Artaxerxes Longimanus, /. e., 405 b. c. — Note, in loco. 

The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — Let any one read the account of the rebuilding in 
Nehemiah — the description of the "troubles" which were produced by the 
opposition of Sanballat and those associated with him, and he will see the 
striking accuracy of this expression — an accuracy as entire as if it had been 
employed after the event in describing it instead of having been used before in 
predicting it. — Note, in loco. 

Dan. ix : 26. — And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: 
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary : and the 
end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — "After threescore and two weeks " — he does not say 
that it would be immediately on the termination of the sixty-two weeks, but 
that it would be " after," or subsequent to the close of that period ; — the original 
would be well expressed by the word afte7-wards. ..." Messiah shall be cut off; 
— that is, by death, through the violence or agency of others. It need not 
be here said that this phrase found a complete fulfilment in the manner in which 
the Lord Jesus was put to death, nor that this is the very language in 
which it is proper now to describe the manner in which he was removed. 
He was cut off by violence ; by a judicial decree ; by a mob ; in the 
midst of his way, etc. . . . "And the people of the prince that shall come 
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary" — No one can fail to see the 
applicability of this to the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple by the 
Romans not long after the Lord Jesus was put to death. . . . "And the end 
thereof shall be with a flood" — that is, it shall be like an overflowing flood, — an 
expression that appropriately denotes the ravages of an army sweeping every- 
thing away. No one can doubt that this language is applicable in every respect 
to the desolations brought upon Jerusalem by the Roman armies. . . . "And 
unto the end of the war desolations are determined " — the war would be one 
of a most desolating character, and desolations would extend to its close. It is 
hardly necessary to say that this was, in fact, precisely the character of the war 
which the Romans waged with the Jews after the death of the Saviour, and which 
ended in the destruction of the city and the temple ; the overthrow of the 
whole Hebrew polity, and the removal of great numbers of the people to a 
distant and perpetual captivity. No war, perhaps, has been in its progress more 
marked by desolation ; in none has the purpose of destruction been more 
perseveringly manifested to its very close. — Notes, in loco. 

Dan. ix : 27. — And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst 
of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of 
abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined 
shall be poured upon the desolate. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — " For one week " — the space of seven years : this is 
37 



594 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

the one week that makes up the seventy " determined upon the people and upon 
the holy city." . . . " He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week." 
— Messiah would pursue such a course as would bring many into covenant 
relation with God, and to establish or "confirm" them in the true religion. 
And this the Lord Jesus did by his personal instructions, his example, his 
sufferings and death, and the arrangements which he made to secure the proper 
effect of his work on the minds of the people — all designed to procure for them the 
friendship and favor of God, and to unite them to him in the bonds of an enduring 
covenant. This work was continued (among his people) for about the period 
here referred to ; at least for a period so long that it could properly be repre- 
sented in round numbers as "one week," or seven years. The Saviour's own 
ministry, which was wholly among the Jews, continued about half that time ; 
and then the apostles prosecuted the same work, laboring with the Jews, for 
about the other portion, before they turned their attention to the Gentiles, and 
before the purpose to endeavor to bring in the Jewish people was abandoned. — 
Notes, in loco. 

And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — It is agreed on all hands that our Lord's ministry 
lasted about three years and a half — the time referred to here. . . . " He shall 
cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease " — he would bring the rites, or the 
offerings of the temple to a close. And as a matter of fact, so far as the divine 
intention in the appointment of these sacrifices and offerings was concerned, 
they "ceased" at the death of Christ — in the middle of the "week." Then 
the great sacrifice, which they had adumbrated, was offered. Then they ceased 
to have any significancy, no reason existing for their longer continuance. — 
Notes, in loco. 

And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate : (in the margin,) Upon the 
battlements shall be the idols of the desolater. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Nothing would be more appropriate in the common 
estimation of the Jews, than to speak of such an object as a Roman military 
standard planted in any part of the temple as an "abomination;" and no 
word would better denote the character of the Roman conqueror than the 
word desolater — for the effect of his coming was to lay the whole city and 
temple in ruins. — Note, in loco. 

Josephus. — And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the 
city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and all the buildings round 
about it, brought their ensigns into the temple, and set them over against its 
eastern gate ; and there they did offer sacrifices to them, and there did they 
make Titus Imfierator, with the greatest acclamations of )oy.— Jewish Wars, B. 
VI., ch. VI., § i. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — The prediction in this chapter could have been 



DANIEL XI. 595 

the result only of Inspiration. There is the clearest evidence that the prophecy 
was recorded long before the time of the Messiah, and it is manifest that it could 
not have been the result of any natural sagacity. How could such events have 
been foreseen except by Him who knows all things ? — How could the order 
have been determined? How could the time have been fixed? How could it 
have been anticipated that the Messiah, the Prince, would have been cut off? How 
could it have been known that he would cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease ? 
How could it have been ascertained that the period during which he would be en- 
gaged in this would be " one week," or about seven years? How could it be 
predicted that a remarkable event would occur in the middle of that period that 
would in fact cause the sacrifice and oblation ultimately to cease ? And how 
could it be conjectured that a foreign prince would come and plant the standard 
of abomination in the holy city, and sweep all away — laying the city and the temple 
in ruins, and bringing the whole polity to an end ? These things lie beyond the 
range of natural sagacity, and if they are fairly implied in this prophecy, they 
demonstrate that this portion of the book is from God. — Notes, in loco. 

Hengstenberg. — Until all these arguments are refuted, it remains true that 
the Messianic interpretation of the prophecy is the only correct one, and that 
Daniel possessed an insight into the future, which could have been given only 
by the Spirit of God ; and hence, as this favor could have been shown to no 
deceiver, the genuineness of the book necessarily follows, and the futility of all 
objections against it is already manifest. — Christ., II., p. 408. 

OVERTHROW OF THE PERSIAN AND SETTING UP OF THE GRECIAN 

POWER. 

Dan. xi : 2. — And now I will show thee the truth. Behold there shall stand up yet three kings 
in Persia ; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all : and by his strength through his 
riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. 

Bishop Newton. — After Cyrus, the reigning monarch, " there shall stand up 
yet three kings in Persia," — these were Cambyses, the son of Cyrus; Smerdis, 
the Magian; and Darius the son of Hystaspes, who married the daughter of 
Cyrus; and the fourth was Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius. — Dissert, on 
Proph.,p. 263. 

The fourth shall be richer than they all. 

Justin. — If you consider this king (Xerxes), you may praise his riches, not 
the general ; of which there was so great an abundance in his kingdom, that 
when rivers were dried up by his army, yet his wealth remained unexhausted. — 
Just., lib. ii., c. 10 ; See also Herodt., lib. vii., c. 27, etc. 

And he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. 

Herodotus.— -Xerxes spent four full years in collecting his host. Of all the 

armaments whereof any mention has reached us, this was by far the greatest. 

For was there a nation in all Asia which Xerxes did not bring with him against 

Greece ? Or was there a river, except those of unusual size, which sufficed for 



596 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

his troops to drink? The land army was found to amount to 1,700,000 men. 
The sea force amounted to 517,610 men. The horsemen numbered 80,000; 
the camel-drivers and charioteers were reckoned at 20,000. To all these are to 
be added the forces gathered in Europe, etc., etc. — Polymnia, c. 20, 21, 60, 
184, etc. 

Verse 3. — And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do 

according to his will. 

Bishop Newton. — The Persians invaded Greece, and the Grecians in their 
turn would invade the realm of Persia. This would be under the leadership of 
Alexander : that he was a " mighty king " and conqueror ; that he ruled " with 
great dominion," not only over Greece and the whole Persian empire, but 
likewise added India to his conquests; and that he "did according to his will, " 
none daring, not even his friends, to contradict and oppose him, or if they did, 
like Clitus and Calesthenes, paying for it with their lives, are facts too well 
known to require any particular proof or illustration. — Dissert, on Proph. , p. 264. 

Verse 4. — And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided 
towards the four winds of heaven ; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion 
which he ruled : for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — "And when he shall stand up" — when he shall be 
at the height of his authority and power, " his kingdom shall be broken," — to 
wit, by death. — Note, in loco. 

Arrian. — Alexander died in Babylon, having lived only thirty-two years and 
eight months, of which he reigned twelve years and eight months. In so short 
a time did this sun of glory rise and set. — Arr., VII., 28. 

And shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity. 

Diodorus Siculus. — In the space of about fifteen years from the death of 
Alexander, his family and posterity became extinct, every one of them having 
been murdered in one way or another. " His kingdom was broken and divided, 
but not for his posterity." — Diod. Sic, lib. xix., c. 5, 11, 105; and lib. xx., 
c. 28. 

Idem. — After which, in the partition of the empire, Cassander held Macedon 
and Greece, or the western portion ; Lysimachus had Thrace and Bythinia, or 
the northern regions ; Ptolemy possessed Egypt, or the southern countries ; and 
Seleucus obtained Syria, or the eastern provinces. — Diod. Sic, lib. xxi., c. 1 ; 
See also Polyb., V., 67. 

Verse 5. — And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be 
strong above him, and have dominion ; his dominion shall be a great dominion. 

Bishop Newton. — Though the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four 
principal parts, yet only two of them have a place allotted in this prophecy, 
Egypt and Syria. These two were by far the greatest and most considerable : 
and these two at one time were in a manner the only remaining kingdoms of 
the four. Judea, lying between them, was sometimes in the possession of the 
kings of Egypt, and sometimes of the kings of Syria. And it is in respect of 



DANIEL XT. 597 

their situation to Judea that they are respectively called the kings of the South, 
and the kings of the North. — Dissert, on Proph., p. 266. 

The king of the south shall be strong. 

Jerome. — Ptolemy, king of Egypt, was very powerful, having annexed 
Cyprus, Phoenicia, Caria, and many islands and cities and regions to Egypt, as 
related by the ancients. — Com. in loco. 

Justin. — Ptolemy had also enlarged the bounds of his empire by the acquisi- 
tion of Cyrene, and was now become so great, that he was in a condition not so 
much to fear as to be feared by his enemies. — Justin, lib. xiii., c. 6. 

And one of his (Alexander's) princes; he shall be strong above him; his dominion shall be a 

greater dominion. 

Bishop Newton. — This prince was "the king of the north," or Seleucus 
Nicator, and was strong above Ptolemy: for, as Justin and Plutarch relate, 
having annexed the kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace to the crown of Syria, 
he was become master of three parts out of four of Alexander's dominions. 
Justin denominates him the conqueror of conquerors. — Dissert, on Proph., 
p. 267. 

Appian. — After Alexander he possessed the largest part of Asia; for all was 
subject to him from Phrygia up to the river Indus, and beyond it. . . . He was 
the greatest king of Alexander. — De Bell. Syr., c. 55. 

Verse 6. — And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter 
of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. 

Jerome. — After several years spent in war against one another, Antiochus 
Theus, now " the king of the north," and Ptolemy Philadelphus, now "king 
of the south," agreed to make peace upon condition that Antiochus Theus 
should put away his former wife Laodice and her two sons, and should marry 
Bernice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus. And, accordingly, Ptolemy 
brought his daughter to Antiochus, and with her an immense dowry of gold and 
silver. — Com. in loco. 

But she shall not retain the power of the arm [i. e., of Antiochus). 
Jerome. — After some time, Antiochus, in a fit of love, brought back his 
former wife, Laodice, with her children, to court again. — Com. in loco. 
Neither shall he stand, nor his arm (/. e., his seed). 
Jerome. — Laodice, fearing the fickle temper of her husband, lest he should 
recall Bernice, caused him to be poisoned ; and neither did his seed by Bernice 
succeed him in the kingdom, but Laodice contrived and managed matters so as 
to fix her eldest son, Seleucus Callinicus, on the throne of his ancestors. — Com. 
in loco. See also App. de Bell. Syr., c. 65, and Pliny, lib. vii., § 10. 

But she (Bernice) shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he whom she begat, and he 
that strengthened her in these times. 

Jerome. — Laodice, not content with poisoning her husband, caused also Ber- 
nice to be murdered ; her Egyptian women and attendants also, endeavoring to 



598 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

defend her, were many of them slain with her • her son likewise was murdered 
after the same manner, and all who took part with her. — Com. in loco. See also 
Polynceus, Strat., viii., 50. 

Verses 7-9. — But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come 
with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against 
them, and shall prevail : and shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, 
and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the 
king of the north. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return 
into his own land. 

Jerome. — Ptolemy Euergetes, sprung from the same parental stock with Ber- 
nice, being her brother, no sooner succeeded his father to the kingdom than he 
came with a great army and entered into the provinces of the king of the 
north, Seleucus Callinicus, who with his mother Laodice reigned in Syria, 
against whom he so far prevailed that he took Syria and Cilicia, and the upper 
parts beyond Euphrates, and almost all Asia. And when he had heard that a 
sedition was raised in Egypt, he plundered the kingdom of Seleucus, and 40,000 
talents of silver, and precious vessels and images of the gods 2,500 : among 
which were also those which Cambyses, after he had taken Egypt, had carried 
into Persia. And for thus restoring their gods after many years, the Egyptians, 
who were a nation much addicted to idolatry, complimented him with the title 
of Euergetes, or the Benefactor. — Hieron. ad loco. 

Polybius. — Ptolemy, surnamed Euergetes, being greatly incensed at the cruel 
treatment of his sister Bernice, marched with an army into Syria, and took the 
city of Seleucia, which was kept for some years afterwards by the garrisons of 
the kings of Egypt. — Poly I?., lib. v., c. 58. 

Polynceus. — Ptolemy made himself master of all the country from mount 
Taurus as far as to India without war or battle. — Strat., lib. viii., c. 50. 

Verse 10. — But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces : and 
one shall certainly come, and overflow and pass through : then shall he return, and be stirred 
up, even to his fortress. 

Bishop Newton. — The sons of Seleucus Callinicus were Seleucus Ceraunus 
and Antiochus Magnus. Seleucus Ceraunus was indeed stirred up, and assem- 
bled a great multitude of forces in order to. recover his father's dominions; but 
being destitute of money, and unable to keep his army in obedience, he was 
poisoned by two of his generals after an inglorious reign of two or three years. 
Upon his decease Antiochus Magnus was proclaimed king. The prophet's 
expression is very remarkable, that "his sons should be stirred up, and assemble 
a multitude of great forces," but then the number is changed, and only "one 
should certainly come, and overflow, and pass through."- Accordingly Anti- 
ochus came with a great army, took Seleucia, and by means of Theodotus, the 
^Etolian, recovered Syria, making himself master of some places by treaty, and 
of others by force of arms. Then after a truce, wherein both sides treated of 
peace but prepared for war, Antiochus returned, and overcame in battle Nico- 
laus, the Egyptian general, and had thoughts of invading Egypt itself. — Dissert, 
on Proph., p. 271. See Polyb., lib. v., c. 61, 68, 69. 



DANIEL xi. 59g 

Verse IX. — And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight 
with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the 
multitude shall be given into his hand. 

Polybius. — At that time Ptolemy Philopator was the king of Egypt, and 
Antiochus Magnus had succeeded to the throne of Syria. Ptolemy, incensed 
by his losses, assembled a numerous army, and marched out of Egypt to oppose 
his enemy ; he encamped at Raphia, a town not far from the confines of Egypt. 
Thither also came Antiochus with his army, and a memorable battle was there 
fought by the two kings. The army of Antiochus, gathered from various 
nations, was composed of 62,000 foot, 6,000 horse, and 102 elephants. But 
Ptolemy obtained a complete victory ; there being of Antiochus' army no less 
than 10,000 foot, and 300 horse slain, and above 4,000 men taken prisoners. And 
Antiochus was forced to. retreat with the remnant of his army, and to sue for 
peace. — Polyb., lib. v., c. 34, 79, 80, 86. 

Verse 12. — And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he 
shall cast down many ten thousands : but he shall not be strengthened by it. 

Justin. — Delivered from his fears, Ptolemy concluded a hasty peace with 
Antiochus, that he might be no longer interrupted in the gratification of his 
lusts. Returned to Egypt, he so far forgot the dignity of his position and 
office as a king, that he consumed his days in feasting, and his nights in lewd- 
ness ; and became not only the spectator, but the master and leader of all 
wickedness. —Just., lib. xxx., c. 1, 2. 

Polybius. — His subjects, expecting great things from their decisive victory 
over Antiochus, were offended at his inglorious peace, and more inglorious life, 
and rebelled against him ; so that altogether, instead of being strengthened by 
the war, he was much weakened. — Polyb., lib. v., c. 107. 

Verse 13. — For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than 
the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much 
riches. 

Prideaux. — The treaty of peace agreed upon by Antiochus and the king of 
Egypt was observed for fourteen years. — Conn. , III., 19. 

Jerome. — Antiochus, having brought his war in the East to a successful close, 
once more turned his thoughts toward Egypt. He gathered together an incred- 
ible, army out of the countries beyond Babylon; and, contrary to the league, 
he marched with this army, Ptolemy Philopator being now dead, against his son, 
who was then four years old, and was called Ptolemy Epiphanes. — Hieron., in 
loco. 

Justin. — Ptolemy Philopator, king of Egypt, being dead, in contempt of the 
childhood of his son, who being left heir to the kingdom was a prey even to his 
domestics, Antiochus, king of Syria, resolved to take possession of Egypt. — > 
Justin, lib. xxxi., c. 1. 

Verse 14. — And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south : also 
the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision ; but they shall fall. 

Polybius. — Antiochus was not the only adversary of Egypt at this time. 



600 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Several provinces which before were subject to Egypt now rebelled ; and Egypt 
itself was disturbed by seditions. Philip, king of Macedon, also, entered into a 
league with Antiochus to divide Ptolemy's dominions between them. Certain 
factions of the Jews likewise set themselves against that country, but these were 
quickly brought into subjection. — Polyb., lib. xv., c. 25 ; and lib. iii., c. 2. 

Verse 15. — So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced 
cities : and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall 
there be any strength to withstand. 

Jerome. — Antiochus, desiring to recover Judea, and the cities of Ccele-Syria 
and Palestine, which Scopas the Egyptian general had taken, came again into 
those parts. Scopas was sent again to oppose him, and Antiochus fought with 
him near the sources of the river Jordan, where now Paneas has been built, 
destroyed a great part of his army, and pursued him to Sidon, where he shut 
him up with 10,000 men, and closely besieged him. Three famous generals 
were sent from Egypt to raise the siege ; but they could not succeed, and at 
length Scopas was forced by famine to surrender on the hard conditions of 
having life only granted to him and his men ; they were obliged to lay down 
their arms, and were sent away stripped and naked. . . . Antiochus also took 
many other fenced cities ; and ere long rendered himself master of all Ccele-Syria 
and Palestine. — Hieron.> in loco. 

Verse 17. — He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and up- 
right ones with him ; thus shall he do : and he shall give him the daughter of women, cor- 
rupting her ; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. 

Appian. — Antiochus would have gladly seized upon the whole kingdom of 
Egypt by force, but apprehending war with the Romans he sought to accomplish 
his designs by a stratagem rather than by force of arms. — De Bell. Syr., c. 5. 

Jerome. — Antiochus proposed a treaty of marriage by Eucles the Rhodian, 
betrothed his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy in the seventh year of his reign, 
and married her to him in the thirteenth. This he did, instructing and 
expecting his daughter to betray her husband's interests into his hands. But his 
wicked design did not succeed. Ptolemy and his generals were aware of his 
artifices, and therefore stood upon their guard ; and Cleopatra herself affected 
more the cause of her husband than that of her father. — Hieron., in loco ; see 
also Livy, lib. xxxvii., c. 3. 

Verse 18. — After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many: but a prince for 
his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease ; without his own reproach he 
shall cause it to turn upon him. 

Livy. — Antiochus built and fitted out a great fleet, consisting of one hundred 
large ships of war, and two hundred smaller vessels. With this fleet he sailed 
for the islands of the Mediterranean ; subdued most of the maritime places on 
the coasts of Asia, Thrace, and Greece ; and took Samos, Eubcea, and many 
other islands. This the Romans accounted as a great indignity offered to them, 
inasmuch as many of these were their friends and confederates. They, therefore, 



DANIEL XI. 601 

immediately resolved to repel the invader, and wipe away the reproach. 
Ancilius the consul encountered and fought Antiochus at the straits of Ther- 
mopylae, routed him, and expelled him out of Greece. Livius and ./Emilius 
beat his fleets at sea; and Scipio finally obtained a decisive victory over him in 
Asia, at the foot of Mount Sipylus. Antiochus lost 50,000 foot and 4,000 horse 
in that engagement; 1,400 were taken prisoners, and he himself escaped with 
difficulty. Upon this defeat he was compelled to sue for peace, and to accept 
very humbling conditions : he was not to set foot in Europe, and to quit all Asia 
on this side of Mount Taurus, to defray the whole cost of the war, and to give 
twenty hostages for the performance of these conditions, one of the hostages 
being his own son, who afterwards was named Antiochus Epiphanes. — Livy, 
lib. xxxiii., c. 19, etc.; and xxxvi., c. 45. See also Apfi. de Bell. Syr., c. 3, 
6, 12, etc. 

Verse 19. — Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land : but he shall stumble and 

fall, and not be found. 

Livy. — From the disastrous field of Mount Sipylus Antiochus fled that night 
to Sardes, and from thence to Apamea, and the next day he came into Syria, 
to Antioch, his own capital and stronghold. — Liv., lib. xxxvii., c. 44. 

Justin. — Some time after, Antiochus marched into the eastern provinces, to 
collect there the arrears of tribute, and collect what treasure he could : and 
attempting to plunder the rich temple of Jupiter Belus, in Elymais, he was 
assaulted by the inhabitants of the country, was defeated, and himself and all his 
attendants were slain. Thus fell and perished Antiochus.— Just., lib. xxxii., c. 
2; see 2\s>o Jer. Hieron. in loco, and Diod. Sic. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The prophecy respecting Antiochus the Great termi- 
nates here, and the particulars specified are as minute and accurate as if it had 
been written after the events. — Note, in loco. 

Verse 20. — Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes, in the glory of the kingdom : but 
within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle. 

Bishop Newton. — -Antiochus was succeeded by his son Seleucus Philopator. 
The tribute of a thousand talents which he was obliged to pay annually to the 
Romans, was indeed a grievous burden to him and his kingdom : and he was 
little more than "a raiser of taxes " all his days. — Disserts., p. 281. 

Jerome. — Seleucus Philopator performed nothing worthy of the empire of 
Syria and of his father, and perished ingloriously without fighting any battles. 
— Hieron. , in loco. 

Appian. — Seleucus perished by the treachery of his own treasurer, Heliodorus. 
De Bell. Syr., c. 45. 

Verse 21. — And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor 
of the kingdom : but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 

Polybius. — The successor of Seleucus was his brother Antiochus, afterwards 
surnamed "Epiphanes" or the Illustrious, but more rightly named from his 
freaks and follies and extravagances " Epimanes " or the Madman. — Athenceus, 
lib. x., c. 10. 



602 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Appian. — When Seleucus died, Antiochus was not called to the throne ; he 
was from home at Athens ; neither was he the rightful heir. Besides, Heliodorus, 
his brother's murderer, attempted to get possession of it himself; at the same 
time, a strong party declared in favor of Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, 
whose mother Cleopatra was the daughter of Antiochus the Great, and sister of 
the late king Seleucus ; while Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, was the legal heir. 
Nevertheless Antiochus obtained the kingdom. By fair promises he engaged 
Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and Attalus, his brother, on his side. By a show of 
great clemency he also w,n the favor and good will of the Syrians. And (as .Livy 
relates) he ingratiated himself with the Romans by sending ambassadors to court 
their favor, to pay them the arrears of tribute, to present them besides with 
golden vessels of 500 pounds weight, and to desire that the friendship and 
alliance, which they had had with his father, might be renewed with him, and that 
they would lay their commands upon him as upon a good and faithful con- 
federate king ; he would never be wanting in any duty. And thus he came 
peaceably into power. — App. de Bell. Syr., c. 45 ; and Livy, xlii., c. 6. 

Verse 22. — And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be 

broken. 

Calmet. — Heliodorus, the murderer of Seleucus and his partisans, as well as 
those of the king of Egypt, who had formed some designs upon Syria, were 
vanquished by the forces of Eumenes and Attalus, and were dissipated by the 
arrival of Antiochus, whose presence disconcerted all their measures. — Art. 
"Antiochus." 

Verse 24. — And he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers : he 
shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches. 

Polybius. — By Antiochus Epiphanes, the prey of his enemies, the spoil of 
temples, and the riches of his friends, as well as his own revenues, were 
expended in public shows, and bestowed in largesses among the people. — Ap. 
Athen., lib. v., c. 5. 

Author of Maccabees. — In liberality of gifts Antiochus abounded above the 
kings that were before him. — 1 Mace, iii : 20. 

Josephus. — Antiochus, having been so magnanimous and so liberal, found 
that what he had was not sufficient for him to carry on the war, he therefore 
resolved first, etc. — Antiq., lib. 12, c. 7, § 2. 

Verses 25, 26. — And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south 
with a great army, and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great 
and mighty army ; but he shall not stand : for they shall cast devices against him. Yea, they 
that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall be overflown, and 
many shall fall down slain. 

Author of Maccabees. — Now when the kingdom was established before 
Antiochus, he thought to reign over Egypt, that he might have the dominion 
of two realms. Wherefore he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, 
with chariots, and elephants, and horsemen, and a great navy. And made war 



DANIEL XI. 603 

against Ptolemy, king of Egypt, but Ptolemy was afraid of him, and fled ; and 
many were wounded to death. Thus they got the strong cities in the land of 
Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof. — i Mace, i : 16-19. 

Verse 27. — And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one 

table ; but it shall not prosper. 

Jerome. — After Antiochus was come to Memphis, and the greater part of 
Egypt had submitted to him, he and Philometor did frequently eat and 
converse together, but their peace and friendship were only in appearance. — 
Hieron., in loco. ' 

Polybius. — Antiochus pretended to take care of his nephew Philometor's 
interest, and promised to restore him to the crown, at the same time that he 
was plotting his ruin. On the other side, Philometor professed great obligations 
to his uncle, and seemed to hold the crown by his favor, at the same time that 
he was resolved to take the first opportunity of breaking the league with him. 
But the deceit did not prove successful on either side. — Polyb. Legal. 84, 1. 28, 
c. 19, and Leg. 82, 1. 28, c. 17, andy^r. Hieron., in loco. 

Verse 28. — Then shall he return into his land with great riches, and his heart shall be against the 

holy covenant. 

Author of Maccabees. — Thus he got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, 
and he took the spoils thereof. And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt he 
returned. — 1 Mace, i: 19, 20. 

Polybius. — Of the great opulence of gold, silver, jewels, and other valuables, 
which Antiochus exhibited, a large part was taken from Egypt, he having broken 
his league with the young king Philometor. — Aj>. Alhen., lib. v., c. 5. 

Verse 29. — At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not 
be as the former or as the latter. 

Jerome. — After two years had expired, Antiochus assembled his forces, and 
marched again against the Ptolemies. — Hieron., in loco. 

Bishop Newton. — This expedition was not as successful as his former ones; 
and the reason is assigned in the next verse. — Disserts. 

Verse 30. — For the ships of Chittim shall come against him : therefore he shall be grieved, and 
return, and have indignation against the holy covenant : so shall he do; he shall even return, 
and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. 

Bishop Newton. — " Chittim " was the general name for Greece, Italy, and the 
coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. "The ships of Chittim," therefore, 
are the ships which brought the Roman ambassadors, who came from Italy, 
touched at Greece, and arrived in Egypt, being sent by the Senate, at the suppli- 
cation of the Ptolemies, to command a peace between the contending kings. — . 
Dissert, on Proph., p. 2 go. 

Polybius. — Antiochus Epiphanes, with his army, had entered Egypt, and had 
gained such positions that he was in a fair way of becoming master of the whole 
kingdom. The Romans, apprised of his proceedings and intentions, and fearing 



604 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

lest he should grow too powerful by annexing Egypt to his other dominions, sent 
an embassy to him, to require him to desist from his enterprise, or, in case of 
his refusal, to declare war against him. He was drawing near to besiege Alex- 
andria, when he was met by the three Ambassadors from Rome. After a few 
words on either side, Popillius, the chief of them, demanded of Antiochus 
whether he was a friend to the Romans ? and so saying, presented to him the 
Tables which contained the decree of the. Senate, and desired an immediate 
answer. Antiochus opened and perused them, and replied that he would con- 
sider the matter with his friends, and return his answer presently. But Popillius, 
with a rod that he carried in his hand, drew a circle in the sand round the king, 
and insisted upon his answer before he stepped out of that circle. The king 
astonished and frightened at this peremptory and imperious proceeding, after 
some hesitation, gave his answer, and said, " If this be the will of the Senate 
and People of Rome, we obey them, and depart." And so, in a brief time, 
he drew off his army. — Polyb. Legat. 92, lib. xxix., c. 11; see also Afipian. 
de Bell. Syr. , and Jerome Hieron. , in loco. 

Therefore he shall be grieved, and return. 

Polybius. — Compelled by the Romans to abandon his designs, Antiochus led 
back his forces to Syria, angry and groaning, but thinking it expedient to yield 
to the times for the present. — Polyb. Legat. 92, lib. xxix., c. n. 

And he shall have indignation against the holy covenant. 

Author of Maccabees. — He sent also that detestable ringleader, Apollonius, 
with an army of two and twenty thousand, commanding him to slay all those 
that were in their best age, and to sell the women and the younger sort : who 
coming to Jerusalem, and pretending peace, did forbear till the holy day of the 
Sabbath, when taking the Jews keeping holy-day, he commanded his men to arm 
themselves. And so he slew all them that were gone to the celebrating of the 
Sabbath, and running through the city with weapons slew great multitudes. — 
2 Mace, v: 24-26. 

Verse 31. — And arms {i. e., power) shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary 
of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that 
maketh desolate. 

Author of Maccabees. — They shed innocent blood on every side of the 
sanctuary and defiled it, insomuch that the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because 
of them ; wherefore the city was made a habitation of strangers, and became 
strange to those who were born in her, and her own children left her. Her 
sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, and her feasts were turned into 
mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, her honor into contempt. As had been 
her glory, so was her dishonor increased, and her excellency was turned into 
mourning. — Moreover, king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom that all 
should be one people, and every one should learn his laws ; so all the heathen 
agreed according to the commandment of the king. Yea many Israelites con- 



DANIEL XI. 605 

sented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath. 
For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of 
Judah, that they should follow the strange laws of the land, and forbid burnt- 
offerings and sacrifices, and drink-offerings, in the temple ; and that they should 
profane the Sabbaths and festival-days, and pollute the sanctuary and holy 
people ; set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh 
and unclean beasts; that they should also leave their children uncircumcised 
and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profana 
tion, to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. . . 
'Now, the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred and forty-fifth year 
they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol-altars 
throughout the cities of Judah on every side. . . . Now the five and twentieth day 
of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol-altar, which was upon the altar 
of God. — i Mace, i: 37, etc. See also, Josephus' Antiq., lib. xii., c. 5, § 4. 

Verse 36. — And the king shall do according to his will ; and he shall exalt himself, and mag- 
nify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and 
shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Antiochus did according to his will in regard to the 
city and temple in the most arbitrary manner, and was, in every respect, an ab- 
solute despot. . . "He exalted himself, and magnified himself above every god" 
— that is, by directing what gods should or should not be worshipped ; attempt- 
ing to displace the claim of every one who was worshipped as god at his pleas- 
ure, and establishing the worship of other gods in their place. Thus he assumed 
the right to determine what god should be worshipped at Jerusalem, abolishing 
the worship of Jehovah, and setting up that of Jupiter Olympius in the stead ; 
and so throughout his whole dominion, by a proclamation, he forbade the wor- 
ship of any god but his. One who assumes or claims the right to forbid the 
adoration of any particular god, and to order divine homage to be rendered to 
any one which he choses, exalts himself above the gods, as he in this way denies 
the right which they must be supposed to claim to prescribe their own worship. . 
. . Nothing could be better descriptive of Antiochus than this ; nothing was 
ever more strikingly fulfilled than this was in him. — Notes, in loco. 

Verse 38. — And in his estate shall he honor the god of forces : and a god whom his fathers 
knew not shall he honor with gold, with silver, and with precious stones, and with pleasant 
things. 

Lengerke. — During his long residence in Rome, as an hostage, Antiochus be- 
came addicted to the worship of Jupiter Capitolinus, and whose worship he 
attempted to transfer and establish in his own country. — Ob. in loco. 

Livy. — Antiochus sent rich gifts to Rome in honor of the Jupiter he wor- 
shipped there. — Livy, LXIL, 6. 

Idem. — It was his purpose to erect a magnificent temple in honor of Jupiter 
Capitolinus, in Antioch; but this design was never carried out. — Livy, XLL, 
20. 

Prof. B. F. Westcott, M. A. — The real deity whom Antiochus recognized 



606 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

was the Roman war-god, and fortresses were his most sacred temples. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 117. 

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

Eishop Newton. — It may be proper to stand a little here, and reflect how 
particular and circumstantial this prophecy is, concerning Egypt and Syria, 
from the death of Alexander to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. There is not 
so concise, comprehensive, and regular, an account of their kings and affairs to 
be found in any authors of those times. The prophecy is really more perfect 
than any history ; and is so wonderfully exact, not only as to tne time of Antiochus 
Epiphanes, but likewise equally so beyond that time, that we may conclude in 
the words of the inspired writer — No one could thus declare the times and sea- 
sons, but He who hath them in his own power. — Disserts, on P?'oph., p. 292. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — If this book was written before the age of Antiochus 
Epiphanes (of which there is abundant proof), the evidence is clear of its In- 
spiration, for no man will seriously maintain that these historic events could be 
drawn out with so much particularity of detail by any natural skill 370 years before 
they occurred, as must have been the case if written by Daniel. Human sagacity 
does not extend -its vision thus far into the future with the power of foretelling 
the fates of kingdoms, and giving in detail the lives and fortunes of individual 
men. Either the infidel must dispose of the testimony that Daniel lived and 
wrote at the time alleged, or as an honest man, he should admit that he was in- 
spired. — Notes on Dan. 



HOSEA. 



PRESERVATION OF THE JEWS. 

Hosea iii : 4, 5. — For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without 
a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without 
teraphim : afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God. 

Duke of Argyll. — The preservation of the Jews as a distinct people during 
so many centuries of complete dispersion, is a fact standing nearly, if not abso- 
lutely, alone in the history of the world. It is at variance with all other experi- 
ence of the laws which govern the amalgamation with each other of different 
families of the human race. ... It is not surprising, therefore, that the preserva- 
tion of the Jews, partly from the relation in which it stands to the apparent 
fulfilment of Prophecy, and partly from the extraordinary nature of the fact 
itself, is tacitly assumed by many persons to come strictly within the category 
of miraculous events. ... An extraordinary resisting power has been given to^ 
the Jewish people against those dissolving and disintegrating forces which have 
caused the disappearance of every other race placed under similar conditions. 
They have been torn from home and country, and removed not in a body, but 



HOSEA IV. 



607 



in scattered fragments,, over the world. Yet they are as distinct from every 
other people now as they were in the days of Solomon. Nevertheless this resist- 
ing power, wonderful though it be, is the result of special laws, overruling those 
in ordinary operation. It has been effected by the use of means. Those means 
have been superhuman — they have been beyond human contrivance and arrange- 
ment. ... In their concatenation and arrangement they seem to indicate the 
purpose of a Living Will, seeking and effecting the fulfilment of its designs. — 
Reign of Law, p. 20. 

IDOLATROUS PRACTICES. 

Hos. iv : 12. — My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them. 

Theophylact. — The diviners set up rods, and began to mutter verses and 
enchantments, and when the rods fell, they drew their presages from the manner 
and direction of the fall. — In Put. Bib., in loco. 

Cicero. — That staff of yours, which is the most celebrated ensign of your 
augurship, is the staff with which Romulus parted out the several districts when 
he founded the city. — De Div., lib. i., c. 17. 

Herodotus. — The Scythians use willow twigs for divination. — Melpomene, 
c. 67. 

Hos. iv : 13. — They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under 
oaks, and poplars, and elms (fir-trees), because the shadow thereof is good. 

Joseph Bonomi, F. R. S. L. — On a sculptured slab at Khorsabad, we find at 




the extremity of the hunting ground, an artificial piece of water, in which are 
some fish, and two pleasure-boats. On the margin of the lake is a kiosk or 
pleasure-house, the roof of which is supported by columns resembling those of 
the Ionic order in Grecian architecture. Surrounding the kiosk are fruit-trees, 
possibly the fig and others, the branches of which appear to bear leaves and 
fruit ; the round appendages being painted blue and the others red. Near to 
this spot is a hill and a grove of fir-trees, abounding with pheasants ; and on 
the top of the hill is an altar reminding us of the groves and altars on high 
places, so often alluded to in the sacred writings, as a heathen custom which the 
people of Israel were forbidden to imitate : "They sacrifice on the tops of the 



608 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks, and poplars and fir 
trees, because the shadow thereof is good." — Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 175. 

MORNING DEW. 

Hos. vi : 4. — O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? for 
your goodness is as the morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 

Dr. Shaw. — The dews of the night, as we had the heavens only for our cover- 
ing, would frequently wet us to the skin ; but no sooner was the sun arisen, 
and the atmosphere a little heated, than the mists were quickly dispersed, and 
the copious moisture which the dews had communicated to the sand would be 
entirely evaporated. — Travels in Arabia Petrcea. 

Rev. J. Roberts. — Ah ! what are my riches, and what my glory? Alas ! it 
is like the dew, which flies off at the sight of the morning sun. — OiHent. Illust., 
p. 499. 

FIRST FIGS. 

Hos. ix : 10. — I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig-tree at her first time. 
Dr. John Kitto. — After mild winters it is no uncommon thing for the more 
forward fig-trees to yield a few ripe figs six weeks or more before the regular 
season. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

OIL TRAFFIC. 

Hos. xii : I. — Oil is carried into Egypt. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — A considerable trade was carried on with 
Egypt by the merchants of Greece and Judea> who carried their oil thither. — 
Test, of the Heath., p. 446. 

Plutarch. — Thales, and Hippocrates the mathematician, are said to have 
had their share of commerce ; and the oil that Plato disposed of in Egypt 
defrayed the expense of their travels. — Solon, c. 2. 

KISSING IDOLS. 

Hos. xiii : 2. — And now they sin more and more, and have made molten images of their silver, 
and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen : they say 
of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. 

Cicero. — In the temple at Agrigentum there is a brazen image of Hercules 
so greatly venerated that its mouth and chin are alike worn away, because men 
in addressing their prayers and congratulations to him, are accustomed, not 
only to worship the statue, but even to kiss it. — In Verrem, lib. v., c. 43. 

LEBANON. 

Hos. xiv : 5. — He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — When viewed from the sea on a morning 

in early spring, Lebanon presents a picture, once seen, that is never forgotten ; 

but deeper still is the impression left on the mind when one looks down over its 

terraced slopes clothed in their gorgeous foliage, and through the vistas of its 



HOSEA XIV. 609 

magnificent glens, on the broad and bright Mediterranean. How beautifully 
do these noble features illustrate the words of the prophet Hosea ! — Smith's 
Diet., p. 1622. 

Hos. xiv: 7. — The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — The vine is still largely cultivated in every 
part of the Mountain ; and the wine is excellent, notwithstanding the clumsy 
apparatus and unskilful workmen employed in its manufacture. — Smith's Diet, 
of Bible, p. 1622. 



JOEL. 



RAVAGES OF LOCUSTS. 

Joel i : 7. — He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree : he hath made it clean bare, 
and cast it away ; the branches thereof are made white. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — These locusts at once strip the vines of every 
leaf and cluster of grapes, and of every green twig. I also saw many large fig 
orchards '-clean bare," not a leaf remaining; and as the bark of the fig-tree is 
of a silvery whiteness, the whole orchards, thus rifled of their green veils, spread 
abroad their branches "made white" in melancholy nakedness to the burning 
sun. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 105. 

Joel i; 15, 16. — Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from 
the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness 
from the house of our God ? 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — This is most emphatically true. I saw under 
my own eye not only a large vineyard loaded with young grapes, but whole 
fields of corn disappear as if by magic, and the hope of the husbandman vanish 
like smoke. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 105. 

Joel i: 18. — How do the beasts groan ! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no 
pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — This is poetic, but true. A field over which 
this flood of desolation has rolled shows not a blade for even a goat to nip. The 
land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind a desolate wilderness ; 
yea, and nothing shall escape them. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 105. 

Joel ii: 1-11. — Blow ye the trumpet . . . sound an alarm ... let all the inhabitants of the 
. land tremble : for the day of the Lord cometh ... a day of darkness and gloominess, a day 
of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains : a great people 
and a strong . . . the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate 
wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appear- 
ance of horses ; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of 
mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a 
38 



010 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

strong people set in battle-array. Before their face the people shall be muah pained : all faces 
shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men ; they shall climb the wall like 
men of war ; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their 
ranks. . . . They shall run to and fro in the city ; they shall run upon the wall, they shall 
climb up upon the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. . . . The sun and 
moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining : and the Lord shall utter his 
voice before his army ; for his camp is very great. 

Volney. — Syria, as well as Egypt, Persia, and almost all the south of Asia, is 
subject to another calamity, no less dreadful than earthquakes ; I mean those 
clouds of locusts so often mentioned by travellers. The quantity of these insects 
is incredible to all who have not themselves witnessed their astonishing num- 
bers ; the whole earth is covered with them for the space of several leagues. 
The noise they make in browsing on the trees and herbage may be heard to a 
great distance, and resembles that of an army foraging in secret. The Tahtars 
themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals ; one would 
imagine that fire had followed their progress. Wherever their myriads spread, 
the verdure of the country disappears, as if a covering had been removed ; trees 
and plants, stripped of their leaves, and reduced to their naked boughs and 
stems, cause the dreary image of winter to succeed, in an instant, to the scenery 
of spring. When these clouds of locusts take their flight, to surmount any 
obstacle, or to traverse more rapidly a desert soil, the heavens may be literally 
said to be obscured by them. Happily this calamity is not frequently repeated, 
for it is the inevitable forerunner of famine and the maladies it occasions. — 
Travels in Egypt and Syria, Vol. I., p. 283. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — Abeih, in Lebanon, 1845. For several days 
previous to the first of June we had heard that millions of young locusts were 
on their march up the valley toward our village, and at length I was told that 
they had reached the lower part of it. Summoning all the people I could col- 
lect, we went to meet and attack them, hoping to stop their progress altogether, 
or at least to turn aside the line of their march. Never shall I lose the impres- 
sion produced by the first view of them. I had often passed through clouds of 
flying locusts, and they always struck my imagination with a sort of vague 
terror ; but these we now confronted were without wings, and about the size 
of full-grown grasshoppers, which they closely resembled in appearance and 
behavior. But their number was astounding ; the whole face of the mountain 
was black with them. On they came like a living deluge. We dug trenches, 
and kindled fires, and beat, and burned to death " heaps upon heaps," but the 
effort was utterly useless. Wave after wave rolled up the mountain side, and 
poured over rocks, walls, ditches and hedges, those behind covering up and 
bridging over the masses already killed. After a long and fatiguing contest, I 
descended the mountain to examine the depth of the column, but I could not 
see to the end of it. Wearied with my hard walk over this living deluge, 1 
returned, and gave over the vain effort to stop its progress. . . . Day after day 
they advanced. . . . The noise they made in marching and foraging was like 
that of a heavy shower on a distant forest. . . . When the head of the mighty 



JOEL III. 611 

column came in contact with the palace of the Emeer Asaad, in Abeih, they did 
not take the trouble to wheel around the corners, but climbed the wall like men 
of war, and marched over the top of it ; so, when they reached the house of Dr. 
Van Dyck, in spite of all his efforts to prevent it, a living stream rolled right 
over the roof. " They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the 
wall ; they shall climb up upon the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows 
like a thief." Every touch in the picture is true to the life. — The Land and the 
Book> Vol. II., p. 1 02, etc. 

Joel ii : 20. — But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a 
land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the 
utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill-savour shall come up, because he hath done 
gi-eat things. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — As in the visitation of Egypt, so 
now it is found that the only means of deliverance from the plague of locusts is 
when a strong wind drives them into the sea ; and even then, as mentioned 
by Joel, their dead bodies taint the air and induce pestilence. — Nat. Hist, of 
Bible, p. 315. 

Paxton. — In a state of putrefaction, the stench emitted from their bodies is 
scarcely to be endured ; the traveller, who crushes them below the wheels of his 
wagon, or the feet of his horses, is reduced to the necessity of washing his nose 
with vinegar, and holding his handkerchief, dipped in it, continually to his 
nostrils. —Illust. in loco. 

Livy. — Scarcely recovered from the miseries of the last Punic war, Africa was 
doomed to suffer another terrible desolation. An immense number of locusts 
covered the whole country, consumed, etc. . . . After they had accomplished 
this terrible destruction, a sudden blast of wind swept and plunged their 
innumerable hosts into the sea. But the deadly scourge was not then at an 
ertd ; the raging billows threw up enormous heaps of their dead and corrupted 
bodies upon that long extended coast, which produced a most insupportable and 
poisonous stench. This soon brought on a pestilence, which affected every 
species of animals ; so that birds, and sheep, and cattle, and even the wild 
beasts of the field, perished in great numbers. The destruction of the human 
species was horrible; in Numidia 80,000 persons died ; along the seacoast in the 
region of Carthage 200,000 perished; and out of a garrison of 30,000 at Utica 
only ten remained alive. — See Liv., lib. xc. 

JUDGMENTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 

Joel iii : 8. — And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, 
and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it. 

Arrian. — Alexander, having taken Tyre, about 8,000 of the inhabitants were 
slain ; some who had fled into the temple of Hercules received a free pardon : 
the rest, to the number of 30,000, were sold for slaves. — Exped. Alex., lib. ii., 
c. 24. 



612 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



Calmet. — Alexander took Tyre. . . . Artaxerxes Ochus destroyed Sidon, and 
subdued other cities of Phoenicia. In all these wars, the Jews, who obeyed the 
Persians, did not neglect to purchase Phoenician slaves, whom they sold again 
to the Arabs. — In Adam Clarke's Com. 



Amos. 



Amos i : I. — The words of Amos 



EARTHQUAKE. 

. . which he saw concerning Israel 
the earthquake. 



two years before 




GAZA. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D.,* F. R. S. — Earthquakes have at many different 
epochs devastated the land of Israel. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 16. 

Volney. — It seems that the coast of Syria is more subject to earthquakes than 
any part of the country. — Travels, Vol. I., p. 282. 

JUDGMENT OF PHILISTIA. 

Amos i : 7, 8. — But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces there- 
of: and I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from 
Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron : and the remnant of the Philistines 
shall perish, saith the Lord. 



AMOS IV. 613 

Volney. — In the plain between Ramla and Gaza (the very plain of the 
Philistines), we met with a number of villages badly built, of dried mud, and 
which, like the inhabitants, exhibit every mark of poverty and wretchedness. 
The houses, on a nearer view, are only so many huts, sometimes detached, at 
others ranged in the form of cells around a court-yard, enclosed by a mud wall. In 
winter, they and their cattle may be said to live together, the part of the dwelling 
allotted to themselves being only raised two feet above that in which they lodge 
their beasts. Except the environs of these villages, all the rest of the country 
is a desert, and abandoned to the Bedouin Arabs, who feed their flocks on it. . 
. . The ruins of white marble sometimes found at Gaza prove that it was formerly 
the abode of luxury and opulence. It has shared in the general destruction, and 
is now no more than a defenceless village. The sea-coast, by which it was 
formerly washed, is every day removing farther from the dese7-t ruins of Ashkelon. 
. . . Amid the various successive ruins, those of Edzoud (Ashdod), so powerful 
under the Philistines, are now remarkable for their scorpions. — Travels, Vol. 
n -> 335-340. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — The plain sweeps the northern base of the 
low, rounded hill on which once stood the royal city of Ashdod. The temples, 
palaces, and houses are all gone. The dust of centuries has covered them. . . . 
The modern village of Esdud, a confused group of mud hovels, lies embowered 
on the eastern slope. It bears the ancient name ; but we might truly change 
it to Ichabod, for the glory is departed. — Giant Cities of ' Bashan, p. 198. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — No site in this country has so deeply impressed 
my mind with sadness as that of Gaza. . . . They have stretched out upon Askelon 
the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness ! — The Land a?id the Book, Vol. 
II., p. 329. 

BONES. 

Amos ii : I. — He burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. 
Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — Bones, when reduced to ashes, contain eighty 
parts out of one hundred of phosphate of lime. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

CAPTIVES LED WITH HOOKS. 

Amos iv : 2. — Lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and 

your posterity with fish-hooks. 

Assyrian Monuments. — Captives are depicted on many of the Assyrian 
monuments, led away by rings in their lips, or hooks thrust through their noses. 
— See Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 171, 172. 

RAIN WITHHELD. 

Amos iv : 7. — And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months 

to the harvest. 
Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — This is utterly ruinous to the hopes of the 
farmer. A little earlier or a little later would not be so fatal, but drouth three 
months before harvest is entirely destructive. — The Zand and the Book, Vol. 
II., p. 66. 



614 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city : one piece 
was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. 

Idem. — There has been a smart shower here, while at Samakh the ground was 
baked hard, and the grain drooping sadly. The same was true on a former 
occasion when I came up the Jordan valley. The ground in the Ghor was like 
a parched desert. There had not been sufficient rain to bring up the grain, and 
the seed sown had rotted under the clod, while here at Tiberias the whole 
country was a paradise of herbs and flowers. And thus it was in former times. 
—Ibid, 

Verse 8. — So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water : but they were not 

satisfied. 

Idem. — This is a fact often repeated in this country. No longer ago than 
last autumn it had its exemplification complete in Belad Besharah, the ancient 
inheritance of Naphtali. — Ibid. 

DESTRUCTION OF BETHEL. 

Amos v: 5. — Bethel shall come to nought. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — Clambering to the top of a shattered tower 
which crowns the hill of Bethel, I looked long, and in sadness, over that dreary 
field of ruin, only inhabited by a few shepherds ; and I saw how terribly time 
had fulfilled the city's prophetic doom : " Bethel shall come to nought."— Giant 
Cities, p. 178. 

SITTING IN THE GATE. 

Amos v : 15. — Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. 
Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — I have seen both the governor and the kady, 
with their suites, sitting in the gate, decreeing and executing judgment, pre- 
cisely as such things are spoken of in the Bible. . . . There is scarcely an 
allusion in the Bible to matters transacted in the gate, but what you may see 
enacted every day about the gate of Jaffa. — Land and Book, II., 287. 

SERPENT IN THE WALL. 

Amos v : 19. — As if a man . . . leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Snakes and venomous animals are fond of taking up 
their lodging in walls of houses, where they can either find or make holes ; and 
i*: is often dangerous to sit near them, or lean against them. In the East Indies 
t ley keep the faithful mongose, a species of ichneumon, in their houses, for the 
purpose of destroying the snakes that infest them. — Note, in loco. 

SYCAMORE FRUIT. 

Amos vii : 14. — I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — We had been sitting under a 
sycamore tree, and looking up, we espied two little Arab girls hidden among 
the branches, gathering the wretched fruit which it bore in abundance. Poor, 



AMOS IX. 615 

indeed, must those be, who live by such labor, and deep must have been the 
poverty of the prophet Amos, when he told the king that he was but " a herd- 
man, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit." — Land of Israel, p. 35. 

THE SUN DARKENED. 

Amos viii : 9. — And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the 
sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. 

Rev, William Latham Bevan, M. A. — The date of Amos coincides with a 
total eclipse, which occurred Feb. 9th, b. c. 784, and was visible at Jerusalem 
shortly after noon. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 654. 

CAVES AND THICKETS OF CARMEL. 

Amos ix: 3. — Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them 

out thence. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Carmel is even now, and was still more in ancient times, 
covered with woods and copses — pines and oaks in the upper parts, and laurels 
and olives below. These, with the numerous caverns which the mountain con- 
tains, formed hiding-places so extensive and numerous, that the search of any 
person hidden there would be bewildering and all but hopeless. — Pict. Bib., in 
loco. 



OBADIAH 



JUDGMENTS OF EDOM. 

Obadiahi; 1,2. — Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom . . . Behold I have made thee 

small among the heathen. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Compared with the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, 
Syrians, Arabs, and other neighboring nations, the Edomites or Idumeans were 
a small people. — Note, in loco. 

Verse 3. — The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the 

rock, whose habitation is high. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — The habits of the Idumeans were singular. 
The Horites, their predecessors in Mount Seir, were, as their name implies, 
troglodytes, or dwellers in caves ; and the Edomites seem to have adopted 
their dwellings as well as their country. Jeremiah and Obadiah both speak of 
them as "dwelling in the clefts of the rocks," and making their "habitations 
high " in the cliffs, like the eyries of eagles ; language which is strikingly illus- 
trated by a survey of the mountains and glens of Edom. Everywhere we meet 
with caves and grottos hewn in the soft sandstone strata. Those at Petra are 
well known. Their form and arrangements show that most of them originally 
were intended for habitations. They have closets and recesses suitable for family 



616 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

uses, and many have windows. . . . During a visit to this region in 1857, the 
writer had an opportunity of inspecting a large number of these caverns, and 
has no hesitation in ranking them among the most remarkable of their kind in 
the world. The nature of the climate, the dryness of the soil, and their great 
size render them healthy, pleasant, and commodious habitations; while their 
security made them specially suitable to a country exposed in every age to inces- 
sant attacks of robbers. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 664. 

Verse 4. — Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, 

thence will I bring thee down. 

Burckhardt. — Some of the excavated chambers and dwellings in Petra are 
so high, and the side of the mountain is so perpendicular, that it seems impos- 
sible to approach the uppermost. — Travels in Syria, p. 422. 

Thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. 
Dr. Alexander Keith. — The long line of the kings and of the nobles of 
Idumea has for ages been cut off; they are without any representative now, 
without any memorial but the multitude and the magnificence of their unvisited 
sepulchres. — Evid. of Proph., p. 154. 

Verse 8. — Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and 
understanding out of the mount of Esau? 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — The minds of the Bedouins are as uncultivated as 
the deserts they traverse. . . . They view the indestructible works of former ages, 
not only with wonder, but with superstitious regard, and consider them as the 
work of genii. — Evid. of Prop h., p. 158. 

Verses 15, 18. — As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee : thy reward shall return upon thine 
own head. . . . And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and 
the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — After their return from captivity the Jews, here called 
"the house of Jacob and of Joseph," did break out as a flame upon the Idu- 
means; they reduced them into slavery; and obliged them to receive circum- 
cision, and practise the rights of the Jewish religion. — Note, in loco. 

Josephus. — Judas and his brethren did not leave off fighting with the Idu- 
means, but pressed upon them on all sides, and took from them the city of 
Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications, and set its towers on fire, and burnt 
the country of the foreigners, and the city Marissa. . . . Hyrcanus took also 
Dora and other cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans ; and permitted 
them to stay in that country, if they would be circumcised, and make use of the 
laws of the Jews ; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their fore- 
fathers that they submitted to the use of "circumcision, and of the rest of the 
Jewish way of living, at which time therefore this befell them, that they were 
hereafter no other than Jews. — Antiq., xii., 8, 6, and xiii., 9, 1. 

And there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau : for the Lord hath spoken it. 

Origen. — The Idumeans mingled with the Nabatheans as well as with the 



OBADIAH I. 617 

Jews. And in the third century of the Christian era, their language was disused, 
and their very name, as designating any people, soon perished. — See Orig,, lib. 
iii., in Job. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — In the seventh century the Mohammedan con- 
quest gave a death-blow to the commerce and prosperity of the whole country 
of Edom. Under the withering influence of Mohammedan rule, the great cities 
fell to ruin, and the country became a desert. The followers of the false pro- 
phet were here, as elsewhere, the instruments in God's hand for the execution 
of his judgments. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 663. 



Jonah. 

TOLD TO GO TO NINEVEH. 

Jonah i : I. — Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying — 
Rev. Calvin E. Stowe, D. D. — Jonah was probably born about 850 b/c. ; 
he was a child when Homer was an old blind bard singing on the eastern shores 
of the Mediterranean, and is the oldest of the prophets whose writings have 
reached our times. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1448. 

Jonah i : 2. — Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. 
Strabo. — Nineveh was a city much greater even than Babylon. — Strab., lib. 
xvi. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Ninus (the builder of Nineveh) proposed to build a 
city of such magnitude, that it should not only be the greatest of the cities which 
were then in all the world, but that none of those who should be born after that 
time, attempting the like, should easily exceed it. — Diod. Sic., lib. ii., c. 3. 

Jonah i : 3. — But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went 
down to Joppa ; and he found a ship going to Tarshish. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The Tarshish of Jonah is probably the Tarsus 
of the New Testament, and the Tarsoos of modern times, situated near the coast 
of Cilicia. It points out the fact, which is confirmed by other testimony, 
that there was much trade going on along the shore, between the different ports 
of the Mediterranean. — Bible Lands, p. 66. 

Prof. Edward S. Ffoulkes, M. A. — Joppa, now Ya-fa or Jaffa, according to 
Josephus, originally belonged to the Phoenicians, is situated in the southwest of 
Palestine, being the port of Jerusalem in the days of Solomon, as it has been 
ever since. The Ordnance Survey makes Joppa a little over 39 miles from Jeru- 
salem. — Smith's Diet., p. 1453. 

THE STORM. 

Jonah i : 7. — And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know 
for whose cause this evil is upon us. 

Dr. John Kitto. — It was a common notion among the ancient mariners that 



618 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

an extraordinary storm must be attributed to the indignation of the gods against 
some guilty person on board the ship. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Euripides. — Let no one be willing to act unjustly ; neither let him sail with 
the perjured. — Electr., v. 1354. 

Xenophon. — Cyrus accounted the piety of those about him an advantage to 
himself; reckoning as they do who choose to undertake a voyage in com- 
pany with men of piety, rather than with such as appear to have been guilty of 
anything impious. — Cyrop., lib. viii., c. 1. 

Cicero. — Diagoras, the atheist, being in a storm at sea, the sailors being 
greatly alarmed, told him they justly deserved that misfortune for admitting him 
into their ship. — De Nat. Deor., III., 37. 

Jonah i: 10, II. — Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou 
done this ? . . . What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us ? 
Orpheus. — They doubted in their prudent mind, 

Whether to kill and cast a prey to fishes 

Wretched Medea, and avert their fate. — Argon., v. 1178. 

THE GREAT FISH. 

Jonah i: 17. — Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was 
in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — No description is given us of the 
fish that swallowed Jonah. It is simply said, " The Lord had prepared a great 
fish" — ketos, which may signify any sea monster. . . . Various species of shark, 
several of which occur in the Mediterranean, have been repeatedly known to 
swallow a man whole.— Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 293. 

Rev. William Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — The white shark, which some- 
times attains the length of thirty feet, is quite able to swallow a man whole. 
Some are skeptical on this point. It would, however, be easy to quote passages 
from the writings of authors and travellers in proof of this assertion. Mr. Couch, 
in his History of the Fishes of the British Islands, says that the formation of the 
jaws and throat of this shark render this a matter of but little difficulty. 
Ruysch says that the whole body of a man in armor (loricatus) has been found 
in the stomach of a white shark ; and Captain King, in his survey of Australia, 
says he had caught one which could have swallowed a man with the greatest 
ease. Blumenbach mentions that a whole horse has been found in a shark ; 
and Captain Basil Hall reports the taking of one in which, besides other things, 
he found the whole skin of a buffalo, which a short time before had been 
thrown overboard from his ship (I., p. 27). Dr. Baird, of the British Museum 
{Cyclop, of Nat. Sci., p. ^14), says that in the river Hooghly below Calcutta, 
he had seen a shark swallow a bullock's head and horns entire, and he speaks 
also of a shark's mouth being sufficiently wide to receive the body of a man. . . . 
But how Jonah could have existed for any time in the fish's belly it is impos- 
sible to explain by simply natural causes — it was a miracle ; and certainly the 
preservation of the prophet in the belly of the fish is not more remarkable than 



JONAH III. 619 

that of the three children in the midst of Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery fur- 
nace. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3509. 

Jonah ii: 10. — And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. 

Prof. Couch. — Naturalists have recorded that it is no uncommon thing for 
sharks to throw up again, whole and alive, the prey they have seized. — Hist, of 
Fishes, Vol. I., p. $$. 

Darwin. — I have heard from Dr. Allen Forres, that he has frequently found 
a Diodon floating alive and distended in the stomach of a shark; and that on 
several occasions he has known it to eat its way out, not only through the coats 
of the stomach, but through the sides of the monster, which has been thus 
killed. — As quoted by Houghton in Smith's Diet. 

JONAH IN NINEVEH. 

Jonah iii : 1-3. — And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go 
unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah 
arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. 

Dr. Calvin E. Stowe. — According to Babylonian tradition, a fish-god or 
fish-man, named Oannes, was divinely sent to that country, the region of the 
Euphrates and Tigris, to teach the inhabitants the fear of God and good morals, 
etc. He came from the sea, and spake with a man's voio£, teaching only in 
the daytime, and returning again every night to the sea. Sculptures of this 
fish-god are frequently found among the ruins of Nineveh. The head and 
face of a dignified and noble-looking man are seen just below the mouth of the 
fish, the hands and arms project from the pectoral fins, and the feet and ankles 
from the ventral ; and there are other forms, but it is always a man in a fish. 
—In Smith's Diet., p. 1448. 

Jonah iii : 3. — Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. 

Diodorus Siculus.— The whole circuit of Nineveh was 480 furlongs. (This 
was a little more than sixty miles, and, according to common computation, 
equal to three days' journey for a foot traveller.)— Diod. Sie., lib. ii., c. 3. 

Jonah iii : 7.— And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree 
of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything : 
let them not feed, nor drink water. 

Dr. John Kitto.— Among the Hebrews we find no instance of their extend- 
ing fasting, and other acts of mourning and humiliation, to their cattle. Some, 
thing similar, however, may be found in other nations. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Plutarch.— Alexander's grief at the death of Hephsestion exceeded all 
bounds. He ordered all the horses and mules to be shorn, that they might 
have their share in the mourning ; and with the same view pulled down the 
battlements of the neighboring cities. — Alexan., c. 72. 

Idem. — The Thebans, on the death of Pelopidas, cut off their horses' manes 
and their own hair. — Pelop., c. 3. 



620 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Idem. — The barbarians in their grief for Masistius, cut off their hair and the 
manes of their horses and mules. — Arist., c. 14. 
Virgil. — On the death of Daphne : — 

The swains forgot their sheep, nor near the brink 

Of running waters brought their herds to drink ; 

The thirsty cattle of themselves abstained 

From water, and their grassy fare disdain' d. — Eclog. V., v. 25. 

THE GOURD. 

Jonah iv: 6. — And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it 
might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — " Gourd " — Hebrew, Kikayon. This, the name 
in the original, leads us at once to the castor-oil tree, which with its broad 
palmate leaves extends a grateful shade over the parched traveller. It is de- 
scribed by Dioscorides under the name of kiki, the identity of which with the He- 
brew name, kikayon, will not escape notice ; he speaks of it as having leaves like 
those of the Oriental plane-tree, but larger, smoother, and of a deep hue. The 
stem and branches are hollow, and of rapid growth, though incapable, without 
the interposition of a miracle, of rising and becoming a shelter in the course of 
a night. From the softness and little substance of the stem, it may easily be 
destroyed by insects, which Rumphius describes as being sometimes the case. 
The conclusion that this plant is to be identified with the gourd of Jonah is 
corroborated by local traditions, as well as by the fact that it abounds near the 
Tigris, where it is not an annual, and grows to a size much more considerable 
than it is commonly supposed to attain. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Jonah iv : 8. — And the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself 

to die. 

Taylor. — It was early in the evening, when the pointed turrets of the city of 
Mosul opened on our view. . . I was now within sight of Nineveh, renowned 
in holy writ. . . The heat here was so intense, that in the middle of the day 
there was no stirring out, and even at night the walls of the houses are so heated 
by the day's sun, as to produce a disagreeable heat to the body, even at the 
distance of a yard from them. . . Besides this, the ordinary heat of the climate 
is extremely dangerous to the blood and lungs, and even to the skin, which it 
blisters and peels from the flesh, affecting the eyes so much that travellers are 
obliged to wear a transparent covering over them to keep the heat off. — In 
Calmet. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P.— It was late in the forenoon before we 
reached our halting-place, after a dreary and fatiguing ride. We were now 
fairly in the Assyrian plains ; the heat was intense — that heavy heat, which 
seems to paralyze all nature, causing the very air itself to vibrate. — Nineveh and 
Babylon, p. 47. 



MlCAH. 



JUDGMENT OF SAMARIA. 

Micah i: I. — The word of the Lord that came to Micah, the Morasthite, in the days of Jotham, 
Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 

W. Aldis Wright, M. A. — -The entire reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, 
extended from 756 b. c. to 697 b. c, covering a period of 59 years. Micah's 
ministry, however, might have embraced only a part of the reign of the first and 
last of these kings. He was contemporary with Hosea, Amos and Isaiah. — ■ 
Smith's Diet., p. 1915. 
Mic. i : 6. — Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard : 

and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations 

thereof. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — We halted at the western gate of Samaria, 
to take a last look at the place. The gate is a shapeless heap of ruins, forming 
the termination of the well-known Colonnade. I was never more deeply im- 
pressed with the minute accuracy of prophetic description, and the literal ful- 
filment of every detail, than when standing on that spot. Samaria occupied 
one of the finest sites in Palestine — a low, rounded hill, in the centre of a rich 
valley, encircled by picturesque mountains. Temples and palaces once adorned 
it, famed throughout the East for the splendor of their architecture. Put the 
destroyer has passed over it. I saw that long line of broken shafts with the 
vines growing luxuriantly round their bases ; I saw a group of columns in a 
corn-field on the hill-top ; I saw hewn and sculptured blocks of marble and 
limestone in the rude walls of the terraced vineyards ; I saw great heaps of stones 
and rubbish among the olive groves in the bottom of the valley far below, but I saw 
no other trace of the city founded by Omri and adorned by Herod. One would 
think the prophet Micah had seen that desolate site as I saw it, his description 
is so graphic. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 231. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — We mounted and rode to the top 
of the flat hill behind, where are the finest remains of the Roman Samaria, in a 
long street of columns like those in the amphitheatre below, the numbers of 
which we did not attempt to count. There must be more than eighty standing, 
and the bases of many more still remain, forming the groundwork of a long 
double colonnade, about fifty feet in width, leading to a ruined triumphal arch, 
or city gate, at the western extremity. . . . The platform on which Samaria 
stood is in one remarkable particular somewhat like that of Jerusalem, in being 
enclosed on all sides by other hills, which more or less command it. How 
often from this spot must the besieged Israelites have gazed upon the hosts of 

(621) 



622 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

the enemy investing their city on all sides ! . . . When again we looked down 
at the gaunt columns rising out of the little terraced fields, and the vines clam- 
bering up the sides of the hill once covered by the palaces of proud Samaria, 
who could help recalling the prophecy of Micah: " I will make Samaria as an 
heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard ; and I will pour down the 
stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof." Not 
more literally have the denunciations on Tyre or on Babylon been accomplished. 
What though Sebaste rose, under Herod, to a pitch of greater splendor than 
even old Samaria, the effort was in vain, and the curse has been fully accom- 
plished. In the whole range of prophetic history, I know of no fulfilment more 
startling to the eye-witness in its accuracy than this. — Land of Israel, p. 137. 

Mic. i: 8. — I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls — rather, as the 

ostriches. 

Dr. Shaw. — During the lonesome part of the night ostriches often make a 
very doleful and hideous noise. I have often heard them groan as if they were 
in the greatest agonies: an action beautifully alluded to by Micah. — Travels, 
/• 455- 

Mic. i: 15. — Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children ; enlarge thy baldness as 

the eagle. 

Prof. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S. — It is evident that in this passage reference 
is made, not to the eagle, whose head is thickly covered with feathers, but to 
nesher, the vulture, whose head and neck are but scantily sprinkled with white 
down. — Bible Animals, p. 345. 

JUDGMENT OF JERUSALEM. 

Mic. iii : 12. — Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall 
become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. 

Dr. John Kitto. — It was an insulting act of ancient conquerors to pass a 
plough over a conquered and ruined city, to express that the site should be 
built upon no more, but be devoted to agriculture. — Note, in loco. 

Horace. — From hence proud cities date their overthrow, 
When, insolent in ruin, o'er their walls 
The wrathful soldier draws the hostile plough, 
That haughty mark of total overthrow. — Carm., lib. i., Ode 16. 

Gibbon. — After the final destruction of the temple by the arms of Titus and 
Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground as a sign of 
perpetual interdiction. — DecL and Fall, chap. 23. 

Josephus. — Now as soon as the Roman army had no more people to slay or 
to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, Caesar 
gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple. ... It 
was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the 
foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe 
it had ever been inhabited.— -Jewish War, lib. vii., c. 1, § 1. 



MICAH VI. 623 

COMING MESSIAH. 

Mic. iv : 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall 

make them afraid. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The fig-tree affords a thick shade, and is, on 
this account, a favorite resort of the family, where they may often be seen 
seated on mats, partaking of a meal, or entertaining friends. Underneath its 
grateful shade many a refreshing nap is taken in the heat of the day, for it is 
supposed to exert a healthy influence upon the sleeper. The expression, "to 
sit under one's own vine and fig-tree," denotes at once, security, domestic enjoy- 
ment, and competence. — Bible Lands, p. 137. 

Mic. v : 2. — But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, 
yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel. 

Matthew. — Now Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod 
the king. — Matt, ii : 1. 

VAIN OFFERINGS. 

Mic. vi : 7. — Will the Lord be pleased with ten thousand of rivers of oil? 

Rev. J. Roberts. — Allusions are often made in the scriptures to the value of 
oil ; and, to appreciate them aright, it should be recollected that oil only is 
used to light the houses, for anointing the body, and for many medicinal pur- 
poses. "Have you heard of the charity of Venase? Why, he has given a 
river of oil to the temple; and Muttoo has given a river of ghee." — Orient. 
Illust.,p. 515. 

Mic. vi : 7. — Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of 

my soul ? 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Such offerings had been made by the Phoenicians, and 
their successors the Carthaginians ; and this very custom was copied by the 
corrupt Israelites. — Note, in loco. 

DECEIT AND VIOLENCE. 

Mic. vi : II. — Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful 

weights ? 

Ovid. — Hither comes the tradesman, having a girdle round his robes, and in 
a state of purity draws some of the water to carry it away in a perfumed urn. 
He sprinkles his hairs, too, with the dripping bough, and in a voice accustomed 
to deceive, runs through his prayers, "Wash away the perjuries of past time," 
says he, "wash away my lying words of the past day; whether I have called 
thee to witness, O Mercury, or have invoked the great godhead of Jove, whom 
I did not intend to listen to me. Do but give me profits ; give me the delight 
that rises from gain, and grant that I may find it lucrative to impose upon my 
customers." From on high Mercury laughs at his worshipper while making 
such requests as these. — Fast., lib. v., v. 675. 



624 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Mic. vii : 2. — They hunt every man his brother with a net. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — The., use of the net in war appears to have 
been common to many ancient nations. The Romans had their Ratiarii. A 
combatant of this class carried in his right hand a net with which he endeavored 
to entangle his enemy by throwing it over his head, and in his left hand a 
weapon with which to slay him. — Test, of Heath., p. 454. 

Strabo. — Upon Phryno's proposal to meet in single combat, Pittacus 
advanced with his fishing gear, enclosed his adversary in a net, pierced him with 
a three-pronged spear, and despatched him with a short sword. —Strab., lib. 
xiii., c. 1. 

Herodotus. — The Sagarthii have no offensive weapons, except their daggers : 
their principal dependence in action is on cords made of twisted leather, which 
they use in this manner : when they engage an enemy, they throw out their 
cords, having a noose at the extremity ; if they entangle in them either horse or 
man, they, without difficulty, put them to death. — Polymnia, c. 85. 



Nakum. 



DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH. 

Nahum i : I. — The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 

Josephus. — Now about this time (the latter part of the reign of Jotham, or 
B. c. 740) a prophet, whose name was Nahum, spoke concerning the overthrow 
of the Assyrians and of Nineveh ... all of which happened a hundred and 
fifteen years after. — Antiq., ix., 11, 3. 

Nah. i : 8, 9, — With an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof. . . . 
He will make an utter end : affliction shall not rise up the second time. 

Dr. WilliAxM Fraser. — The completeness of the destruction and the perma- 
nence of the desolation of Nineveh were foretold with such bold distinctness, as 
to give the impression that Nahum's language was merely hyperbolical; but the 
results have proved to the very letter its historical accuracy. . . . Fearfully and 
most convincingly have all his predictions been fulfilled. Nineveh went down 
to " desolation " — sank into " utter ruin" — and its very ruins were lost to the 
world. — Blending Lights, p. 315-318. 

J. Bonomi, F. R. S. L. — Far away it lay buried — no certain trace was known 
as to the place of its sepulchre — vague tradition said that it was hidden some- 
where near the river Tigris. More than 2,000 years had it lain in its unknown 
grave, when a French savant and a wandering English scholar, urged by a noble 
inspiration, sought the seat of the once powerful empire, and, searching till they 
found the dead city, threw off its shroud of sand and ruin, and revealed once 



NAHUM I. 625 

more to an astonished and curious world the temples, the palaces, and the idols ; 
the representations of war, and the triumphs of peaceful art of the ancient 
Assyrians. The Nineveh of Scripture— the Nineveh of the oldest historians ; 
the Nineveh— twin-sister of Babylon— glorying in a civilization of pomp and 
power, all traces of which were believed to be gone ; the Nineveh, in which the 
captive tribes of Israel had labored and wept, and against which the prophecies 
had gone forth, was, after a sleep of twenty centuries, again brought to light. 
The proofs of ancient splendor were again beheld by living eyes, and, by the 
skill of draftsmen and the pen of antiquarian travellers, made known and pre- 
served to the world. — Nineveh and its Palaces, p. i, 2. 

Nah. i : 10.— For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunk- 
ards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 

Diodorus Siculus.— It happened that the king of Assyria, not knowing any- 
thing of the revolt of the Bactrians, and elated by his former successes, was 
indulging in idleness and revelling ; and had prepared wine and other things 
necessary for feasting his soldiers. While his whole army was now feasting and 
revelling, Arbaces, receiving intelligence from some deserters of the carelessness 
and intemperance of the enemy, fell upon them, easily broke into their camp, slew 
great numbers of them, and drove the remainder back into the city. — Diod. 
Sic., lib. ii., c. 26. 

Botta.— In the Bas-reliefs exhumed from the ruins of Nineveh carousing 
scenes are represented more than once, in which the king, his courtiers, and 
even the queen, reclining on couches or seated on thrones, and attended by 
musicians, appear to be pledging each other in bowls of wine. — Mon. de Nin., 
pi. 63-67, etc. 

Nah. i : 14. — Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image : 
I will make thy grave, for thou art vile. 

Hon. Austen H. Layard, M. P. — Deeply buried in the high mound of 
Nimroud, we came upon the remains of a Temple. Four of its chambers were 
explored. The great entrances were to the east. The principal portal was formed 
by two colossal human-headed lions, sixteen and a half feet high and fifteen feet 
long. They were flanked by three small winged figures, one above the other, and 
divided by an ornamental cornice, and between them was an inscribed pavement 
slab of alabaster. In front of each was a square stone, apparently the pedestal 
of an altar, and the walls on both sides were adorned with enameled bricks. 

About thirty feet to the north of the lion gateway was a second entrance, at 
each side of which were two singular figures. One was that of a monster, whose 
head, of fanciful and hideous form, had long pointed ears and extended jaws, 
armed with huge teeth. Its body was covered with feathers, its forefeet were 
. those of a lion, its hind legs ended in the talons of an eagle, and it had spread- 
ing wings and the tail of a bird. Behind this strange image was a winged 
man, whose dress consisted of an upper garment with a skirt of skin or fur, an 
under robe fringed with tassels, and the sacred horned hat. A long sword was 
suspended from his shoulders by an embossed belt; sandals, armlets, and 
39 



626 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

bracelets, completed his attire. He grasped in each hand an object in the form 
of a double trident, resembling the thunderbolt of the Greek Jove, which he 
was in the attitude of hurling against the monster, who turned furiously towards 
him. — This group appears to represent the bad spirit driven out by a good deity ; 
a fit subject for the entrance of a temple. 

On the slabs at right angles to these sculptures, forming the outer part of the 
entrance, were two colossal human figures, without wings, wearing garlands on 
their heads, and bearing branches ending in three flowers. Within the temple, 
at right angles to the entrance, were sculptured fish-gods, somewhat different in 
form from those in the palace of Kouyunjik. 

To the right of this entrance, and apparently outside the walls of the temple, 
was discovered one of the finest specimens of Assyrian sculpture brought to this 
country. It represents the early Nimroud kirlg in high relief, carved on a solid 
block of limestone, cut into the shape of an arched frame, in the form of the 
rock-tablets of Bavian and the Nahr-el-Kelb. The monarch wears his sacrificial 
robes, and carries the sacred mace in his left hand. Round his neck are hung 
the four sacred signs, the crescent, the star, the trident, and the cross. His waist 
is encircled by the knotted cord, and in his girdle are three daggers. Above his 
head are the mythic symbols of Assyrian worship, the winged globe, the crescent, 
the star, the bident, and the horned cap. The entire slab, eight feet eight inches 
high, by four feet six inches broad, and one foot three inches thick, is covered be- 
hind and before, except where the sculpture intervenes, with an Inscription, in 
small and admirably formed arrow-headed characters. It was fixed on a plain 
square pedestal, and stood isolated from the building. In front of it was an altar 
of stone, supported on lions' feet, very much resembling in shape the tripod of 
the Greeks. It would seem from the altar before this figure, that the Assyrians, 
like other nations of old, were in the habit of deifying the heroes of their race, 
and that the king who extended the bounds of the empire to distant lands, 
and raised temples to the gods, received after his death divine ho?iors. 

Unfortunately, the heat of the fire which had consumed the building had 
also broken this monument in two pieces; it sustained still further damage in its 
transport to England. The Inscription must have contained, when entire, sev- 
eral hundred lines, and is divided on the back of the slab into two columns. 
It commences with an invocation to the god Ashur, the supreme lord, the king 
of the circle of the twelve great gods. Then follow the names of these deities ; 
who, perhaps, presided over the twelve months, corresponding with the same 
circle in the Egyptian mythology. 

About one hundred feet to the east of the above, I discovered a second Tem- 
ple. Its principal entrance faced the south, and was on* the same level as the 
northwest palace. The gateway was formed by two colossal lions with extended 
jaws, gathered up lips and nostrils, flowing manes, and ruffs of bristly hair, 
etc. (Thus have been fulfilled the sure words of prophecy : "Out of the house 
of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image ; I will make 
thy grave, for thou art vile.") — Nineveh and Babylon, p. 299-302, and 309. 



NAHUM II. 



627 



Nah. ii : 3, The shield of his mighty men is made red ; the valiant men are in scarlet. 

Assyrian Sculptures. — The shields and the dresses of the warriors are gen- 
erally painted red in the sculptures discovered among the ruins. — See Nineveh 
and its Palaces, p. 209, 327, etc. 

Nah. ii : 4.— The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the 

broad ways. 

Sculptures of Nimroud. — (On the walls of the palace at Nimroud is elabo- 
rately sculptured, on marble slabs, a battle-scene, in which occurs the following 
striking illustration of this text)— The first subject on the upper line represents 
the king in front of the battle, in his chariot, with his charioteer and shield- 
bearer. To the sides of the chariot are attached, crossing each other, two 
quivers full of arrows. Each quiver contains a small bow, and is likewise fur- 
nished with a hatchet. The bossed shield of the king is placed at the back of 
the chariot, serving for further protection : in front is the brass or iron pole, 
terminating in the head of a swan. The spear is inserted behind the chariot in 
a place appointed for it, decorated with a human head. The harness and 




THE WAR CHARIOTS IN THE STREETS — AN ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE. 

trappings of the horses are rich and elaborate like those of Egypt. Above the 
royal chariot is the winged divinity, wearing the double-horned cap. He directs 
his arrows against the enemies of the king. Directly before the king, one of the 
enemy — perhaps the chief — is falling out from his chariot ; while his charioteer, 
unable to guide the horses, is precipitated in front. Behind one of the king's 
soldiers has seized a flying enemy, and is about to kill him, notwithstanding 
the efforts of his companion to drag him off to a place of security. Another of 
the enemy lies dead ; and others are actively flying for refuge towards the out- 
works of the city — which reach to the shores of a shallow stream running 
through a woody country. The victorious king has pursued the enemy up to 
the very confines of the city ; which is further protected by a ditch and double 
wall — and from bcnind which the enemy are discharging their arrows. The 
city is represented with embattled towers and arched gateway. From the 
towers the enemy are shooting arrows and throwing stones, under cover of 
wicker shields. The last figure — as far as the fracture allows us to see — is that 



628 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of a person endeavoring to obtain a parley : he holds his slackened bow in his 
left hand, and his right hand is upraised in the act of bespeaking attention. — « 
Bonomi's Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 224-227. 

Nah. ii : 6. — The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. 

Diodorus Siculus. — There was an old prophecy among the Ninevites, 
received from their forefathers, that their city should never be taken till the 
river became its enemy : and in the third year of the siege, the river, being 
swollen with continued rains, overflowed part of the city, and broke down the 
wall for twenty stadia : then the king, thinking that the oracle was fulfilled, and 
the river become an enemy to the city, built a large funeral pile in the palace, 
and collecting together all his wealth, and his concubines and eunuchs, burnt 
himself and the palace with them all : and the enemy entered the breach that 
the waters had made, and took the city. — Diod. Sic., lib. ii., c. 26, 27. 

Nah. ii ; 9. — Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold : for there is none end of the 
store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Arbaces, having taken the city, distributed the citizens 
of Nineveh through the country villages, levelled the city with the ground, and 
transferred many talents of gold and silver to Ecbatana, the royal city of the 
Medes; and so the empire of the Assyrians was subverted. — Diod. Sic, lib. ii., 
c. 28. 

Idem. — Belesis pretended that he had made a vow to Belus, that when Sar- 
danapalus should be conquered and his palace consumed, he would carry the 
ashes to Babylon, and there raise a mound near to his temple; but his true 
reason for desiring to do this was that he had heard of the gold and silver 
which lay hidden among the ruins. Arbaces, being ignorant of the plot, 
granted him permission to carry away the ashes : upon which Belesis prepared 
shipping and took away great treasures of gold and silver to Babylon.— Diod. 
Sic, lib. ii.,.c. 28. 

Nah. ii : 10. — She is empty, and void, and waste. 

Gibbon. — Eastward of the Tigris, at the end of the bridge of Mosul, the 
great Nineveh had formerly been erected : the city, and even the ruins, had 
long since disappeared ; the vacant space afforded a spacious field for the opera- 
tion of the two armies. — Decl. and Fall, Vol. VIII., p. 250. 

Nah. iii : 1. — Woe to the bloody city ! it is full of lies and robbery. 

That this was the true character of Nineveh at this very time — that its kings 
delighted in, and made a boast of their cruelties, carnage and robberies, is 
sufficiently attested by their own records recently brought to light. Take a 
single example from the 

Inscription of Sennacherib. — Like a herd of sleek oxen of abundant fatness 
eagerly I attacked and defeated them. Their heads I cut off, like victims, their 
highly worked decorations I tore off with derision. Like the fall of a great 
shower, their rings and bracelets I cast down upon the earth in a lofty heap. 
My faultless horses, yoked to my chariot, through the deep pools of blood, 



NAHUM III. 629 

stepped slowly. Of my chariot, as it swept away the slain and the fallen, with 
blood and flesh its wheels were clogged. The heads of their soldiers, like 
urkiti, I salted, and into great wicker-baskets I stuffed them. — Inscr. of Semi., 
column v., lines 74-85. 

Nah. iii : 1-3. — Wo to the bloody city ! . . . The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling 
of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth 
up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a 
great number of carcasses ; and there is none end of their corpses. 

Assyrian Sculptures. — This magnificent description of the assault upon the 
city of Nineveh is illustrated in almost every particular upon the sculptured 
slabs that have been dug out of its ruins, and the ruins of neighboring cities. 
The various kinds of armor, helmets, shields, spears, swords, used in battle and 
during a siege; the chariots and horses, etc., are all seen in the various bas- 
reliefs discovered by Botta and Layard. — See Nineveh and its Remains, Vol. II. , 
part 2, chap. 4 and 5. 

Nah. iii : 13, 15. — The fire shall devour thy bars. . . . There shall the fire devour thee. 

Dr. William Fraser. — Taken by themselves, the prophecies of Nahum 
appear *o be unlikely, if not contradictory, in their reference to the means by 
which the city of Nineveh was to be destroyed. In one portion we read, 
u That the gates of the river should be opened," and that " there should be an 
overrunning flood : " in another, " Fire shall devour thy bars — There shall fire 
devour thee." Unlikely as was this combination of fire and water, in the prophecy, 
as the means that would ensure the destruction of Nineveh, yet it was true, and 
the prediction was fulfilled to the very letter. — Blending Lights, p. 315-318. 

Editor of Pictorial Bible. — The statement that Nineveh should be destroyed 
by fire is most remarkably verified by the state in which its ruins have been 
found. The appearance of the ruins of the more recent palaces — the palace of 
Khorsabad, the southwest palace of Nimroud, and the palace of Kouyunjik — 
proves beyond a doubt that they had been destroyed by fire ; while it is quite as 
clear that the northwest and centre palaces of Nimroud owed their ruin to a 
different cause. — Append, to Vol. III., Note 78. 

Layard. — The palace of Kouyunjik had been destroyed by fire. The 
alabaster slabs were almost reduced to lime, and many of them fell to pieces as 
soon as uncovered. The places which others had occupied could only be traced 
by a thin white deposit, left by the burnt alabaster upon the wall of sun- 
dried bricks, and having the appearance of a coating of plaster. . . . The whole 
entrance of the southwest palace at Nimroud was buried in charcoal, and the 
fire which destroyed the building appears to have raged in this part with 
extraordinary fury. — Nineveh and its Remains, Vol. I., p. 121. 

Botta. — I must acknowledge I no longer doubt that this monument (the 
Khorsabad palace) was destroyed by fire. The lower portion contains an 
enormous quantity of charcoal, and even remnants of burnt beams; besides, the 
surface of the gypsum, in many places, is evidently converted into plaster, and 



630 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

become friable ; to these indications, in short, another sign may be added. I 
have already mentioned the discovery, during the excavations, of a little ball of 
clay, bearing a mythological impression. Six more, precisely similar, have since 
appeared, and, on examination, I perceived that a hole was bored through them 
still retaining fragments of carbonized string. — Letters, English Trans. , 1850. 

La yard. — In the ruins of the Temple of Nimroud was found a mass of lead, 
melted by the fire, for embedded in it was the iron head of a hatchet. — 
Nineveh and Babylon, p. 308. 

DOOM OF THE ASSYRIAN POWER. 

NaT), iii : 16. — Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven. 
Austen H. La yard, D. C. L. — Situated upon a navigable river communicating 
with the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf, Nineveh must have soon formed one 
of the great trading stations between that important inland sea, and Syria, and 
the Mediterranean, and must have become a depot for the merchandise supplied 
to a great part of Asia Minor, Armenia, and Persia. The animals represented 
on the Black Obelisk, now in the British Museum, and on other monuments — 
the rhinoceros, the elephant, the double-humped camel, and various kinds of 
apes and monkeys, show a communication direct or indirect with the Ifemotest 
parts of Asia. The intercourse with foreign nations, and the practice of 
carrying to Assyria as captives the skilled artists and workmen of conquered 
countries, must have contributed greatly to the improvement of Assyrian 
manufactures. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2170. 

Nah. iii: 17. — Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which 
camp in the hedges in the cold day ; but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place 
is not known where they are. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — To any one who has attentively watched the 
habits of the locust, the comparison of Nahum is not only plain, but very 
striking. In the evenings, as soon as the air became cool, at Abeih, they 
literally camped in the hedges and loose stone walls, covering them over 
like a swarm of bees settled on a bush. There they remained until the next 
day's sun waxed warm, when they again commenced their march. On a cool 
day they scarcely move at all from their camps. But when the hot sun beats 
powerfully upon them, they literally flee- away, and the place is not known where 
they are. This is true even in regard to those which have not wings. One 
wonders where they have all gone to. Yesterday the whole earth seemed to be 
creeping and jumping, to-day you see not a locust. — The Land and the Book, 
Vol. II., p. 106. 

And their place is not known where they are. 

Lucian. — Nineveh is so completely destroyed, that it is not even possible to 
say where it stood. — Contempt., c. 23. 

Nah. iii : 18. — king of Assyria . . . thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man 

gathereth them. 



NAHUM III. 631 

Diodorus Siculus. — When the enemy had shut up the king within the city, 
many nations revolted ; each going over to the besiegers, for the sake of their 
liberty. — Diod. Sic., lib. ii. 

Nah. iii: 19. — There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the 
bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee ; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed 
continually ? 

Dr. John Kitto. — The war practices of the Assyrians, as represented on the 
monuments, were characterized by savage cruelty. Their treatment of captives 
was particularly cruel. In a sculpture at Khorsabad, for example, there is a 
representation of a man flaying a captive alive. In others, the king is repre- 
sented holding in one hand a rope, which is attached at its other ends to rings 
through the lips of certain prisoners ; while with the other, he is putting out 
the eyes of a captive with a sharp-pointed instrument. Many bas-reliefs repre- 
sent Assyrian soldiers bringing in the heads of the slain, and scribes keeping 
account of their number, to furnish matter for boasting to the vainglorious and 
barbarous tyrant. More horrible still, the monuments show clearly that it was 
an occasional practice of the Assyrians to impale their victims, and the practice 
seems to have become more common during the latter period of the empire. 
These infamous usages, taken in connection with the extent and overwhelming 
success of the Assyrian conquests — as represented on the sculptures, and narrated 
in the inscriptions — enable us to understand the force and point of the question, 
" Upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually ? " — Pict. Bible, Vol. 
III., p. 729. 

There is no healing of thy bruise. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — In accordance with the announcement 
of Nahum, we find that Assyria never rose again to any importance, nor even 
succeeded in maintaining a distinct nationality. Once only was revolt attempted, 
and then in conjunction with Armenia and Media, the latter heading the 
rebellion. This attempt took place about a century after the Median conquest, 
during the troubles which followed upon the accession of Darius Hystaspes. It 
failed signally, and appears never to have been repeated, the Assyrians remaining 
thenceforth submissive subjects of the Persian empire. They were reckoned in 
the same satrapy with Babylon, and paid an annual tribute of 1,000 talents of 
silver. In the Persian armies, which were drawn in great part from the subject- 
nations, they appear never to have been held of much account, though they 
fought in common with other levies. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 189. 



Habakkuk. 



Habakkuk i : I. — The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. 

Delitzsch. — Habakkuk delivered his prophecy about the 12th or 13th year 
of Josiah, that is, about 630 or 629 b. c. — See Der Prophet Habk., Einl. § 3. 

THE CHALDEANS. 

Hab. i : 6. — For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march 
through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The Chaldeans were cruel and oppressive in their dis- 
position, and prompt and speedy in their assaults and conquests. — Note, in 
loco. 

Hab. i : 8. — Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the even- 
ing wolves : and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from 
far ; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. 

J. Bonomi, F. R. S. L. — In the sculptures of Khorsabad and Nimroud, the 
swiftness of the horses and the ferocity of the riders are well portrayed. The 
Chaldean cavalry were proverbial for swiftness, courage and cruelty. Appianus, 
a Greek poet of Cilicia, in the second century, in speaking of the horses bred 
about the Euphrates, says, " They are by nature war-horses, and so intrepid that 
neither the sight nor the roaring of the lion appals them ; and besides, are 
astonishingly fleet." — Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 283. 

Austen H. La yard, D. C. L. — No one can look at the horses of the early 
Assyrian sculptures without being convinced that they were drawn from the 
finest models. The head is small and well-shaped, the nostrils large and high, 
the neck arched, the body long, and the legs slender and sinewy. — Nin. a.nd its 
Rents., Vol. II., p. 360. 

Hab. i: 15. — They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather 

them in their drag. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — There appears to be no mode of fishing now in 
use which was not known to and practised by the ancients. — Note, in loco. 

Wilkinson. — Angling was a favorite pursuit of the wealthy in Egypt, as well 
as followed by the poor who could not afford a net. — An. Egypt, Vol. III., 
P- 53- 

Hab. i : 16. — Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because 
by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. 

Mezentius. — My strong Right Hand, and Sword, assert my stroke. 

Those only gods Mezentius will invoke. — ALn., X., 773. 
(632) 



HABAKKUK II. 633 

Capaneus. — Only thou, my Right Hand, be my aid ; I contemn the gods, 
and adore thee as the chief in battle, and the irresistible deity. — Statius, in 
Thebaid, lib. x. 

Hab. ii : 5. — He enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gath- 
ereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people. 

Juvenal. — One world sufficed not Alexander's mind; 

Coop'd up, he seemed on earth and seas confined. — Sat., X., 168. 

Hab. ii : II. — For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall 

answer it. 

Juvenal. — O Corydon, poor, simple Corydon ! Do you think aught that a 
rich man does can be secret ? Even though his slaves hold their tongues, his 
cattle will tell the tale; and his dogs and door-posts, and marble statues. — Sat., 
IX., v. 102. 



Zephaniah. 



Zephaniah i : I. — The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah ... in the days of Josiah 

. . . king of Judah. 

William Aldis Wright, M. A. — The date of this book is given in. the inscrip- 
tion ; namely, the reign of Josiah, from 642 to 611 b. c. This date accords fully 
with internal indications. — Smith's Diet., 3617. 

ASHKELON AND EKRON. 

Zeph. ii : 4. — Ashkelon shall be a desolation. 
Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — The whole site of Ascalon was before us. Not a 
house nor a fragment of a house remains standing. Not a foundation of temple 
or palace can be traced entire. One-half of it is occupied with miniature fields, 
ancl vineyards, and fig-orchards ; rubbish-mounds here and there among them, 
and great heaps of hewn stones, and broken shafts, and sculptured slabs of 
granite and marble. The rude fences exhibit similar painful evidences of ancient 
wealth and magnificence. The other half of the site was still more fearfully 
desolate. It is so thickly covered with drift sand, that not a heap of rubbish, 
not a vestige of a ruin remains visible, save here and there where the top of a 
column rises like a tombstone above the smooth surface. The sand is fast 
advancing ; it has already covered some of the highest fragments of the southern 
and western wall, and ere a quarter of a century has passed, the site of Ascalon 
will have been blotted out for ever. — Dismounting I took out my Bible and read 
the doom pronounced upon Ascalon by the prophets Zechariah and Zephaniah, 
— "Askelon shall not be inhabited " — "Askelon shall be a desolation." Ascalon 
is a desolation ; it shall not be, cannot be, inhabited ! As we stood there and 



634 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

looked, we said to each other, "The eye of the Omniscient God alone could 
have foreseen such a doom as this." — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 207. 

And Ekron shall be rooted up. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — Akir (Ekron) is a wretched village containing 
some forty or fifty hovels ; its narrow lanes encumbered with heaps of rubbish 
and filth. It stands on a bare slope, and the ground immediately around it has 
a dreary and desolate look, heightened by a few stunted trees scattered here and 
there round the houses. Yet this is all that marks the site and bears the name 
of the royal city of Ekron. There is not a solitary vestige of royalty there now. 
With feelings it would be difficult to describe, we took out our Bibles again, and 
read the doom pronounced upon it by the Hebrew prophet while it yet stood in 
all the pride of its strength and beauty. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 195. 

COAST OF PHILISTIA. 

Zeph. ii: 5. — Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites ! the word 
of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that 
there shall be no inhabitant. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. a. — Still we rode on eastward over the undu- 
lating, desolate plain. Our course lay along the southern border of Philistia, 
where the plain has been overrun for many a century by the wandering Ishmael- 
ites of Et-Tih, and where extensive cultivation and settled habitation are alike 
impossible. In our ride of more than thirty miles, that day, we did not meet a 
human being ; and from the moment we left the fields of Gaza till we passed in 
among the rocky spurs of the hills of Judah, we did not see a single sign of 
human life. We saw many towns and villages in ruins — white mounds of 
rubbish on the gray plain. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 213. 

MOAB AND AMMON. 

Zeph. ii : 9. — Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Amnion as Gomorrah, even 
the breeding of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. 

Seetzen. — All this country, formerly so populous and flourishing, is now 
changed into a vast desert. . . . The far greater part of the country is uninhab- 
ited, being abandoned to the wandering Arabs, and the towns and villages are in 
a state of total ruin. — Travels, p. 34, 37. 

Burckhardt. — Many of the rums present no objects of any interest. They con- 
sist of a few walls of dwelling-houses, heaps of stones, the foundations of some 
public edifices, and a few cisterns filled up; there is nothing entire, but it 
appears that the mode of building was very solid, all the remains being formed 
of large stones. In the vicinity of Amnion there is a fertile plain interspersed 
with low hills, which for the greater part are covered with ruins. — T?-avels in 
Syria, p. 355, 364. 

DESOLATION OF NINEVEH. 

Zeph. ii : 13, 14. — And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and 
will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the 



ZEPHANIAH II. 635 

midst of her, all the beasts of the nations : both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in 
the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the 
thresholds : for he shall uncover the cedar work. 

Austen Henry Layard, D. C. L. — "He will make Nineveh a desolation, 
and dry like a wilderness : " — The canals which once fertilized the soil are now 
dry. Except when the earth is green, after the periodical rains, the site of the 
city, as well as the surrounding country, is an arid yellow waste. Flocks of 
sheep and herds of camels may be seen seeking scanty pasture amongst the 
mounds. From the unwholesome swamp within the ruins of Khorsabad, and 
from the reedy banks of the little streams that flow by Kouyunjik and Nimroud 
may be heard the croak of the cormorant and the bittern. The cedar- wood 
which adorned the ceilings of the palaces has been uncovered by modern 
explorers ; and in the deserted halls the hyena, the wolf, the fox, and the 
jackal, now lie down. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2168. 

For he shall uncover the cedar work. 

Idem. — Standing one day on a distant part of the mound, I smelt the sweet 
smell of burning cedar. The Arab workmen, excavating in the small temple, 
had dug out a beam, and, the weather being cold, had at once made a fire to 
warm themselves. The wood was cedar ; probably one of the very beams 
mentioned in the inscription as brought from the forests of Lebanon by the 
king who built the edifice. After a lapse of nearly 3,000 years, it had retained 
its original fragrance. Many other such beams were discovered, and the greater 
part of the rubbish in which the ruin was buried consisted of charcoal of the 
same wood. It is likely that the whole superstructure, as well as the roof and 
floor of the building, like those of the temple and palace of Solomon, were of 
this precious material. — Nin. a?id Bab., p. 308. 

Zeph. ii : 15. — This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and 

there is none besides me. 

Austen Henry Layard, D. C. L. — (Of the wealth, luxury, magnificence 
and power of Nineveh, which prompted to this proud presumptuous speech, the 
following eloquent description of this explorer of one of her palaces, may serve 
to convey some idea) : — The interior of the Assyrian palace must have been as 
magnificent as imposing. I have led the reader through its ruins, and he may 
judge of the impression its halls were calculated to make upon one who, in the 
days of old, entered for the first time the abode of the Assyrian kings. He was 
ushered in through the portal, guarded by the colossal lions or bulls of white 
alabaster. In the first hall, he found himself surrounded by the sculptured 
records of the empire. Battles, sieges, triumphs, the exploits of the chase, the 
ceremonies of religion, were portrayed on the walls — sculptured in alabaster, 
and painted in gorgeous colors. Under each picture were engraved, in charac- 
ters filled up with bright copper, inscriptions describing the scenes represented. 
Above the sculptures were painted other events — the king, attended by his 
eunuchs and warriors, receiving his prisoners, entering into alliances with other 



636 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

monarchs, or performing some sacred duty. These representations were enclosed 
in colored borders of elaborate and elegant design. The emblematic tree, 
winged bulls, and monstrous animals were conspicuous among the ornaments. At 
the upper end of the hall was the colossal figure of the king, in adoration before 
the Supreme Deity, or receiving from his eunuch the holy cup. He was attended 
by warriors bearing his arms, and by the priests or presiding divinities. His 
robes, and those of his followers, were adorned with groups of figures, animals, 
and flowers, all painted with brilliant colors. — The stranger trod upon alabaster 
slabs, each bearing an inscription recording the titles, genealogy and achieve- 
ments of the great king. Several doorways, formed by gigantic winged lions 
or bulls, or by the figures of guardian deities, led into other apartments, which 
again opened into more distant halls. In each were new sculptures. On the 
walls of some were processions of colossal figures — armed men and eunuchs 
following the king, warriors laden with spoil, leading prisoners, or bearing 
presents and offerings to the gods. On the walls of others were portrayed the 
winged priests, or presiding divinities, standing before the sacred trees. The 
ceilings above him were divided into square compartments, painted with flowers 
or the figures of animals. Some were inlaid with ivory, each compartment being 
surrounded by elegant borders and mouldings. The beams, as well as the sides 
of the chambers, may have been gilded, or even plated with gold and silver; 
and the rarest woods, in which the cedar was conspicuous, were used for the 
wood-work. Square openings in the ceilings of the chambers admitted the light 
of day. A pleasing shadow was thrown over the sculptured walls, and gave a 
majestic expression to the human features of the colossal forms which guarded 
the entrances. Through these apertures was seen the bright blue of an eastern 
sky, enclosed in a frame, on which were painted, in vivid colors, the winged 
circle, in the midst of elegant ornaments, and the graceful forms of ideal 
animals. — " This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her 
heart, I am, and there is none besides me." — Nineveh and its Remains, Vol. 
II., p. 262. 

How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in. 

Bishop Newton. — What probability was there that such a capital, the 
capital of a great kingdom, a city which was sixty miles in compass, a city 
which contained so many thousand inhabitants, a city which had walls, according 
to Diodorus Siculus, a hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could 
go abreast upon them, and fifteen hundred towers at proper distances in the 
walls of two hundred feet in height : what probability was there, I say, that 
such a city should ever be totally destroyed ? and yet so totally was it destroyed, 
that (for many centuries) the place was hardly known on which it stood. — 
" Verily this is the word that the Lord hath spoken, Verily there is a God who 
judgeth in the earth." — Dissertations , /. 126. 



Haggai. 



Haggaii: I. — In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day ot 
the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai. 

William Aldis Wright, M. A.— The prophecies of Haggai were delivered 
in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, that is, b. c. 520, at intervals from the 
first day of the sixth month, to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the 
same year. — Smith's Diet., p. 979. 

THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 

Hag. ii: 7. — And the Desire of all nations shall come. 

Prof. R. C. Trench, M. A. — There was in the heathen world, all along, an 
implicit expectation — yearning — for a redeemer. The nations yearned, and 
knew not for what. But still they yearned : for as the earth in its long polar 
night seeks to supply the absence of the day by the generation of the northern 
lights, so does each people in the long night of its heathen darkness bring forth 
in its yearnings, after the life of Christ, a faint and glimmering substitute for the 
same. From these dreamy longings after the break of day have proceeded 
oracles, priests, sacrifices, lawgivers, and the like. Men have nowhere given 
up hoping; nor acquiesced in the world's evil as the world's law. Everywhere 
they have had a tradition of a time when they were nearer to God than now, a 
confident hope of a time when they should be brought nearer again. No 
thoughtful student of the past records of mankind can refuse to acknowledge 
that through all its history there has run the hope of a redemption from the 
evil which oppresses it ; nor of this only, but that this hope has continually linked 
itself on to some single man. The help that is coming to the world, it has ever 
seen incorporated in a person. . . . "The Desire of all nations shall come," 
was an expectation as deeply graven on the heart and mind of the heathen as of 
the Jew. — Hulsean Lectures for 1846, p. 186. 

TEE LATTER HOUSE. 

Hag. ii : 9. — The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord 

of hosts. 

Rev. Charles Bradley. — The first temple was splendid in its gold and 
silver ; its main glory, however, lay in the traces it bore, the indications it held 
of the divine presence. But here, in this second temple, is that God himself 
manifest in our mortal flesh ; no shadowy, indistinct resemblance of him, but, 
incarnate before us, One whom he himself calls by his Spirit, " The brightness 
of his glory and the very image of his person." The long waited for "Con- 
solation of Israel," the "Light that was to lighten the Gentiles," "the Desire 
of all nations," is here, and his mere presence throws a splendor around this 
building the earth never saw before. — Practical Sermons, No. IX. 

(637) 



Zechariah. 



Zechariah i : I. — In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord 

unto Zechariah. 

Rev. J. J. S. Perowne, B. D. — Zechariah was contemporary with Haggai; 
and both these prophets had the same great object before them, namely, the 
building of the second temple. — Smith's Diet., p. 3598. 

THE MYRTLE TREES. 

Zech. i: 8. — I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the 
myrtle trees that were in the bottom. 

Emerson. — One who has formed his ideas of the Oriental myrtle from the 
weak and unhealthy plants which spring in the gardens and hot-houses of the 
North, must have a faint conception of their real beauty. Even in Italy they 
are much superior to ours (in England), and I remember to have seen one at 
Florence whose stem was at least nine inches in diameter. But in Greece, and 
in the Levant, they are really magnificent. In the Morea I have travelled for hours 
through an uncultivated tract, whilst the groves of myrtle formed an almost 
continuous arbor above our heads, covered here and there with the delicate 
flowers, and exhaling at every motion the most delicious perfume, whilst its dark 
polished leaves combined coolness with beauty. It is such a scene as this that 
explains the phrase of Zechariah. — Letters fi-om the Egcean. 

WALL OF FIRE. 

Zech. ii : 5. — For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the 

glory in the midst of her. 

Campbell. — Travellers protect themselves in the night from the attacks of 
wild beasts by kindling fires around their camping-place. This was our con- 
stant practice in the wilds of Africa, when timber to burn could be obtained. 
While the fires kept burning we were in perfect safety, as no undomesticated 
animal, however ferocious, will approach near to fire. Something in its bright- 
ness seems to give alarm. — Afriean Light. 

Callimachus. — With Apollo Delos is strong and safe. • What is a more firm 
rampart? Walls, indeed, and stones might fall under the violent blast of 
Strymonian Boreas, but the god is ever undisturbed. — Hymn, in Delon., v. 24. 

FILTHY GARMENTS REMOVED. 

Zech. iii : 3, 4.— Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And 
he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy gar- 

(638) 



ZECHARIAH IX. 639 

ments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from 
thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. 

Rev. T. S. Millington. — Among the Romans it was common for those who 
lay under any stigma or accusation to appear in mean or filthy garments to take 
their trial : on being acquitted, these sordid vestments were taken from them, 
and their customary dress resumed. The friends and relations of those who 
were accused sometimes did the same. — Test, of Heath., p. 459. 

Cicero. — The Senate was in grief; the city wore an appearance of mourning, 
its garments having been changed in accordance with the public resolution of 
the Senate . . . when all suddenly the two consuls issue an edict that the sen- 
ators are to return to their former dress. Whether that change of garment was 
assumed as a token of grief, or as a form of solicitation, whoever was so cruel 
before, as to forbid any one mourning for himself or entreating for others? 
What? Are not men accustomed of their own accord to change their garments 
on the occasion of danger to their friends? — Pro. Sext., c. 14. 

Quintilian. — I am sensible that a mean, careless, dirty dress, worn by an 
accused party and all his friends, have had wonderful effects in his favor. — 
QuintiL, lib. vi., c. 1. 

THE STORK. 

Zech. v : 9. — Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, 
and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork : and they lifted 
up the epha between the earth and the heaven. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The black pinions of the stork 
suddenly expanded from their white body have a striking effect, having a spread 
of nearly seven feet: and the bird on the wing showing its long bright-red bill, 
and steering itself by its long red legs, stretched out far behind its tail, is a 
noble sight. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 248. 

WEALTH OF TYRE. 

Zech. ix: 3. — And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and 
fine gold as the mire of the streets. 

Bishop Newton. — The situation of Tyrus was very strong, being on an 
island ; and besides the sea to defend her, she was fortified with a wall of 150 feet 
in height, and of a proportionable thickness. "She heaped up silver as the 
dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets," being the most celebrated place 
in the world for trade and riches, " the mart of nations," conveying the com- 
modities of the east to the west, and of the west to the east. — Disserts., p. 155. 

GAZA AND ASKELON. 

Zech. ix : 5. — And the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 

Richardson. — Askelon was one of the proudest satrapies of the lords of the 
Philistines; now there is not an inhabitant within its walls, and the prophecy 
of Zechariah is fulfilled ; when the prophecy was uttered, both of these cities 
were in an equally flourishing condition, and nothing but the prescience of 



640 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

heaven could pronounce on which of the two, and in what manner, the vial of 
his wrath should be poured out. Gaza is truly without a king, the lofty towers 
of Askelon lie scattered on the ground, and the ruins within its walls do not 
shelter a human being. How is the wrath of man made to praise his Creator ! 
Hath he said, and shall he not do it ? The oracle was delivered by the mouth 
of his prophet more than 500 years before the Christian era, and we behold its 
accomplishment 1,800 years after that event, and see that the king has perished 
from Gaza, and that Askelon is not inhabited. — Univer. Hist., Vol. II., p. 204. 

MESSIAH ENTERING JERUSALEM. 

Zech. ix : 9. — Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy 
king cometh unto thee : he is just and having salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and 
upon a colt the foal of an ass. 

Matthew. — And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to 
Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto 
them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass 
tied, and a colt with her; loose them and bring them unto me. . . . And the 
disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the 
colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very 
great multitude spread their garments in the way ; others cut down branches 
from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went 
before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David : Blessed 
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest. And 
when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 
— Malt.,xxi: 1-10. 

STAFF OF OFFICE. 

Zech. xi: 10. — And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my 
covenant which I made with all the people. 

Paxton. — A trace of this ancient custom is still discernible in our own 
country : the lord steward of England, when he resigns his commission, breaks 
his wand of office, to denote the termination of his power. — Scrip. Illustrations. 

BETRAYAL AND DEATH OF MESSIAH. 

Zech. xi : 12. — So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 
Matthew. — And he said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will 
deliver him unto you ? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of 
silver. — Matt., xxvi : 15. 

Zech. xi: 13. — And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was 
prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the 
. house of the Lord. 

Matthew. — Then Judas, which had betrayed him, repented himself, and 
brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, and he 
cast down the pieces of silver in the temple. And the chief priests took the 
silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because it 



ZECHARIAH XIV. 641 

is the price of blood. And they took counsel ; and bought with them the 
potter's field, to bury strangers in. — Matt, xxvii : 3, 5, 6, 7. 

Zech. xii : IO. — They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. 
John. — But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side.— -John xix : 

3 1 - , j. ' { 

Zech. xiii: I. — In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — This is a beautiful and significant promise, 
which many actions and customs in this country (Palestine) may shed light upon 
and render emphatic. I have repeatedly found wells closed up tight and the 
mouth plastered over with mortar. Such wells are reserved until times of special 
need when all other sources of supply have failed. — The Land and the Book^ 

II., 400. .-.;-. 

Zech. xiii: 7.— Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, 
saith the Lord of hosts : smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. 

Matthew. — And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and 
with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and 
elders of the people. . . . And they laid hold on Jesus, and led him away to 
Caiaphas. . . . Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.— Matt, xxvi: 47, 

56, 57- 

BELLS ON HORSES. 

Zech. xiv: 20. — In that day shall there be on the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the 

Lord. 

Austen H. Layard, D. C. L. — The first objects found in this chamber (at 
Nimroud) were two plain copper vessels about two and a half feet in diameter, 
and three feet deep. . . . These were filled with curious relics. I first took out 
a number of small bronze bells with iron tongues, and various small copper orna- 
ments, some suspended to wires. . . . All the objects contained in these vessels, 
with the exception of the cups and dishes, were probably ornaments of horse 
and chariot furniture. . . . The horses of the Assyrian cavalry, as well as those 
harnessed to chariots, are continually represented in the sculptures with bells 
round their necks, and in the Bible we find allusion to this custom. — Nineveh 
and Babylon, p. 1 49-1 5 2 . 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — It is the great ambition of the people, here in 
the East, to adorn all their animals about the neck, head, and haunches, with 
broad bands of leather, carefully embroidered with coarse beads, shells, or 
colored wool ; sometimes a sentence is worked upon the bands, and numerous 
bells of various size and tone are fastened upon them. — Bible Lands, p. 227. 
40 



Malachi. 



Vitringa. — Malachi delivered his prophecies after the second return of 
Nehemiah from Persia, and subsequently to the thirty-second year of Arta- 
xerxes Longimanus, or about b. c. 420. — In loco. 

INGRATITUDE. 

Malachi i : 6. — A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if I then be a father, 
where is mine honor ? and if I be a master, where is my fear ? saith the Lord of hosts. 

Aristotle. — A father is by nature the ruler of his sons; and ancestors, of 
their descendants; and a king, of his subjects. — Ethics, lib. viii., c. 11. 

UNWORTHY OFFERINGS.. 

Mai. i : 8. — And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, 
is it not evil ? Offer it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy 
person ? saith the Lord of hosts,. 

Plato.— The Lacedemonians conduct themselves in so slighting a manner 
towards the gods as to sacrifice animals which are even maimed. — Alcib. de 
precat., c. is. 

Plutarch. — It is necessary that the beast sacrificed to the gods should be 
pure, sound, entire and uncorrupt. — De defect, orac, c. 49. 

THE PRIESTS TO BE INSTRUCTORS. 

Mai. ii : 7. — For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his 
mouth : for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 

Diodorus Siculus. — The priests of Egypt are highly reverenced and possess 
great authority with the people, both for their piety towards the gods and their 
great wisdom and learning, in which they instruct the people. They are 
always at the king's elbow, as the chief of his privy council, and assist, advise, 
and instruct him on all occasions.— Diod. Sic, lib. i., c. 73. 

Cicero. — Many things, O priests, have been devised and established with 
divine wisdom by our ancestors; but no action of theirs was ever more wise 
than the decree that the same men should superintend both what relates to the 
religious worship due to the immortal gods, and also what concerns the highest 
interests of the state, so that it might preserve the republic, as the most honor- 
able and eminent of the citizens, by governing it well, and as priests, by wisely 
interpreting the requirements of religion. The dignity of the whole republic, 
(642) 



MALACHI III. 643 

the safety of all the citizens, their lives, their liberties, their altars, their hearths, 
their household gods, their properties, their conditions as citizens, and their 
homes, all appear to be committed and entrusted to your wisdom, integrity, and 
power. — Orat. pro domo, c. i. 

THE FORERUNNER. 

Mai. iii : I. — Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. 
Matthew. — In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilder- 
ness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.— 
Matt, iii : i, 2. 

THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. 

Mai. iii : 6. — I am the Lord, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. . 

Socrates. — If God be changed, does He change himself to what is better 
and fairer, or to the worse and more deformed ? To the worse surely, replied 
Adimantes, if He be changed at all, for we can never say that God is at all 
deficient in beauty or excellence. You speak most correctly, said I : and this 
being so, think you, Adimantes, that any one, either of gods or men, would 
willingly make himself any way worse? Impossible, said he. It is impossible, 
then, said I, for God to desire to change himself. — Plat, de rep., 1. ii., c. 20. 

Cicero. — Plato thinks that to be nothing which begins and perishes ; and 
that that alone is which is always the same. — Cic. Tusc, 1. i., c. 24. 

Tacitus. — The Jews maintain that the Divine Being is eternal and supreme ; 
that He is incapable of all change, incapable of ever ending. In their cities, 
therefore, no images are seen, much less in their temples. — Hist., 1. v., c. 5. 

SACRILEGE. 

Mai. iii : 8. — Will a man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we 
robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 

Plutarch. — Caphis went to Delphi, but was loath to touch the sacred 
deposits, and lamented to the Amphictyones the necessity he was under, with 
many tears. — Suit., c, 12. 

COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

Mai. iii: 16.— Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord 
hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that 
feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. 

Lucian. — The Deity now looks down from heaven upon the just and unjust, 
writes down all that every one does in books, and will, on a day that he has 
appointed, reward them according to their deserts. — Philop., c. 13. 

Cicero. — The gods know what sort of person every one really is ; they 
observe his actions, whether good or bad : they take notice with what feelings, 
and with what piety he attends to his religious duties, and they are sure to make 
a difference between the good and wicked. — De Leg., lib. ii., c. 7. 



644 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

. Mai. iii; 17. — And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my 
jewels ; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 

Sophocles. — Far above all other gifts doth Jove, 
The almighty Father hold true piety. 
Whether we live or die, that still survives 
Beyond the reach of fate, and is immortal. — Philofi., v. 1443. 

THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Mai. iv : 2. — Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in 

his wings. 

Zacharias. — The Day-Spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to 
them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the 
way of peace. — Luke i : 78, 79. 

Simeon. — Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy 
word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the 
face of all people, a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of thy people 
Israel. — Luke ii : 29-32. 

John. — There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same 
came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him 
might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that 
Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into 
the world.— John i : 6-9. 

Matthew. — The people which sat in darkness saw great Light ; and to them 
which sat in the region and shadow of death Light is sprung up. — Matt. 
iv : 16. 

Jesus of Nazareth. — I am the Light of the world : he that followeth me 
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life. — -John viii: 12. 




■in ClmrcK 

_ ? -, : -v - 



THE 

New Testament. 



Matthew. 



• Bishop William Thomson, D. D. — It maybe fairly said that the genuineness 
of the Four Gospel Narratives rests upon better evidence than that of any other 
ancient writings. They were all composed during the latter half of the first 
century : those of St. Matthew and St. Mark some years before the destruction 
of Jerusalem; that of St. Luke probably about a. d. 64; and that of St. John 
towards the close of the century. Before the end of the second century, there 
is abundant evidence that the four Gospels, as one collection, were generally 
used and accepted. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 942. 

The Early Fathers. — Iren^eus, a disciple of Polycarp, knew the four Gos- 
pels; Hczr., iii., c. 1. Tatian, who died a. d. 170, composed a harmony of 
the Gospels, under the name of Diatesseron ; Eus. Hist. Ec., iv., c. 29. 
Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, about a. d. i63, wrote a commentary on 
the Gospels; Hieron ad Alga. Clement of Alexandria, about 189, was 
acquainted with the Four Gospels. Tertullian, born about a. d. 160, knew 
the Four Gospels, and was called on to vindicate the text of one of them against 
the corruptions of Marcion. Origen, born a. d. 185, calls the Four Gospels 
the four elements of the Christian faith. We have another class of evidences 
for the Gospels in the. citations made from them. Barnabas, Clemens 
Romanus, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, etc., make numerous quotations from 
them. There is yet another line of evidence. The heretical sects, as well as 
the Fathers of the church, knew the Gospels, and appealed to them as authori- 
ties.— See Smith's Diet, of Bible, art. " Gospel." 

Norton. — The direct historical evidence for the genuineness of the Gospels 
consists in the indisputable fact, that throughout a community of millions of 
individuals, scattered over Europe, Asia and Africa, the Gospels were regarded 
with the highest reverence, as the works of those to whom they are ascribed, 
at so early a period that there could be no difficulty in determining whether 
they were genuine or not, and when every intelligent Christian must have 

(646) 



64Q TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

been deeply interested to ascertain the truth. — Gen. of Gasp., Additional 
Notes, p. 269. 

Bishop William Thomson, D. D. — The Gospel which bears the name of St. 
Matthew was written by that apostle according to the testimony of all antiquity. 
And we are told on the authority of Papias, Irenaeus, Pantaenus, Origen, Eusebius, 
Epiphanius, Jerome, and many other fathers, that this Gospel was first written 
in Hebrew, i. e., in the vernacular language of Palestine, the Aramaic. — 
Smith's Did. of Bible. 

Papias. — Matthew wrote the Divine Oracles in the Hebrew dialect, and each 
interpreted them as he was able. — Euseb. Hist. Ec., iii., 39. 

Irenaeus. — Whilst Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and founding the 
church, Matthew put forth his written Gospel amongst the Hebrews in their own 
dialect. — Iren., iii., 1. 

Origen. — As I have learned by tradition concerning the Four Gospels, which 
alone are received without dispute by the Church of God under heaven, the 
first was written by St. Matthew, once a tax-gatherer, afterwards an apostle of 
Jesus Christ, who published it for the benefit of the Jewish converts. — Euseb. 
Hist. Ec, vi., 25. 

Eusebius. — Matthew having first preached to the Hebrews, delivered to 
them, when he was preparing to depart to other countries, his Gospel, composed 
in their language. — Hist. Ec., iii., 24. 

THE WORLD'S EXPECTATION. 

Matt, i: 23. — Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall 
call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 

Tacitus. — Many were under a strong impression that in the ancient books*, 
kept by their priests, a prophecy was contained. That at this very time the 
power of the East should prevail, and out of Judaea should spring such as should 
rule over all nations. — Hist., lib. v., c. 13. 

Virgil. — The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes, 

Its course propitious now begins. 

The base degenerate iron offspring ends ; 

A golden progeny from heaven descends. 

O chaste Lucina ! speed the mother's pains, 

And haste the glorious birth ! thy own Apollo reigns. 

The lovely boy, With his auspicious face, 

Shall Pollio's consulship and triumph grace : 

Majestic months set out with him to their appointed race. 

The fathers' banish'd virtue shall restore ; 

And crimes shall threat the guilty world no more. 

The son shall lead the life of gods, and be 

By gods and heroes seen, and gods and heroes see. 

The jarring nations he in peace shall bind, 

And with paternal virtues rule mankind. — Eel. IV., v. 3-17. 



MATTHEW II. 647 

Suetonius. — A firm persuasion had long prevailed through all the East that 
it was fated for the empire of the world at that time to devolve on some One 
who should go forth from Judaea. — Vesfias., c. 4. 

THE SAVIOUR'S BIRTH. 

Matt, ii : I. — Now . . . Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king. 

Josephus. — This Herod — Herod the Great — was the second son of Antipater, 
who was appointed Procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar, b. c. 47, and Cypros, 
an Arabian of noble descent. At the time of his father's elevation, though 
only fifteen years old, he received the government of Galilee, and shortly after- 
ward that of Ccele-Syria. When Antony came to Syria, b. c. 41, he appointed 
Herod and his elder brother Phasael Tetrarchs of Judea. The next year Herod 
was obliged to leave Judea, and fled to Rome (b. c. 40). At Rome he was 
well received by Antony and Octavia, and was appointed by the Senate King 
of Judea to the exclusion of the Hasmonaean line. In fhe course of a few years, 
by the help of the Romans, he took Jerusalem (b. c. 37), and completely estab- 
lished his authority throughout his dominions. — Antiq., B. xiv., c. 7, 9, 13, 14. 

WISE MEN OF THE EAST. 

Matt, ii : I, 2. — Behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he 
that is born king of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship 
him. 

Diodorus Siculus. — From a long observation of the stars, and an exact 
knowledge of the motions and influences of every one of them, wherein they 
excel all other nations, they foretell many things that are to happen. The 
appearance of comets, they say, is significative of good or evil, not only to 
nations in general, but to kings, and even to private individuals. — Diod. Sic, 

n., 30. 

Cicero.-— According to the Chaldeans the birth of infants is regulated by the 
moon, and they observe and take particular notice of the natal stars with which 
the moon happens to be in conjunction at the moment of a nativity. — De Div. 9 
it, 43- 

Seneca. — Certain magi, who by good fortune had been at Athens, visited 
the tomb of Plato, and there offered incense to him as a divine being. — Epist. 
58 ; see also Diogenes Laertius, II., 45. 

Matt, ii : 4, 5. — And he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto 

him, In Bethlehem of Judea. 
The Compiler. — The town or village of Bethlehem still remains, under the 
name Beit-lahm. It is situated some six miles south of Jerusalem, on a narrow 
hill ridge, and corn-fields below, as in the days of Ruth and Boaz, with the 
well a little distance from the gate as when David longed to quench his thirst 
therefrom, and the wild hills spreading eastward where the shepherds' flocks 
" who kept watch by night " may have wandered. The site and the whole sur- 
rounding scene Of this town are in perfect agreement with all we read of them 



Q±S TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

in the sacred history; there exists no doubt of its identity, nor has there ever 
been a doubt. Justin Martyr, who wrote within fifty years after the death of 
the apostle John, mentions that the spot of the Nativity was well known, and 
pointed out to pious visitors in his day. And 180 years later, in commemora- 
tion of the event, the emperor Constantine erected his magnificent Basilica, or 
Church of the Nativity, over what was then believed to be the very place ; that 
church, after passing through many and various vicissitudes, remains there to 
the present day, and is now the oldest monument of Christian architecture in/ 
the world. — From Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 634; see also 
Thomson's La,7id and the Book, Vol. II., p. 500-515 ; and Stanley's Sinai and 
Palestine, p. 432. 

Matt, ii : n. — And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary 
. his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, 
they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 

Rev. Joseph Roberts! — In the East, the birth of a son is always a time of 
great festivity ; the relations come together on the occasion, to congratulate the 
happy parents, and to present their gifts to the Utile stranger. Some bring the 
silver anklets ; others the bracelets or ear-rings, or the silver cord for the loins. 
Others, however, are the bearers of gold, and a variety of needful articles. 
The "wise men " did not make presents as a matter of charity, but to show 
their affection and respect. When the infant son of a king is shown, the people 
make their obeisance to him. — Orient, fittest., p. 523. 

: Dr. A. Clarke. — The people of the East never approach the presence of. 
kings and great personages, without a. present in their hands. — Note, in loco. 

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 

Matt, ii : 13. — Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou 
there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 

Josephus. — Herod had no power or authority in Egypt. And beside this 
the Jews were about this time encouraged to enter and settle in Egypt ; and 
great numbers of them lived there in the enjoyment of high privileges, civil and 
religious. They even had a Temple and a Priesthood there, after the pattern 
of those at Jerusalem. Here, then, Joseph and Mary with their Babe would 
find a safe and welcome refuge among their own nation, and readily obtain 
employment and support during their stay. For the above facts, see Jos. 
Antiq., B. 13, c: 3, § 1,2, etc. 

SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS. 

Matt, ii : 16. — Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding 
wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts 
thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired 
of the wise men. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — The massacre of the Innocents is pro- 
foundly in accordance with all that we know of Herod's character. The master- 





CANA — John ii: I. 



MATTHEW II. 049' 

passions of that, able but wicked prince were a most unbounded ambition, and a 
most excruciating jealousy. His whole career vras red with the blood of 
murder. He had massacred priests and nobles ; he had decimated the San- 
hedrim; he had caused the High Priest, his brother-in-law, the young and noble 
Aristobulus, to be drowned in pretended sport before his eyes ; he had ordered 
the strangulation of his favorite wife, the beautiful Asmonaean princess Mariamne, 
though she seems to have been the only human being whom he passionately 
loved. His sons Alexander, Aristobulus, and Antipater — his uncle Joseph — ■ 
Antigonus and Alexander, the uncle and father of his wife — his mother-in-law 
Alexandra— his kinsman Cortobanus — his friends Dositheus and Gadias, were 
but a few of the multitudes who fell victims to his sanguinary, suspicious and 
guilty terrors. . . . There is no conceivable difficulty in supposing that such a 
man would have acted in the exact manner which St. Matthew describes ; and 
the belief in the fact receives independent confirmation from various sources. 
— Life of Christ, Vol. L, p. 42~44- 

Josephus. — There was at this time a sect of men among the Jews called 
Pharisees ; these were believed to have the foreknowledge of things to come by 
inspiration, and certain of them foretold how God had decreed that Herod's 
government should cease, and his posterity should be deprived of it. These 
predictions were told to the king. So the king, for this prophecy, slew the 
Pharisees ; and he slew also all those of his own family who had consented to 
what the Pharisees foretold. — Antiq., XVII., 2. § 4. 

Suetonius. — It is related that shortly before the birth of Augustus there was a 
prophecy in Rome that a king over the Roman people would soon be born. 
And the expectation that such a Ruler would appear prevailed so strongly, that 
the Senate, in order to guard against such a danger to the Republic, made a 
decree that all the male children born in that year should be destroyed by deser- 
tion or exposure ; but the Senators, whose wives were pregnant, took means to 
prevent the execution of the statute, because each of them hoped that the 
prophecy might refer to his own child. — Vita August., p. 94. 

Matt, ii : 22. — Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod. 

Josephus. — And now Herod, (in his last sickness,) altered his Testament . . . 
and granted the kingdom to Archelaus. . . . When he had done this he died. . . . 
When his death was made public, Salome and Alexis gathered the soldiery together 
in the amphitheatre at Jericho, and read Herod's letter addressed to them, 
thanking them for their fidelity and good will to him, and exhorting them to 
afford his son Archelaus, whom he had appointed for their king, like fidelity and 
good will. After which, Ptolemy, who had the king's seal entrusted to him, read 
the king's Testament. So there was presently an acclamation made to Arche- 
laus, as King. — Antiquities, XVII., 8, § 1. 

THE RETURN TO NAZARETH. 

Matt, ii : 21, 22. — And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the 
land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his 
father Herod, he was afraid to go thither. 



650 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Josephus. — Archelaus was Herod's own son, and without delay let the nation 
understand his spirit. Even before his claim to the throne had been confirmed 
by Caesar, who could either give it to him or not, he had given a specimen of 
his future virtue to his subjects, and with what kind of moderation and good 
adyninistration he would govern them, by that his first action which concerned 
them* his own citizens, and God himself also, when he made the slaughter of 
three thousand of his own countrymen at the temple ! How then were the people 
to avoid the just hatred of him, etc. —A ntiq., XVII. , ii, § 2. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — It will be recollected that the death of Herod 
took place just before the Passover ; and Joseph being then commanded to return 
from Egypt, must, according to all reasonable probability, have reached the 
borders of Judea, just after the perpetration of this sanguinary act, which, we 
learn incidentally, was at the Passover, just previous to which Herod died. The 
news of it, therefore, must have met him on his approach, together with the 
intelligence that Archelaus did reign. Every one he met could talk of nothing 
else — every mouth was full of it ; and dreadful as the fact was, it doubtless 
reached his ears with a thousand circumstances of aggravation. This, with the 
general character of the prince, may well have made Joseph doubt that he could 
safely execute his design of remaining in Judea; for there, everything combined 
to render it probable that Archelaus would by no means hesitate to execute the 
purpose of his father, should it come to his knowledge, or should he even suspect, 
that the child was still alive whom Herod supposed he had destroyed. —Daily 
Jllust.,p. 150. 

Matt, ii : 22, 23. — Being warned of God in a dream he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 
and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. 

Dr. John Kitto, F. S. A. — Galilee was obviously, under the circumstances, 
the best and safest place for the bringing up of the child Jesus. Herod Antipas, 
the Tetrarch of that province, though not a good man, was a person of mild 
disposition as compared with Archelaus, with whom he was, moreover, on terms 
so hostile that there was not the least likelihood that he would, even if 
demanded, give up the infant Christ into his power. — Daily Illust. t p. 151. 

JOHN BAPTIST. 

Matt, iii : 4. — And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about 
his loins ; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 

^Elian.— There are camels in those regions whose hair equals the Milesian 
wool in softness. The priests and other chief men wear garments formed of this 
hair. — Hist. Anim., lib. xvii., c. 34. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S.— The hair of the camel, especially 
the coarser woolly tufts about the hump and back, is in some places torn off, but 
more generally, as I have observed, closely shorn once a year, and used for 
weaving into a coarse thick fabric by the Arab women. It is of this material 
that the " black tents of Kedar " are generally constructed, as it is much thicker 



MATTHEW IV. 651 

and stouter than woollen stuff. It is very harsh and rough to the touch, and thus 
the Baptist's dress was in accordance with the austerity of his life. — Nat. Hist, 
of Bible, p. 66. 

And his meat was locusts and wild honey. 

Herodotus. — The Nasamonians, a numerous people, in summer leave their 
flocks and herds upon the sea-shore, and go up the country, where they gather 
dates. . . . They also chase the locusts, and, when caught, dry them in the 
sun, after which they grind them to powder, and, sprinkling this upon their 
milk, so drink it. — Melpomene, c. 172/ 

Burckhardt. — All the Bedawins of Arabia, and the inhabitants of towns in 
Nejd and Hedjaz are accustomed to eat locusts. I have seen at Medina and 
Tayf locust shops, where these animals were sold by measure. In Egypt and 
Nubia they are only eaten by the poorest beggars. The Arabs in preparing 
locusts as an article of food, throw them alive into boiling water with which a 
good deal of salt has been mixed. After a few minutes, they are taken out and 
dried in the sun; the head, feet, and wings are then torn off; the bodies are 
cleansed from the salt and perfectly dried, after which process whole sacks are 
filled with them by the Bedawins. They are sometimes eaten boiled in butter, 
and they often contribute materials for a breakfast when spread over unleavened 
bread mixed with butter. — In Land and Book, II., 107. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — However extensive the Bee 
colonies of the villages, the number of wild Bees of the same species is far 
greater. The innumerable fissures and clefts of the limestone rocks, which 
everywhere flank the valleys, afford in their recesses secure shelter for any 
number of swarms, and many of the Bedowin, particularly in the wilderness of 
Judea, obtain their subsistence by bee-hunting, bringing into Jerusalem jars of 
that wild honey on which John the Baptist fed in the wilderness, and which 
Jonathan long before unwittingly tasted, when the comb had dropped on the 
ground from the hollow tree in which it was suspended. — Land of Israel, p. 88. 
Matt, iii : II. — Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. 

Roberts. — In the East, a respectable man never goes out without his servant 
or attendant. . . . When the ground is smooth, or where there is soft grass to 
walk on, the sandals are taken off, and the servant carries them in his hand. 
The devoted and humble John did not consider himself worthy to bear the 
sandals of his Divine Master. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 523. 

CHRIST AT CAPERNAUM. 

Matt, iv: 13. — And leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea- 
coast. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Christ chose as the earliest centre of 
his ministry a bright and busy city, whose marble buildings were mirrored in a 
limpid sea. That little city was Capernaum. It rose under the gentle declivities 
of hills that encircled an earthly paradise. . . . But Capernaum has long since 




(652) 



MATTHEW IV. 653 

fallen and perished ; all that remains to indicate its doubtful site are but a few 
prostrate fragments. . . . The shores of that sea are now deserted. With the 
exception of the decaying remnants of Tiberias and Magdala, there is not a single 
inhabited spot on its once crowded shores. But the natural features still remain. 
The lake still lies unchanged in the bosom of the hills, reflecting every varying 
gleam of the atmosphere like an opal set in emeralds ; the waters are still as 
beautiful in their clearness as when the boat of Peter lay rocking on their ripples, 
and Jesus gazed into their crystal depths ; the cup-like basin still seems to 
overflow with its flood of sunlight ; the air is still balmy with natural perfumes; 
the turtle-dove still murmurs in the valleys, and the pelican in the waves ; and 
there are palms, and green fields, and streams, and gray heaps of ruin. And 
what it has lost in population and activity, it has gained in solemnity and 
interest. — Life of Christ, Vol. L, p. 174-177. 

THE SEA OF GALILEE. 

Matt, iv : 18, 21. — And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called 
Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. . . . And 
going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his 
brother, in a ship with Zebede'e their father, mending their nets. 

Dean A. P. Stanley. — The Lake of Galilee abounds in fish of all kinds. 
From the earliest times — so said the Rabbinical legends — the lake had been so 
renowned in this respect, that one of the ten fundamental laws laid down by 
Joshua on the division of the country was, that any one might fish with a hook 
in the Sea of Galilee, so that they did not interfere with the free passage of 
boats. Two of the villages on the banks derived their name from their fisheries 
— the western and eastern Bethsaida, or House-off sh ; and all of them sent 
forth their fishermen by hundreds over the lake. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 367. 

THE FAME OF JESUS. 

Matt, iv : 24. — And his fame went throughout all Syria. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— The region of the Sea of Galilee (at 
that day) was occupied by people of many nationalities. The cities and villages 
were very numerous, and all full of people, the very smallest, according to 
Josephus, containing no less than 15,000 inhabitants. Four principal roads 
communicated with the shores of the lake. One led down the Jordan valley on 
the western side; another, crossing a bridge at the south of the lake, passed 
through Peraea to the fords of Jordan near Jericho ; a third led, through 
Sepphoris, the gay and rising capital of Galilee, to the famous port of Accho 
on the Mediterranean Sea; a fourth ran over the mountains of Zebulon to 
Nazareth, and so through the plain of Esdraelon to Samaria and Jerusalem. 
Through this district passed the great caravans on their way from Egypt to 
Damascus ; and the heathens who congregated at Bethsaida Julias and Csesarea 
Philippi must have been constantly seen in the streets of Capernaum. The 
waters of the lake also were ploughed by 4,000 vessels of every description, from 



654 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

the war-vessel of the Romans to the rough fisher-boats of Bethsaida, and the 
gilded pinnaces from Herod's palace. Ituraea, Samaria, Syria, Phoenicia were 
immediately accessible by crossing the lake, the river, or the hills. The town 
of Tiberias, which Herod Antipas had built to be the capital of Galilee, and 
named in honor of the reigning emperor, had risen with marvellous Rapidity, 
with its turreted walls, its strong castle, and the golden house of Antipas, flinging 
far into the lake the reflection of its marble lions and sculptured architraves. 
Europe, Asia, and Africa had contributed to its population, and men of all 
nations met in its market-place. All along the western shores of Gennesareth 
Jews and Gentiles were strangely mingled, and the wild Arabs of the desert 
might there be seen side by side, with enterprising Phoenicians, effeminate 
Syrians, contemptuous Romans, and supple, wily, corrupt Greeks. — (From such 
a centre, how readily and quickly would " the fame of Jesus spread throughout 
all Syria; " and how natural, and how true to facts, is this statement of the 
gospel.) — Life of Christ, I., p. 178. 

Dr. William Harris Rule. — It is remarkable that a full narrative of com- 
munication with Syria, contained in the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius, 
completely tallies with the words of St. Matthew. Eusebius relates that when 
the Divinity of our Saviour was proclaimed among all men, by reason of the 
astonishing miracles He wrought, and myriads came to Him from all countries 
to be healed, a Syrian king, Abgar of Edessa, on the Euphrates, renowned 
among the nations for his valor, found his body wasting away with a grievous 
and incurable disease, and sent Him by a courier a letter of request to come and 
heal him. Eusebius had a copy of the letter taken for him from the records 
which were then kept at Odessa, the capital of his dominions, and his translation 
into Greek was, until very lately, the only original of many versions. But the 
late Dr. Cureton found the Syriac original as it had lain in the archives of 
Edessa, which were transferred thence to Ecbatana, in Armenia, and from that 
place to the Natron monastery in Egypt, but now rests in the British Museum. 
It reads thus: 

" Abgar the Black, sovereign of the country, to Jesus, the good Saviour, who 
has appeared in the country of Jerusalem ; Peace. I have heard about Thee, and 
about the healing which is wrought by Thy hands, without drugs and roots. 
For, as it is reported, Thou makest the blind to see, and the lame to walk; and 
Thou cleansest the lepers, and Thou castest out unclean spirits and demons, and 
Thou healest those who are tormented with lingering diseases, and Thou raisest 
the dead. And when I heard all these things about Thee, I settled in my mind 
one of two things: either that Thou art God, who hast come down from heaven, 
and doest these things ; or that Thou art the Son of God, and doest these 
things. On this account, therefore, I have written to beg of Thee that Thou 
wouldst weary Thyself to come to me, and heal this disease which I have. 
And not only so, for I have also heard that the Jews murmur against Thee, and 
wish to do Thee harm. But I have a city, small and beautiful, which is suffi- 
cient for two." 



MATTHEW V, 655 

There can be no reasonable doubt about the authenticity of this letter. Eusebius 
had a copy brought to him as it was taken from the original copy soon after 
A. d. 300, authenticated as part of the public records. Moses of Osrohene, 
historian of Armenia, found the same document in the " House of Records," 
in the century following; and his translation into Armenian, like that of 
Eusebius into Greek, doubles the assurance that it is not fictitious. — Oriental 
Records (Historical), p. 173. 

And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, 
and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had 
the palsy ; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — There is an irresistible bias in Orientals, of all 
religions, to run after the mere shadow of a prophet, or a miracle-worker. A 
grand fraud was enacted in Lebanon a few years ago, in order to raise the wind 
to build a church. The water that burst out while the workmen were digging 
the foundation, it was published abroad, would restore the blind to sight; and 
quickly multitudes of these unfortunate people, from all parts of Palestine and 
Syria, and even ship-loads from Egypt, hastened to the spot, to bathe their sore 
or sightless balls in the wonder-working water. I myself saw long files of " blind 
leading the blind," marching slowly and painfully on toward the blessed 
stream, and it was not until great suffering and loss that the insane multitude 
could be restrained from making the worse than useless pilgrimage. Such are 
Orientals of this day ; and to know what was the character, in these respects, 
of those to whom Christ preached, we need only study that of the people around 
us. In nothing does the East of this day throw more light upon New Testament 
history than just on this point, and it is certainly one of much importance. — 
The Land and the Book, II., 84. 

CHRIST ON THE MOUNTAIN. 

Matt, v: I. — And seeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain: and when he was sat, his 

disciples came unto him. 

Lord Nugent. — Tradition points to Kicrun Hattin, as being this mountain, 
on whicjh our Lord's great discourse, "the Sermon on the Mount," was 
delivered. And there seems no reason whatever to doubt, and every reason to 
give credit to the probable truth of this tradition, strengthened as it is by the 
internal evidence of its position, which appears to be more in accordance than 
any other with that described in the Scripture narrative, — Lands Classical and 
Sacred, II., 218. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— The scene of the Sermon on the 
Mount was in all probability the singular elevation known at this (lay as the 
Kurun Hattin, or " Horns of Hattin." It is a hill with a summit which closely 
resembles an Oriental saddle with its two high peaks. On the west it rises very 
little above the level of a broad and undulating plain ; on the east it sinks pre- 
cipitately towards a plateau, on which lies, immediately beneath the cliffs, the 
village of Hattin ; and from this plateau the traveller descends through a wild 



£56 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and tropic gorge to the shining levels of the Lake of Galilee. It is the only 
conspicuous hill on the western side of the lake, and it is singularly adapted by 
its conformation, both to form a place for short retirement, and a rendezvous 
for gathering multitudes. — Life of Christ, L, 250. 

Matt, v : 2. — And he opened his mouth and taught them. 

tEschylus. — I will speak to thee plainly, as friends ought to open the mouth 
to one another. —Prom. Vinct., v. 610. 

Virgil. — Then Cassandra opened her mouth, and foretold our destiny. — 

jEneid, II., 246. 

THE BEATITUDES. 

Matt, v : 6. — Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. 
Aristotle. — A thirst for philosophy. — De Cozlo,\\., 12. 
Horace. — An insatiable hunger and thirst after money. — Lib. i., Epist. 18. 
Matt, v : 8. — Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 
Euripides. — Bacchus. — The god even now, being near, sees what I suffer. 

Pentheus. — Where is he? for at least he is not visible to my eyes. 
Bacchus. — Near me ; but you, being impious, see him not. 

— Bacc, v. 500. 
Matt, v : II. — Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all 
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 

Plutarch. — Alexander used to say there was something noble in hearing 
one's self ill spoken of, while doing well. — Alex., c. 41. 

Seneca. — Socrates, who reduced all philosophy to the conduct of sound 
morality, affirmed that the principal part of wisdom was to discover good and 
evil : Would you be happy, he says, be not concerned to be thought by some a 
fool ; if any one should reproach you contumeliously, let him do it ; you can 
suffer nothing as long as you adhere to virtue. — Epist. 71. 

SALT OF THE EARTH. 

Matt, v : 13. — Ye are the salt of the earth. 

Diogenes Laertius. — Pythagoras' opinion of salt was, that it ought to be 
set before people as a reminder of justice ; for salt preserves everything which 
it touches. — Pythag. Fit., c. 19. 

Plutarch. — A word or a nod from a person revered for his virtue is of more 
weight than the most elaborate speeches of other men. — Phoc, c. 5. 

But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good for 
nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — I have often seen just such salt, and the iden- 
tical disposition of it that our Lord has mentioned. A merchant of Sidon 
having farmed of the government the revenue from the importation of salt, ^ 
brought over an immense quantity from the marshes of Cyprus — enough, in 
fact, to supply the whole province for at least twenty years. This he had trans- 
ferred to the mountains, to cheat the government out of some small percentage. 



MATTHEW V. 557 

Sixty-five houses in June — Lady Stanhope's village — were rented and filled with 
salt. These houses have merely earthen floors, and the salt next the ground in 
a few years entirely spoiled. I saw large quantities of it literally thrown into 
the street, to be trodden under foot of men and beasts. " It was good for 
nothing." Similar magazines are common in this country, and have been from 
remote ages, as we learn from history both sacred and profane ; and the sweep- 
ing out of the spoiled salt and casting it into the streets are actions familiar to 
all men. — The Land and the Book, II., 43. 

Maundrell. — In the Valley of Salt, near Gebul, and about four hours' 
journey from Aleppo, there is a small precipice, formed by the continual taking 
away of the salt. In this you may see how the veins of it lie. I broke a piece 
of it, of which, the part that was exposed to the rain and sun and air, though it 
had the sparks and particles of salt, yet had perfectly lost its savour. The 
innermost, which had been connected to the rock*, retained its savour, as I 
found by proof. — Eai'ly Travels, p. 512. 

LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 

Matt, v : 14. — Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 
Maundrell. — Not far from the Mount of Beatitudes is the city of Saphet, 
supposed by some to be the ancient Bethulia. This stands upon a very eminent 
and conspicuous mountain, and is seen far and near; and this "city set on a 
hill," and so plainly seen from where he sat, as he taught the multitude, may 
have been pointed out and alluded to by Christ as he spoke these words. And 
this is the more probable from the fact, that our Lord did often illustrate his 
discourses by objects that were before the eyes of his auditors. — -Journey, p. 115. 

THE LAW ABIDING. 

Matt, v : 18. — For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in 
no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— The New Commandments of the 
Mount of Beatitudes were not meant to abrogate, but rather to complete the Law 
which was spoken from Sinai to them of old. That law was founded on the 
eternal distinctions of right and wrong — distinctions strong and irremovable 
as the granite bases of the world. Easier would it be to sweep away the heaven 
and the earth, than to destroy the least letter, one yod — or the least point of a 
letter, one projecting horn — of that code which contains the very principles of 
all moral life. — Life of Christ, I., 260. 

RACA AND FOOL. 

Matt, v: 22. — Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council : but 
whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 
Lightfoot. — Raca — a word used by one that despiseth another with the 
highest scorn : very usual in the Hebrew writers, and very common in the 
mouth of the nation. — In loco. 

Bloomfield. — Thou fool — a term expressive of the greatest abhorrence, equiv- 
41 



658 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

alent to "thou impious wretch, " for in the language of the Hebrews folly is 
equivalent to "impiety." — In loco. 

THE ALTAR. 

Matt, v : 23, 24. — If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath 
aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, etc. 

Josephus. — In front of the Temple stood the Altar, fifteen cubits in height, 
and in breadth and length of equal dimensions, viz., fifty cubits: it was built 
four-square, with horn-like corners projecting from it ; and on the south side a 
gentle declivity led up to it. Moreover it was made without any iron tool, 
neither did iron ever touch it at any time.— Jewish Wars, V., 5, § 6. 

SINFUL LOOK. 

Matt, v : 28. — But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath 
committed adultery with her already in his heart. 

Ovid. — That which is not done, only because it is not permitted, is done ; 
for though the body be kept pure, the mind is adulterous. — Amor., lib. iii., 
eleg. 4. 

Plutarch. — When Sophocles, who went in joint command with Pericles upon 
an expedition at sea, happened to praise the beauty of a certain young person, 
Pericles answered, — A general, my friend, should not only have pure hands but 
pure eyes. — Pericl., c. 8. 

THE RIGHT EYE, AND RIGHT HAND. 

Matt, v : 29, 30. — And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. . . . And if 
thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. 

Seneca. — We can never quarrel enough with our vices : I beseech you, 
Lucilius, to persecute these unceasingly ; throw away from you everything that 
tears the heart ; and if you cannot otherwise get rid of it, spare not the heart 
itself. — Epist, 51. 

Roberts. — This metaphor is in common use at this day in the East : " I can 
never give her up; she is my right eye." " That fellow forsake his sins! 
Never — they are his right eye." — Orient. III., p. 524. 

SWEARING. 

Matt, v : 34. — But I say unto you, Swear not at all. 

Isocrates. — Never call God to witness for the sake of your own advantage, 
even though you might swear truly. — Oral., 1. 

Epictetus. — Avoid swearing, if possible, altogether; if not, as far as possible. 
— Euchir., 33. 

Pythagoras. — Reverence an oath. — Aur. car., v. 2. 

Aulus Gellius. — It is not allowable for the Flamen Dialis to swear on any 
occasion whatever. — Aul. GelL, lib. x., c. 15. 



MATTHEW V. 659 

Matt, v : 34, 35. — Neither by heaven, for it is God's throne : nor by the earth, for it is his foot- 
stool. 

Philo, the Jew. — The most high and ancient Cause need not be immediately- 
mentioned in swearing ; but the earth, the sun, heaven, and the whole world. — 
In Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Maimonides. — He that swears by heaven, and by the earth, and by the sun, 
and the like, though his intention be nothing less than to Him who created 
them, this is not an oath. — Ibid. 

A. Rhodius. — Inviolable oath that Cholchians fear 

By heaven above and earth below I swear. — Arg., III., 714. 

Matt, v : 36. — Neither shalt thou swear by thy head. 

Homer. — I adjure thee by thine own head. — Odyss., XV., 262. 

Juvenal. — Many traces of primeval chastity may have existed under Jove, 
before the Greeks were yet ready to swear by another's head. — Sal. VI., 15. 

Martial. — You swore to me by your gods, and by your head, that you would 
not make me your heir. — Mart., lib. ix., epgr. 48. 

RETALIATION, 

Matt, v : 38. — Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. 
Dr. A. Clarke. — This was the law of Moses (Ex. xxi : 24) ; and the Greeks 
and Romans had the same law. So strictly was it attended to at Athens, that if 
a man put out the eye of another who had but one, the offender was condemned 
to lose both his eyes, as the loss of one would not be an equivalent misfortune. 
It seems that the Jews had made this law (the execution of which belonged to 
the civil magistrate) a ground for authorizing private resentments, and all the 
excesses committed by a vindictive spirit. — Note, in loco. 

Matt, v : 39. — But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy 
right cheek, turn to him the other also. 

Cicero. — It will appear expedient that a man should not only be munificent 
in giving, but also that he should not be harsh in exacting ; conceding to many 
much that is his own right, and shunning disputes as far as he can, and even a 
little more than he can conveniently. — De Offic, II., 18. 

TREATMENT OF ENEMIES. 

Matt, v : 43. — Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine 

enemy. 

Moses. — Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for 
ever. — Deut. xxiii : 6. 

Maimonides. — A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift 
him out; true, it is written, "Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy 
neighbor: " — but this is not thy neighbor. — In Adam Clarke's Com. 

Matt, v : 44. — But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good t<i 
them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. 



660 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Plato. — It is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, how- 
ever much one may have suffered from him. — Crito, c. 10. 

Aristotle. — It is not the province of a magnanimous man to be mindful of 
injuries, but rather to overlook them. — Arist.'s Eth., IV., 3. 

M. Antoninus. — It is the part of a man to love even those who offend him. 
—M.Ant, VII., 22. 

Socrates. — I bear no resentment toward those who condemned me, or against 
my accusers. — Plat. Socrat. ApoL, c. $$. 

Matt, v : 45. — That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh 
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 

Strabo. — It has been justly said that men resemble the gods most chiefly in 
doing good. — Strab., X., 3. 

M. Antoninus. — The gods, though immortal, do not grudge through so great 
a duration of time to bear with so many wicked ones of every sort ; nay more, 
they take all manner of care of them : and dost thou who art so soon to perish 
grow weary of bearing with them; and that, too, being thyself one of them? 
M. Ant., VII., 70. 

Idem. — The gods act with clemency towards such, and reach out to them 
their helping hand, that they may obtain health, and riches, and glory ; such is 
their goodness. You may do the same : or say, what hinders you. — M. Ant., 
IX., n. . * 

Matt, v : 48. — Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 

M. Antoninus. — It will be a great advantage to you, to remember this of the 
gods, that they do not wish us to flatter them, but to imitate them. — M. Ant., 
X 8 

ALMS UNSEEN. 

Matt, vi: I. — Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them : otherwise ye 
have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 
Epictetus. — A wise and good man doth nothing for appearance, but for the 
sake of having acted well. — Epict., III., 24. 

Matt, vi : 2. — Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the 

hypocrites, etc. 

Martial. — It makes a difference whether a man is good, or only wishes to 
appear so. — Mart., lib. viii., Epig. 38. 
Matt, vi : 3. — But when thou doest akns, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. 

M. Antoninus. — A good man, when he has done any meritorious act, makes 
no noise about it : and it may almost be said he knows not that he has done it. 
—M. Ant., V., 6. 

PRAYER IN SECRET. 

Matt, vi : 5. — And when thou prayestj thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are : for they love to 
pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of 
men. 

Dr. John Kitto. — A traveller in the East is constantly reminded of this 



MATTHEW VI. 661 

practice, reprehended in the Pharisees, because they did it " to be seen of men." 
In Moslem countries, Palestine among them, nothing is more common than to 
see men at their prayers in the open air and in public places — in the streets — ■ 
the squares — the markets — the shops — the coffee-houses — by the sea-shore — in 
the fields — or in the woods. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Roberts. — False religion has ever been fond of show; hence its devotees 
have assumed a greater appearance of sanctity, as if to make up for the defi- 
ciency of real worth. Perhaps few systems are so replete with the show of 
religion as Hindooism. Its votaries may be seen in every street with uplifted 
hands, or bespattered bodies: they are standing before every temple, making 
their prostrations, or repeating their prayers ! — Oriental Illustrations, p. 524. 

VAIN REPETITIONS. 

Matt, vi: 7. — But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do : for they think that 
they shall be heard for their much speaking. 

Prof. C. E. Stowe, D. D. — It is a characteristic of all superstitious devotion 
to repeat endlessly certain words, especially the names of the deities invoked. 
When the priests of Baal besought their god for fire to kindle their sacrifice, 
they cried incessantly for several hours, in endless repetition, O Baal hear us, 
O Baal hear us, O Baal hear us, etc. When the Ephesian mob was excited to 
madness for the honor of their goddess, for two hours and more they did noth- 
ing but screech with the utmost tension of voice, Great the Diana of the 
Ephesians, Great the Diana of the Ephesians, Great the Diana of the Ephe- 
sians, etc. In the same way, in the devotions of pagan Rome, the people 
would cry out more than five hundred times, without ceasing, Audi, Cozsar ; 
Audi, Ccesar; Audi, Ccesar ; etc. Among the Hindoos, the sacred syllable, 
Om, Om, Om, is repeated as a prayer thousands of times uninterruptedly. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2705. 

GOD OUR FATHER. 

Matt, vi : 9. — After this manner, therefore, pray ye : Our Father, which art in heaven, etc. 
Epictetus. — Ulysses knew that no human creature is an orphan ; but there is 
a Father who always, and without intermission, takes care of all. For he had 
not merely heard it, as a matter of talk, that Jupiter was the Father of mankind ; 
but he esteemed and called him his Father, and performed all that he did with 
a view to him. — Epict., III., 24. 

Maximus Tyrius. — God the Father and Maker of all things that exist. — 
Diss., 38. 

FORGIVENESS. 

Matt, vi: 15. — If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your tres- 
passes. 

Epictetus. — What then? Shall I not hurt him who hath hurt me ? Con- 
sider, first, what hurt is ; and remember what you have heard from the philoso- 
phers. For if both good and evil consist in choice, see whether what you say 



662 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

does not amount to this — " Since he hath hurt himself, by injuring me, shall I 
not hurt myself by injuring him? " — Epict., ii., 10. 

Maximus Tyrius. — If to inflict an injury is in itself a wrong thing, it must be 
equally wrong to retaliate ; for if he who commits an injury is more guilty than 
he who suffers it, he who commits a similar injury in retaliation renders him- 
self equally guilty. And if he who inflicts a wrong does wickedly, he who 
renders evil for evil does no less wickedly, though he may seem only to avenge 
an injury. — Diss., 2. 

• TREASURES ON EARTH. 

Matt, vi : 19. — Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor- 
rupt, and where thieves break through and steal. 

Martial. — Thieves may break locks, and with your cash retire ; 

Your ancient seat may be consumed by fire ; 

Debtors refuse to pay you what they owe ; 

Or your ungrateful field the seed you sow; 

You may be plundered by a jilting whore; 

Your ships may sink at sea with all their store ; 

Who gives to friends, so much from fate secures ; 

That is the only wealth for ever yours. — Mart., lib. v., epig. 42. 
Bartolomeo. — At Pondicherry, I met with an incident which excited my 
astonishment. I had put my effects into a chest which stood in my apartment, 
and being one day desirous of taking out a book in order to amuse myself with 
reading, as soon as I opened the chest, I discovered in it an innumerable mul- 
titude of white ants, or rather termes. When I examined the different articles, I 
observed that these little animals had perforated my shirts in a thousand 
places, and gnawed to pieces my books, my girdle, my amice, and my shoes. 
They were moving in columns, each behind the other : and each carried away 
in its mouth a fragment of my effects which were more than half destroyed. — 
Critica Biblica. 

TWO MASTERS. 

Matt, vi : 24. — No man can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one and love the 
other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and 
mammon. 

Plato. — The more men indulge in the desire of wealth, the less will they 
esteem virtue; for virtue is so at variance with wealth, that supposing each to 
be placed at the opposite end of a balance, they would always weigh the one 
against the other. — De Rep., VIII., 6. 

ANXIETY FOR THE FUTURE. 

Matt, vi : 25. — Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or 
what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than 
meat, and the body than raiment ? 

Socrates. — I go about doing nothing else than persuading you, both young 
and old. to take no care either for the body or for riches, prior to or so much as 



MATTHEW VI. 663 

for the soul, how it may be most perfect, telling you that virtue does not spring 
from riches, but riches, and all other human blessings, both private and public, 
from virtue. — Socr. ApoL, 17. 

Matt, vi: 26. — Behold the fowls of the air: for they sovv not, neither do they reap, nor gather 
into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ? 

The Compiler. — The neighborhood of the Sea of Galilee was enlivened nearly 
the year round (as it still is) by flocks of birds of various kinds. These, 
wheeling over the heads of the listening multitude on the mount, in their 
graceful and sportive and happy flights, would present a striking contrast with 
the toiling and careworn dwellers of the plain below — sowing, reaping, and 
stowing away. Such a sight, we may well suppose, it was that led to the 
touching appeal, Behold the fowls of the air, etc. — In Present Conflict of Science 
with Religion, p. 664. 

Matt, vi : 28. — Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they 
spin : and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 
of these. 

The Compiler. — Summer now coming on, the brilliantly-colored flowers of 
Palestine were everywhere putting forth their beauties. Variegated tulips, purple 
and red gladioli, and scarlet anemones (to which the common name shusan, 
" lilies," was applied) abounded on the plain of Gennesaret, and covered the hill- 
sides around the Master and the listening throng ; and to deepen the impression 
made by the appeal to the fowls of the air, they are bidden again to fix their 
eyes and their attention on these — Consider the lilies of the field, etc. — 
In Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 664. 

Sir J. E. Smith. — I am of the opinion that the plant alluded to by the Saviour 
was the Amaryllis lutea, whose golden liliaceous flowers afford one of the most 
brilliant and gorgeous objects in nature, as the fields of the Levant are overrun 
with them ; to them the expression of " Solomon in all his glory " not being 
arrayed like one of them, is peculiarly appropriate. — In Pict. Bible. 

Matt, vi : 30. — Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to- 
morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? 

Dr. A. Clarke. — The inhabitants of the East, to this day, make use of dry 
straw, withered herbs, and stubble, to heat their ovens. — Note, in loco. 

Matt, vi : 31, 32. — Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we 
drink ? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed .... for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye 
have need of all these things. 

Juvenal. — Receive my counsel, and your wisdom prove ; 
Intrust thy fortune to the powers above : 
Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant 
What their unerring wisdom sees thee want. 
In goodness, as in greatness, they excel ; 
O that we loved ourselves but half so well. — Sat. X., v. 346. 



664 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Matt, vi : 34. — Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall take thought for 
the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

Seneca. — Nothing can be more miserable, nothing more ridiculous, than to 
be always in fear : what madness is it for a man to anticipate his misfortunes ! — 
Epist., 96. * 

Idem.-— O when will you behold the day, when you shall know that time does 
not belong to you ; when in a pleasing tranquillity, and the full enjoyment of 
self-complacency, you are regardless of to-morrow. — Epist., 32. 

THE MOTE AND BEAM. 

Matt, vii : 3. — And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not 
the beam that is in thine own eye ? 

Menander. — No one sees faults clearly in himself; but if another behave ill, 
he will observe it. — Apud. Stob., XXIII. 

Plutarch. — Why are you so sharp -sighted, O malicious fellow, after your 
neighbor's faults, while you overlook your own ? — De tran. an. c. 8. 

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE. 

Matt, vii : 6. — Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before 

swine. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — " Pearls" are a common Eastern metaphor for 
precious sayings, or well-chosen sacred words.- Thus a short didactic poem is 
called by the Arabs, "A string of Pearls." — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 299. 

GOLDEN RULE. 

Matt, vii : 12. — Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 

even so to them. 

Seneca. — Do as you would have others do to you. — Epist., 92. 
Herodotus. — I shall certainly avoid doing that myself which I deem repre- 
hensible in another. — Thalia, c. 143. 

THE WIDE AND THE NARROW GATE. 

Matt, vii : 13, 14. — Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, 
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat : Because strait is the gate 
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

Plato. — Hesiod is pointed out by many as a man of wisdom, because he 
asserted that the road to wickedness is smooth, and offers itself to be traversed 
without difficulty, being very short. — De Leg., lib. iv., c. 9. 

Xenophon. — Sensuality, to Hercules. — I will lead you through those paths 
which are smooth and flowery, where every delight shall court your enjoyment, 
and sorrow and pain shall never appear. 

Virtue' 's response. — The wise governors of the universe have decreed that 
nothing great, nothing excellent, shall be obtained without care and labor: 
they give no real good, no true happiness, on other terms. — Memorabilia, lib. 
ii., c. 1. 



MATTHEW VII. 665 

Horace. — Virtue's paths untrodden lie, 

Those paths that lead us upward to the sky. 

— Hor., lib. in., car. 24. 

THE TREE AND ITS FRUIT. 

Matt, vii: 16.— Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs 

of thistles ? 

Theognis. — No lovely rose, 

Or hyacinth, from the rude bramble grows ; 
Nor from a slavish and degraded breed 

Can gentle words or courteous acts proceed. — Theog., v. 537. 
Epictetus. — How can a vine have the properties, not of a vine, but of an 
olive tree? or an olive tree, not those of an olive, but of a vine? — Epict., lib. 
ii., c. 20. 

Seneca. — Good does not spring from evil, any more than a fig from an olive 
tree. Every leaf and fruit answers its own seed : that which is good cannot 
degenerate : as what is fit and honorable cannot rise from what is wrong and 
vile, so neither can good spring from evil : for fit, and good, is the same thing. 
—Epist., 87. 

HEARING AND DOING. 

Matt, vii : 24-26. — Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will 
liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock : and the rain descended and the 
floods' came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not, for it was founded 
upon a rock. And every one that heareth, etc. 

The Compiler. — In Palestine, especially in Galilee, heavy rains, rapidly flow- 
ing together among the hills, often form torrents that rush down unexpectedly 
with a violence that tears up the soil and sweeps away whatever may lie in their 
course. This was what the Saviour doubtless had many times witnessed in the 
parts of Nazareth, as it is still what often occurs there, and His eye while on the 
Mount might have fallen upon the jagged traces, which some such a torrent had 
recently ploughed down the side of a neighboring hill, which His discerning 
mind seized and converted into a most appropriate close to his wonderful dis- 
course— " Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, etc." — 
In Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 665. 

THE WONDROUS TEACHER. 

Matt, vii : 28, 29. — And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were 
astonished at his doctrine : for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 

Prof. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — The teaching of their scribes was narrow, 
dogmatic, material ; it was cold in manner, frivolous in matter, second-hand, and 
iterative in its very essence ; with no freshness in it, no force, no fire ; servile to all 
authority, opposed to all independence; at once erudite and foolish, at once 
contemptuous and mean ; never passing a hair's breadth beyond the carefully- 
watched boundary line of commentary and precedent ; full of balanced infer- 



666 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ence and orthodox hesitancy, and impossible literalism ; intricate with legal 
pettiness and labyrinthine system; elevating mere memory above genius, and 
repetition above originality ; concerned only about priests and Pharisees, in 
Temple and Synagogue, or School, or Sanhedrim^ and mostly occupied with 
things infinitely little. It was not indeed wholly devoid of moral significance, 
nor is it impossible to find here and there, among the debris of it, a noble thought ; 
but it was occupied a thousandfold more with Levitical minutiae about mint, and 
anise, and cummin, and the length of fringes, and the breadth of phylacteries, 
and the washing of cups and platters, and the particular quarter of a second 
when new moons and Sabbath-days began. — But this teaching of Jesus was 
wholly different in its character, and as much grander as the temple of the blue 
heaven under which it was uttered was grander than the stifling synagogue or 
crowded school. ... It dealt not with scrupulous tithes and ceremonial cleansing, 
but with the human soul, and human destiny, and human life — with Hope, and 
Charity, and Faith. There were no definitions in it, or explanations, or "scho- 
lastic systems," or philosophic theorizing, or implicated mazes of difficult and 
dubious discussion, but a swift intuitive insight into the very depths of the 
human heart — even a supreme and daring paradox that, without being fenced 
round with exceptions or limitations, appealed to the conscience with its irre- 
sistible simplicity, and with an absolute mastery stirred and dominated over the 
heart. Springing from the depths of holy emotions, it thrilled the being of every 
listener as with an electric flame. In a word, its authority was the authority of 
the Divine Incarnate ; it was a Voice of God, speaking in the utterance of man ; 
its austere purity was yet pervaded with tenderest sympathy, and its awful 
severity with an unutterable love. It was, to borrow the image of the wisest of 
the Latin Fathers, a great sea whose smiling surface broke into refreshing ripples 
at the feet of their little ones, but into whose unfathomable depths the wisest 
might gaze with the shudder of amazement and the thrill of love. — (How 
obviously truthful and natural, then, the last touch of the evangelist in his 
account of the great Sermon on the Mount — "And it came to pass when Jesus 
had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine : for He 
taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.")— Life of Christy 
Vol. I., p. 265-269. 

THE LEPER HEALED. 

Matt, viii ; 2. — And behold there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, 

thou canst make me clean. 
Rev. Henry Hayman, B. D. — The Egyptian and Syrian climates, but espe- 
cially the rainless atmosphere of the former, are very prolific in skin diseases. 
The heat and drought acting for long periods upon ihe'skin, and the exposure 
of a large surface of the latter to their influence, combine to predispose it to 
such affections. There was a variety of the disease in Palestine. — Smith's Diet, 
of Bible, p. 1630. 

Matt, viii: 3. — And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. 
And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 

Cicero. — The power of the Deity is infinite. As nothing but the will is 



MATTHEW VIII. 667 

necessary for the motion of our bodies, so the divine will of the gods can, with 
the like ease, create, move, and change all things. — De Nat. Deor., III., 39. 

THE CENTURION'S FAITH. 

Matt, viii: 5. — And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, 
beseeching him, and» saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, etc. 

Dean Stanle r. — About the beginning of the Christian era, the basin of the 
Sea of Galilee was the home of a vast population, and a focus of life and 
energy. . . . The tax-gatherers were there, sitting by the lake side. . . . The 
Roman soldiers were there, quartered with their slaves, to be near the palaces of 
the Herodian princes, or to repress the turbulence of the Galilean peasantry. 
— S. and P., p. 369. 

Matt, viii : 9. — For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me : and I say to this 
man, Go, and he goeih; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, 
and he doeth it. 

Gibbon. — The strictest subordination and obedience were exacted of every 
Roman soldier. On his first entrance into the service, an oath was administered 
to him with every circumstance of solemnity. He promised to submit his own 
will to the commands of his leaders though he should sacrifice his life thereby. 
It was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline that a good soldier should dread 
his officers far more than the enemy. . . . The Roman infantry was divided into 
three principal classes, each of which was composed of thirty companies, and 
each company contained two hundred men. Over every company were placed 
two Centurions, one to each hundred ; who were, however, far from being equal 
in rank and honor, though possessing the same office. One was under authority 
to the other. — Decline and Fall of R. E., Vol. I., chap. 1. 

CiESAR. — There were in that legion two Centurions of great bravery.— De 
Bel. Gal, V. 44. 

Livy. — Lucius Virginius held an honorable rank among the centurions in the 
camp. — Livy, III., 44. 

Matt, viii: 11, 12. — And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and the west, 
and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the 
children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth. 

Socrates. — If on arriving at Hades, released from those who pretend to be 
judges, one should find those who are true judges, and who are said to judge 
there, Minos and Rhadamanthus, ^Eacus and Triptolemus, and such others of the 
demi-gods as were just during their own life, would this be a sad removal ? At 
what price would you not estimate a conference with Orpheus, Hesiod, and 
Homer? I should be willing to die often if this be true. — Apol Socr., c. 32. 

Cicero. — O glorious day ! when I shall depart to that Divine company and 
assemblage of spirits, and quit this troubled and polluted scene. For I shall 
go not only to those great men of whom I have spoken before, but also to my 
friend Cato, than whom never was better man born. — De Senec, c. 23. 



668 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

PETER'S WIFE'S MOTHER. 

Matt, viii : 14, 15. — And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, 
and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose and 
ministered unto them. 

Prof. R. C. Trench, M. A. — The miracles of Christ — while they are not 
nature, so neither are they against nature. Beyond nature, beyond and above the 
nature which we know, they are, but not contrary to it. . . . The healing of 
the sick can in no way be termed against nature, seeing that the sickness which 
was healed was against the true naiure of man — that it is sickness which is ab- 
normal, and not health. The healing is the restoration of the primitive order. 
We should term the miracle not the infraction of a law, but behold in it the 
lower law neutralized, and for the time put out of working by a higher ; and of 
this abundant analogous examples are evermore going forward before our eyes. 
Continually we behold in the world around us lower laws held in restraint by 
higher, mechanic by dynamic, chemical by vital, physical by moral ; yet we say 
not, when the lower thus gives place in favor of the higher, that there was any 
violation of law, — that anything contrary to nature came to pass ; rather we 
acknowledge the law of a greater freedom swallowing up the law of a lesser. 
Thus, when I lift my arm, the law of gravitation is not, as far as my arm is con- 
cerned, denied or annihilated ; it exists as much as ever, but is held in suspense 
by the higher law of my will. ... So in a miracle of healing, the law of dis- 
ease, as to its power and progress, is suspended, by the Divine will, so that the 
original law of health flows on again. — Notes on the Mh-acles of Christ, p. 20, 21. 

TEE GREAT TEMPEST. 

Matt, viii : 23, 24. — And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And 
behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the 
waves. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — Small as the Lake of Galilee is, and placid, 
in general, as a molten mirror, I have repeatedly seen it quiver, and leap, and 
boil like a caldron, when driven by fierce winds from the eastern mountains, and 
the waves ran high — high enough to fill, or " cover " the ships, as Matthew has 
it. In the midst of such a gale " calmly slept the Son of God, in the hinder 
part of the ship, until awakened by the terrified disciples." — The Land and the 
Book, Vol. II., p. 59. 

Rev. J. P. Newman, D. D. — It was while riding over this broad plateau that 
we were startled by one of those squalls peculiar to this inland sea. The air 
had been quiet, the lake calm, and the heavens were cloudless, but within five 
minutes the wind blew a gale, the sea became troubled, the waves rolled high, 
and dashed wildly on the shore. It was a repetition of that scene when the 
disciples were sailing over the sea ; when " Jesus was in the hinder part of the 
ship, asleep on a pillow." The natural causes operating and producing such 
effects in that distant age are still in force. The sea is 600 feet lower than the 
ocean ; the mountains on the east and north rise to a great height, and their 



MATTHEW VIII. 



669 



sides are furrowed with deep and wild ravines ; and the temperature, of this vol- 
canic basin differing from that of the mountains above, these profound gorges 
serve as vast conductors, through which, at certain periods, the cold winds from 
above rush suddenly down, causing a tempest in an unexpected moment. — From 
Dan to Beersheba, p. 406. 

And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. 

Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — At the extreme end of the stern is often 
seen a small, low bench, upon which the steersman sometimes sits for a change. 
Here the captain often rests his head when, as is his custom, he sleeps upon the 
quarter-deck. This little bench may generally be seen in the fishing crafts, par- 




TOMBS OF GADARA. 

ticularly those which ply on the Sea of Galilee, a circumstance which explains 

the nature of the "pillow" upon which rested the head of our Lord during the 

sudden storm narrated in the Gospel. Passengers of distinction alone are 

allowed a place upon the quarter-deck. — Bible Lands, p. 62 ; see also Rob Roy, 

P- 35S. 

DEMONIACS FROM THE TOMBS. 



Matt. 



28-32. — And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, 



there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that 
no man might pass that way, etc. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — The name of this prostrate town, my Bedawin 
guide told me, is Kerza, or Gersa. I identify these ruins with the long-lost site 



670 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of " Gergesa," where our Lord healed the two men possessed with devils, and 
suffered those malignant spirits to enter into the herd of swine. ... In this 
Gersa we have a position which fulfils every requirement of the Gospel nar- 
rative, and with a name so near that in Matthew as to be in itself a strong cor- 
roboration of the truth of this identification. It is within a few rods of the 
shore, and an immense mountain rises directly above it, in which are ancient 
tombs, out of some of which the two men possessed of the devils may have issued 
to meet Jesus. The Lake is so near the base of the mountain that the swine, 
rushing madly down it, could not stop, but would be hurried on into the water 
and drowned. . . . All is perfectly natural just at this point, and here, I suppose, 
it did actually occur. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 34-36. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Dr. Thomson visited at the mouth 
of the Wady Semakh, directly opposite Gennesaret, some ruins, called by his 
guide Kerza or Gersa, which he identifies with the " Gergesa " of St. Matthew. 
The discovery is most interesting and important. I visited the spot myself from 
a boat, and observed the remains of a village and a khan ; but, unfortunately, I 
was not aware at the time of the interest attaching to the place, and did not 
ascertain, or at least note down, the name given to it by my boatmen. In one 
important particular my memory corroborates the statement of Dr. Thomson, 
viz., that while there is here no precipice, running sheer to the sea, but a narrow 
belt of beach, the bluff behind is so steep, and the shore so narrow, that a herd 
of swine, rushing frantically down, must certainly have been overwhelmed in the 
sea before they could recover themselves. — Land of Israel, p. 465. 

Captain Light. — I left Tiberias early the following morning, coasted along 
the lake, and trod the ground celebrated for the miracle of the unclean spirit, 
driven by the Saviour among the swine. The tombs still exist in the form 
of caverns, on the sides of the hill that rise from the shore of the lake ; and 
from their wild appearance, may well be considered the habitation of men 
exceeding fierce, possessed by a devil. They extend for more than a mile from 
the present town. — Travels in Egypt and the East. 

There met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce. 

Warburton. — On descending from the heights of Lebanon, I found myself 
in a cemetery, whose sculptured turbans showed that the neighboring village was 
Moslem. The silence of the night was now broken by fierce yells and howlings, 
which I discovered proceeded from a naked maniac, who was fighting with some 
wild dogs for a bone. The moment he perceived me, he left his canine com- 
rades, and bounding along with rapid strides, seized my horse's bridle, and 
almost forced him backward over the cliff, by the grip he held of the powerful 
Mameluke bit. — Crescent and Cross. 

TAKE UP THY BED. 

Matt, ix : 6. — Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 
Captain Basil Hall. — On the morning after my arrival at Bombay, I got 



MATTHEW IX. 671 

up with the first blush of the dawn, and went out in search of adventures. 
I had not gone far before I saw a native sleeping on a mat spread in the little 
verandah extending along the front of his house. He was wrapped up in a 
long robe of white linen or white cotton cloth. As soon as the first rays of the 
sun peeped into his rude sleeping-chamber, " He arose, took up his bed, and 
went into his house " — i. e., having rolled up his mat, which was all the bed he 
had or required, he walked into the house with it. — Fragments of Voyages a?id 
Travels, Vol. III. 

RECEIPT OF CUSTOM. 

Matt, ix : 9. — And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew, sitting at 

the receipt of custom. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Lying as Capernaum did, at the nucleus 
of roads which diverged to Tyre, to Damascus, to Jerusalem, and to Sepphoris, 
it was a busy centre of merchandise, and therefore a natural place for the 
collection of tribute and taxes. — Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 245. 

PUBLICANS. 

Matt, ix: II* — Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? 

Cicero. — The office of a publican was the basest of all livelihoods. — De Offic., 
I., 42. 

Stob^eus. — Publicans were the wolves and bears of human society. — Serm., 
II., 34. 

Prof. E. H. Plumptre, M. A. — The casuistry of the Talmud enumerates 
three classes of men with whom promises need not be kept — murderers, thieves, 
and publicans (JVedar., III., 4). No money known to come from them was 
received into the alms-box of the synagogue, or the Corban of the temple 
(Baba Kama, x. I). They were not fit to sit in judgment, or even to give 
testimony (Sanhedr., f. 25, 2). — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2637. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — If we can imagine an Irish Roman 
Catholic in Ireland undertaking the functions of a Protestant tithe proctor, we 
can realize the detestation in which the publicans were held by the Jews. — Life 
of Christ, I., 245, n. 

Matt, ix : 12. — But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a 

physician, but they that are sick. 

Plato. — To those who are not sick the physician is useless ; and the pilot to 
those who do not sail. — De Rep., I., 7. 

Phocion. — The good have no need of an advocate. — Plut. Phoc., c. 10. 

NEW WINE AND OLD BOTTLES. 

Matt, ix: 17. — Neither do men put new wine into old bottles; else the bottles break, and the 

wine runneth out, etc. 

The Compiler. — Wine-bottles made of skin are mentioned by Homer, Hero- 
dotus, Virgil, and many other of the classic writers. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The grape-juice which is to undergo the pro- 



672 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

cess of fermentation is put into skins, which are either entirely new, or which 
have been carefully examined and found able to withstand the pressure. These 
skin-bottles have been used in the East from time immemorial, and are still 
employed throughout the country as far as Persia, also in Northern Africa, and 
even in Spain — a relic doubtless of the Moors. — Bible Lands, p. 121. 

THE DISCIPLES SENT FORTH TO PREACH. 

Matt, x: 9, 10. — Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; nor scrip for your 
journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves : for the workman is worthy of his 

meat; 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The instructions given to the primitive evangelists 
may be thus expounded : — " Provide neither silver, nor gold, nor brass in your 
purses." You are going to your brethren in the neighboring villages, and the 
best way to get to their hearts and their confidence is to throw yourselves upon 
their hospitality. Nor was there any departure from the simple manners of the 
country in this. At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive, 
without a para in his purse ; and the modern Moslem prophet of Tarshihathus sends 
forth his apostles over this identical region. Neither do they encumber them- 
selves with two coats. They are accustomed to sleep in the garments they have 
on during the day, and in this climate such plain people experience no incon- 
venience from it. They wear a coarse shoe, answering to the sandals of the 
ancients, but never take two pair of them j and although the staff is an invariable 
companion of all wayfarers, they are content with one. — The Land and the Book, 
Vol. I., p. 533. 

Matt, x; 12. — And when ye come into a house, salute it. 

Schottgen. — When travelling in the East, no one need ever scruple to go 
into the best house of any Arab village to which he comes, and he will always 
be received with profuse and gratuitous hospitality. From the moment we 
entered any house, it was regarded as our own. There is not an Arab you meet 
who will not empty for you the last drop in his water-skin, or share with you 
his last piece of black bread. The Rabbis said that Paradise was the reward 
of willing hospitality. — Hor. Hebr., 108. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— The salute was the immemorial Shalom 
lakem, which was believed to include every blessing. — Life of Christ, Vol. I., 364. 

PERSECUTION FORETOID. 

Matt, x; 18. — And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony 

against them and the Gentiles. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This prediction was completely and abundantly 
fulfilled. The Apostles were once and again brought before the council at 
Jerusalem. Paul stood before Felix and Festus, governors of Judea. Great 
numbers of Christians and Christian teachers were summoned into the presence 
of Pliny, governor of Bythinia. Peter is said to have been brought before 
Nero, John before Domitian, Roman emperors; and others before Parthian, 



MATTHEW X. 673 

Scythian and Indian kings. The fulfilment of this prophecy is a signal evidence 
that Christ possessed a knowledge of the future. Few things were more im- 
probable, when this was uttered, than that the fishermen of Galilee would stand 
before the illustrious and mighty monarchs of the East and the West. — Note, 
in loco. 

M.tft. x : 21. — And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child : 
and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Were there no evidence that this had been done, it 
would scarcely be credible. The ties which bind brothers and sisters, and 
parents and children together, are so strong that it could scarcely be believed 
that division of sentiment on religious subjects would cause them to forget these 
tender relations. Yet, dreadful as this prediction was, history assures us, that 
it has been fulfilled, and. that all this has been done. Incredible as it seems, 
parents and children, and husbands and wives, were found wicked enough to 
deliver up each other to the most cruel deaths on account of their attachment 
to the Gospel. — Note, in loco. 

Matt, x : 22.— And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. 

Rev. Alfred Nevin, L. B., D. D. — Tacitus, the Roman historian, like a true 
Pagan, says, " that the Christians were convicted of enmity to the human race." 
Jews hated them as revolters from their own religion. Pagans could tolerate 
each other, and respect and worship each other's gods. But Christians abhorred 
all Paganism, and so all Pagans abhorred them ; thus Christians were hated of 
all men, whether Jews or Gentiles. — Popular Expositor, in loco. 

Matt, x : 28. — And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : but 
rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

Socrates. — They may, indeed, kill, but hurt me they cannot. — In Epict., 
lib. i., c. 29. 

tEschylus. — The devouring flames, my son, that waste 

The body of the dead, touch not the soul. — Choeph., v. 321. 
Maximus Tyrius. — Socrates yielded his body to be bound, but by no means 
his soul, over which the Athenians had no power. — Max. Tyr., Diss. 39. 

PROTECTION OF PROVIDENCE. 

Matt, x : 29. — Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and one of them shall not fall on the 

ground without your Father. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Little birds are still strung together 
and sold for " two farthings " in the towns of Palestine. — Life of C, I., 366. 

Xenophon. — The Deity is so great and of such a nature that he beholds. all 
things at once, and hears all things, and is everywhere present, and takes care 
of all things unceasingly. — Memor., I., 4. 

Matt, x : 30. — But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 

Cicero. — The gods not only provide for mankind universally, but for 
particular men. — De Nat. Deor. t I., 65. 
42 



674 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Sophocles. — All that happens to us is the work of heaven. — Ajax, v. 1036. 

Dr. John Young. — This awful Being, unrelated to time, and unrelated to 
space, yet stands in enduring relation to those who are conditioned by both. 
He is not far from the creation, but very near — near in His entire Godhead, to 
every atom and every being. Every atom, every being, exists every moment in 
His immediate, perfect perception. He is the radiant, open, vast eye of the 
universe, which never slumbers and never shuts, and which is ever as perfectly 
percipient of the minutest point as if nothing else were within the range of 
vision. — Creator and Creation, p. 13. 

THE BAPTIST'S MESSENGERS. 

Matt, xi : 2-6. — Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of 

his disciples, etc. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Josephus tells us that this prison was 
the fortress of Machaerus, or Makor, a strong and gloomy castle, built by 
Alexander Jannaeus, and strengthened by Herod the Great — on the borders of 
the desert, to the north of the Dead Sea, and on the frontiers of Arabia. We 
know enough of solitary castles and Eastern dungeons to realize what horrors 
must have been involved for any man in such an imprisonment; what possi- 
bilities of agonizing torture, what daily risk of a violent and unknown death. 
How often in the world's history have even the most generous and dauntless 
spirits been crushed and effeminated by such hopeless captivity ! .... To a 
child of freedom and of passion, to a rugged, passionate, untamed spirit like 
that of John, such a prison was worse than death. For the palms of Jericho and 
the balsams of Engedi, for the springing of the beautiful gazelles amid the 
mountain solitudes, and the reflection of the moonlight on the mysterious waves 
of the Salt Lake, he had nothing now but the chilly damps and cramping 
fetters of a dungeon, and the brutalities of such a jailer as a tetrarch like 
Antepas would have kept in a fortress like Makor. In that black prison, among 
its lava streams and basaltic rocks, which was tenanted in reality by far worse 
demons of human brutality and human vice than the " goats" and "satyrs" 
and "doleful creatures" believed by Jewish legend to haunt its whole environ- 
ment, — we cannot wonder, if the eye of the caged eagle began to film ! . . . . 
Among so many miracles wrought by Jesus throughout Galilee, might not one 
be spared to deliver his unhappy kinsman who had gone before His face to 
prepare his way before him ? . . . . What wonder, we say again, if the eye of 
the caged eagle began to film ! What more natural than that he should have 
sent, and asked, "Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another? " 
— Life of Christ, Vol. I., 289-292. 

CORAZIN, BETES AID A, AND CAPERNAUM. 

Matt, xi : 20-24. — Woe unto the e Corazin ! Woe unto thee Bethsaida ! . . . And thou Caper- 
naum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell, etc. 

Dr. A. Clarke. — Here ruin, desolation, and the utmost woe are threatened 



MATTHEW XII. 675 

upon these impenitent cities. This prediction of our Lord was literally fulfilled ; 
for, in the wars between the Romans and the Jews, these cities were totally- 
destroyed, so that no traces are now found of Bethsaida, Corazin, or Caper- 
naum. — Note, in loco. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— " Woe unto thee Chorazin ! Woe 
unto thee Bethsaida ! " and unto thee Capernaum, "His own city," a yet 
deeper woe ! With such thoughts in his heart, and such words on his lips, he 
started from the scene of his rejected ministry ; and on all this land, and most 
of all on that region of it, the woe has fallen. Exquisite still in its loveliness, 
it is now desolate and dangerous. The birds still sing in countless myriads ; 
the water-fowl still play on the crystal mere; the brooks flow into it from the 
neighboring hill, " filling their bosoms with pearl, and scattering their path with 
emeralds; " the aromatic herbs are still fragrant when the foot crushes them, 
and the tall oleanders fill the air with their delicate perfume as of old ; but the 
vineyards and fruit gardens have disappeared ; the fleets and fishing-boats cease 
to traverse the lake ; the hum of men is silent ; the stream of prosperous com- 
merce has ceased to flow. The very names and sites of the towns and cities are 
forgotten ; and where they once shone bright and populous, flinging their 
shadows across the sunlit waters, there are now gray mounds where even the ruins 
are too ruinous to be distinguishable. . . . And the very generation which rejected 
him was doomed to recall in bitter and fruitless agony these peaceful, happy days 
of the Son of Man. Thirty years had barely elapsed when the storm of Roman 
invasion burst furiously over that smiling land. He who will may read in the 
Jewish War of Josephus the hideous details of the slaughter which decimated 
the cities of Galilee, and wrung from the historian the repeated confession that 
" It was certainly God who brought the Romans to punish the Galileans," and 
exposed the people of city after city "to be destroyed by their bloody enemies." 
— Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. ioo. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Wherever these cities stood, the 
absence of remains and the obliteration of their very names more utterly than 
of those of Sodom and Gomorrah, testify to a fulfilment of that prophetic 
woe, which, though not denounced against the walls and stones, but against 
those who dwelt in them, is illustrated by their erasure from the face of the 
earth — "cast down to hell," lost and forgotten, though consecrated by the 
presence and mighty works of the Divine Saviour. Capernaum in its oblivion 
preaches to Christendom a sermon more forcible than the columns of Tyre or 
the stones of Jerusalem. — Land of Israel, p.. 448. 

THE HUNGRY DISCIPLES DEFENDED. 

Matt, xii: I. — At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples 
were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — I have often seen my muleteers as we passed along 
the wheat fields, pluck off ears, rub them in their hands, and eat the grains, just 
as the Apostles are said to have done. This is allowable. The Pharisees did not 



676 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

object to the thing itself, only to the time when it was done. — Land ana £ook, 
Vol. II., 510. 

Matt, xii : 2. — But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold thy disciples do that 
which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — To reap and to thresh on the Sabbath 
were of course forbidden by the primary law ; but the Rabbis had decided that 
to pluck corn was to be construed as reaping, and to rub it as threshing ; even 
to walk on grass was forbidden, because that too was a species of threshing ; 
and not so much as a fruit must be plucked from a tree. (See Maim., Shabb., 
c. 7, 8.)— Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 435- 

Matt, xii : 5. — Have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the 
temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — The Rabbis had laid it down that there was " no Sab- 
batism in the temple ; " that the priests on the Sabbath might hew the wood, 
and light the fires, and p'ace hot, fresh-baked shew-bread on the table, and slay 
double victims, and circumcise children, and thus in every way violate the rules 
of the Sopherim about the Sabbath, and yet be blameless. (See Maim., Pesach., 
1). — Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 437. 

THE WITHERED HAND. 

Matt, xii : 10. — And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked 
him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? that they might accuse him. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — According to the stiff and narrow school of Shammai, no 
one on the Sabbath might even comfort the sick, or enliven the sorrowful, or 
even send for a physician. — Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 432. 

Matt, xii : 25. — Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation ; and every city 
or house divided against itself shall not stand. 

Cicero. — What house is there so established, or what state so firmly settled 
that may not utterly be overthrown by hatred and dissension? — De Amic., c. 7. 

CHRIST'S PARABLES TRUE TO NATURE. 

Matt, xiii : 3. — And he spake many things unto them in parables. 
The Compiler. — Every observant traveller through Palestine has been struck 
with the thought, that the imagery of the Saviour's parables must have been 
derived from the peculiar, yet to the inhabitants familiar scenes and operations 
of that country. And this no doubt is true. The Lord read his Parables to 
the people from what almost daily fell under their own observation. They are 
truths which his discerning eye saw inscribed on their fields, their flocks, their 
vines, and fig-trees. He did not put the lessons into these objects ; they were 
there before. He simply gave voice to the inarticulate symbols which they by 
nature bore ; and thus his Parables are, in an important sense, the natural pro- 
ductions of the land wherein he dwelt and taught \ — In Present Conflict of Science 
with Religion, p. 665. 



MATTHEW XIII. 677 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — It is important to remark that all the allusions, illus- 
trations and parables of Jesus are perfectly natural and appropriate to the 
country, the people, the teacher, the age, and every other circumstance men- 
tioned or implied in the evangelical narratives. We have the originals still 
before us. The teachings and illustrations of our Lord would have been out of 
place in any other country except this. They could not have been uttered any- 
where else. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 86. 

PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 

Matt, xiii : 3-9. — Behold a sower went forth to sow ; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the 
way-side, and the fowls came and devoured them up : some fell upon stony places, where 
they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up, etc. 

Prof. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — As I rode along the track under 
the hill-side, by which the plain of Gennesareth is approached, I asked, Is there 
anything on the spot to suggest the images of the Saviour's parables? Seeing 
nothing at the moment but the steep sides of the hill alternately of rock and 
grass, when I thought of the parable of the Sower, I answered, that here at least 
was nothing on which the Divine Teaching could fasten. The thought had 
hardly occurred to me, when a slight recess in the hill-side, close upon the plain, 
disclosed at once, in detail, and with a conjunction which I remember nowhere 
else in Palestine, every feature of the great parable. There was the undulating 
corn-field descending to the water's edge. There was the trodden pathway run- 
ning through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from fall- 
ing here and there on either side of it, or upon it ; itself hard with the constant 
tramp of horse and mule, and human feet. There was the good rich soil 
which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighborhood from the 
bare hills elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no 
interruption, produces one vast mass of corn. There was the rocky ground 
of the hill-side protruding here and there through the corn-fields, as elsewhere 
through the grassy slopes. There were the large bushes of thorn — the " Nabk," 
that kind of which tradition says that the Crown of Thorns was woven, — spring- 
ing up, like the fruit-trees of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the 
waving wheat. And the countless birds of all kinds, aquatic fowls by the lake- 
side, partridges and pigeons hovering, as on the Nile bank, over the rice plain, 
immediately recall the "birds of the air, "which came and devoured the seed 
by the wayside. — Sinai and Pal,, p. 418, 419. 

Other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit. 

Aristotle. — We must consider whether it is not true, that the word and 
doctrine have not the same good effect upon all, but it is requisite that the soul 
of the hearer should have been previously cultivated, as is the ground for the 
seed which it is intended to nourish. — Eth. X., 9. 

And brought forth fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. 

Herodotus. — The country of the Euesperidae is remarkably fertile; in one of 



678 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

its plentiful years, it produces an hundred-fold ; that of Cinyps three hundred- 
fold. — Melpomene, c. 198. 

Strabo. — Babylonia produces barley in larger quantities than any other coun- 
try; for a produce of three hundred-fold is spoken of. — Strab., XVI., 1. 

Pliny. — A modius of wheat, at Byzatium, a champaign district of Africa, will 
yield as much as one hundred and fifty modii of grain. — Hist. Nat., XVIII., 21. 

PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND TARES. 

Matt, xiii : 24-30. — Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is 
likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field : but when men slept, his enemy came 
and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way : etc. 

Roberts. — Strange as it may appear, this is still literally done in the East. 
See that lurking villain, watching for the time when his neighbor shall plough 
his field : he carefully marks the period when the work has been finished, and 
in the following night, proceeding with stealthy steps, he casts in what the natives 
call the pandinellu, i. e., "pig-paddy." This being of rapid growth springs up 
before the good seed, and scatters itself before the other can be reaped ; so that 
the poor owner of the field will be some years before he can rid the soil of the 
troublesome weed. But there is another noisome plant which these wretches 
cast into the ground of those whom they hate; it is called pcrum-pirandi, and 
is more destructive to vegetation than any other plant. Has a man purchased 
a field which another intended to buy? the disappointed person declares, ■" I 
will plant the perum-pirandi in his grounds." — Oriental Illustrations, p. 530. 

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — When the tares first spring up, they are in no 
way distinguishable from the wheat ; the difference, however, begins to appear 
as soon as the ear comes in sight. This difference, slight at first, grows more 
and more marked as the seed ripens, so that by the time the field has grown 
yellow the ears of wheat can be distinguished from the tares at a single glance. 
Bible Lands, p. 85. 

Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field ? from whence then hath it tares ? 
Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — The thrifty husbandman sows none but "good 
seed," that is, picked seed ; whilst the lazy does not trouble himself thus to pick 
out the tares. — Ibid. 

The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; 
lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow 
together until the harvest. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed 
their fields, do not attempt to separate the tares from the wheat. They would 
not only mistake good grain for tares, but very commonly the roots of the two 
are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them without plucking up 
both. Both, therefore, must be left to grow together until the time of harvest. 
— The Land and Book, Vol. II., p. in. 



MATTHEW XIII. 679 

And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind 
them in bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into my barn. 

Dr. H. J. Van-Lennep. — The mode of separation described in the parable is 
the one still followed when the tares are very abundant : — the tares are first 
pulled up with the hands, bound in bundles by themselves, and burned, in order 
to prevent the increase of the noxious weed. — Bible Lands, p. 85. 

Dean Stanley. — In the great corn-fields of Samaria, I saw women and 
children employed in picking out the tares from among the wheat. Dr. Wilson 
describes the same sight in the plains' of the Upper Jordan, beyond the Lake of 
Merom. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 419. 

PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED. 

Matt, xiii: 31, 32. — The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took 
and sowed in his field; which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is 
the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in 
the branches thereof. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — I have seen the wild mustard plant, on the rich plain 
of Akkar, as tall as the horse and his rider. — The Land and the Book, Vol. II., 
p. 100. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D. , LL. D. — In crossing the Plain of Akka from 
Birweh, on the north side, to Mount Carmel, on the south, I met with a field — 
a little forest it might almost be called — of the common mustard plant of the 
country. — It was in blossom at the time, full-grown ; in some cases, as measured, 
six, seven, and nine feet high, throwing out branches on every side. It might 
well be called a tree, and certainly, in comparison with its tiny seed, "a great 
tree."— Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2043. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Goldfinches and linnets alight and 
perch on the mustard tree in flocks, for the sake of the seed, of which they are 
very fond. — -Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 473. 

PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN IN THE MEAL. 

Matt, xiii: ^2- — The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in 
three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 

Rev. William Latham Bevan, M. A. — The Hebrew word seor, translated 
" leaven," has the radical sense of effervescence or fermentation. Various sub- 
stances were known to the ancients to have fermenting qualities ; but the ordi- 
nary "leaven" consisted of a lump of old dough in a high state of fermenta- 
tion, which was inserted into the mass of dough prepared for baking. — Smith's 
Diet., p. 1 62 1. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — A little piece of dough is always kept for 
leaven from one baking till the next, when it is mixed in the meal, and thus the 
whole mass is leavened. — Bible Lands, p. 88. 

PARABLE OF THE HID TREASURE. 

Matt, xiii : 44. — Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field ; the which 
when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and 
buyeth that field. ' 



680 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Richardson. — In the East, on account of the frequent changes of Dynasties, 
and the revolutions which accompany them, many rich men divide their goods 
into three parts : one they employ in commerce, or for their necessary support; 
one they turn into jewels, which, should it prove needful to fly, could be easily 
carried with them; a third part they bury. But while they trust no one with 
the place where the treasure is buried, so is the same, should they not return to 
the spot before their death, as good as lost to the living, until, by chance, a 
lucky peasant, while he is digging in the field, lights upon it. So that when we 
read in Eastern tales, how a man has found a buried treasure, and, in a moment, 
risen from poverty to great riches, this is, in fact, an occurrence that not unfre- 
quently happens, and is a natural consequence of the customs of these people. — 
Dissertations on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations, p. 180. 

Trench. — After Mardonius had been conquered at Plataea, a report existed 
that he had left great treasures buried within the circuit where his tent had 
stood ; Polycrates, a Theban, buying the ground, sought long for the treasure, 
but not finding it, inquired at Delphi, and was told to " Turn every stone," 
which doing, he found it. — Notes on Parabs., p. 104, n. 

Roberts. — There can be no doubt that there are immense treasures buried in 
the East at this day. Not long ago, a toddy-drawer ascended a palmirah tree 
to lop off the upper branches, when one of them in falling stuck in the ground. 
On taking out that branch he saw something yellow ; he looked, and found an 
earthen vessel full of gold coins and other articles. I rescued three of the coins 
from the crucible of the goldsmith, and what was my surprise to find on one of 
them in ancient Greek characters, konobobryza / About two years ago an 
immense hoard was found at Patlam, which must have been buried for several 
ages . — Orietital Illustrations, p. 531. 

PARABLE OF THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. 

Matt, xiii : 45, 46. — Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly 

pearls : who, when he had found one pead of great price, went and sold all that he had, and 

bought it. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Pearls were among the most highly 
prized gems with the ancients, as at the present day ; and formerly their value 
relatively to precious stones was even higher. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 299. 

Rev. William Houghton, M. A., F. L. S. — Pearls are found inside the 
shells of various species of Mollusca. But the " pearl of great price " is doubt- 
less a fine specimen yielded by the pearl oyster, still found in abundance in the 
Persian Gulf, which has long been celebrated for its pearl fisheries. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 2403. 

Plato. — Wisdom alone is the right coin for which we ought to barter all 
other things. — Phcedo., c. 13. 

PARABLE OF THE DRAW NET. 

Matt, xiii : 47, 48. — Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, 
and gathered of every kind : which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and 
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 



MATTHEW XIV. 681 

Trench. — The particular kind of net is distinctly specified by the word in 
the original. It is a net of the largest size — sean or seine — which suffered 
nothing to escape from it ; it was all-embracing, to indicate the wide reach and 
potent operation of the Gospel.— Notes on the Parabs., p. no. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The fishermen in the Parable are described as draw- 
ing their net to shore sitting down, and gathering the good into vessels, but 
casting the bad away. The bad here, doubtless, means not the putrid or cor- 
rupt, but the "unclean"- — those forbidden by the law, as wanting fins and 
scales, and those rejected from prejudice or custom. As illustrating this 
expression, we may observe that the greater number of the species taken in the 
lake are rejected by the fishermen, and I have sat with them on the gunwale 
while they we?it through their net, and threw out into the sea those that were too 
small for the market, or were considered unclean. This custom brings out in 
great force the full bearing of the Parable. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 290. 

A PROPHET IN HIS OWN COUNTRY. 

Matt, xiii : 57. — And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not 
without honor save in his own country, and in his own house. 

Pliny. — Protogenes was held in little estimation by his own fellow-country- 
men, a thing that generally is the case. — Hist. Nat., lib. xxxv., c. 36. 

HEROD'S ALARMING CONSCIENCE. 

Matt, xiv : I, 2. — At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his 
servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do 
show forth themselves in him. 

Gibbon. — Symmachus was dragged in chains from Rome to the palace of 
Ravenna ; and the suspicions of Theodoric could only be appeased by the 
blood of an innocent and aged senator. Theodoric was now descending with 
shame and guilt into the grave : his mind was humbled by the contrast of the 
past, and justly alarmed by the invisible terrors of futurity. One evening, as it 
is related, when the head of a large fish was served on the royal table, he sud- 
denly exclaimed that he beheld the angry countenance of Symmachus, his eyes 
glaring fury and revenge, and his mouth armed with long sharp teeth, which 
threatened to devour him. The monarch instantly retired to his chamber, and, 
as he lay, trembling with aguish cold, under a weight of bed-clothes, he 
expressed in broken murmurs to his physician, Elpidius, his deep repentance 
for the murders of Boethius and Symmachus.— Decline and Fall of the R. E., 
chap. 39. 

THE BAPTIST'S IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH. 

Matt, xiv : 3-12. — For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for 
Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to 
have her, etc. 
Josephus. — About this time Aretas, the king of Arabia Petrea, and Herod 

had a quarrel on the account following : Herod, the tetrarch, had married the 



682 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

daughter of Aretas, and had lived with her a great while ; but when he was once 
at Rome he lodged with Herod, who was his brother indeed, but not by the 
same mother; for this Herod was the son of the high priest Simon's daughter. 
However, he fell in love with Herodias, this last Herod's wife, who was the 
daughter of Aristobulus their brother, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. 
This man ventured to talk with her about a marriage between them, which 
address, when she admitted, an agreement was made for her to change her hab- 
itation, and come to him as soon as he should return from Rome : one article 
of this marriage also was this, that he should divorce Aretas's daughter. Being 
secretly informed of this wicked plot, she fled to her father, and told him of 
Herod's intentions. So Aretas made this the first occasion of his enmity 
between him and Herod, who had also some quarrel with him about their limits 
at the country of Gemalitis. So they raised armies on both sides, and prepared 
for war; and when they had joined battle, all Herod's army was destroyed by 
the treachery of certain fugitives. Now some of the Jews thought that the 
destruction of Herod's army came from God, and very justly, as a punishment 
of what he did against John, who was called the Baptist ; for Herod slew him, 
who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to 
righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God ; and so came to his 
baptism. Now when the people came in crowds about him, for they were 
greatly moved by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence 
of John over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a 
rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it 
best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not 
bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of 
it when it should be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of 
Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was 
there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this 
army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to 
him. — Ant., b. 18, c. 5, § 1, 2. 

But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased 

Herod. 
Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Dancers and dancing-women were at 
that time in great request. (Jos. Antq., 12, 4, 6.) A luxurious feast of the 
period was not regarded as complete unless it closed with some gross panto- 
mimic representation. — Life of Christ, I., 390. 

Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. 

Author of Esther. — Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen 
Esther? and what is thy request ? it shall be even given thee, to the half of the 
kingdom. — Esth. v: 3. 

Herodotus. — When Xerxes had received Artaynta into his palace as his son's 
bride, he suddenly conceived a passion for her ; and she, very soon, returned 
his love. Now, Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, had woven with her own hands, a 
long robe of many colors, and very curious, which she presented to her husband 



MATTHEW XIV. (335 

as a gift. Xerxes, who was greatly pleased with it, forthwith put it on ; and 
went in it to visit Artaynta, who happened likewise on this day to please him 
greatly. He therefore bade her ask him whatever boon she liked, and promised 
that, whatever it was, he would assuredly grant her request. Then Artaynta 
said to him, " Wilt thou indeed give me whatever I like to ask?" So the king, 
suspecting nothing, pledged his word, and swore to her. She then, as soon as 
she heard his oath, asked boldly for the robe. Hereupon Xerxes tried all 
possible means to avoid the gift ; not that he grudged it, but because he 
dreaded Amestris, who already suspected, and would now, he feared, detect his 
love. So he offered her cities instead, and heaps of gold, and an army which 
should obey no other leader. But, as nothing could prevail on Artaynta to 
change her mind, at the last he gave her the robe. — Calliope, c. 108, 109. 
And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. 
Josephus. — Gut of Herod's suspicion, John, who was called the Baptist, was 
sent a prisoner to Macherus, a castle in the borders of the dominions of Aretas 
and Herod, and was there put to death. — Antq., b. 18, c. 5, § 2. 

And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel : and she brought it to her 

mother. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — This bad age produced more than one parallel to such 
awful and sanguinary nonchalance on the part of women nobly born. Fulvia 
again and again ran a golden needle through the tongue of Cicero's dissevered 
head; and Agrippina similarly outraged the head of her rival, Lolia Paulina. 
(See Dio Cass., xvii., 9, 60 : 33.) — Life of Christ, I., p. 393. 

Tholuck. — This learned author has clearly shown that the personal names, 
the places, dates, and customs, Jewish and Roman, mentioned or implied in the 
account of Herodias and of the beheading of John, are fully confirmed by con- 
temporary writers. — See Glaubwurdigkeit der Evang. Geschichte, p. 354—357. 

THE MULTITUDE FED IN THE DESERT. 

Matt, xiv: 15-21. — And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a 
desert place, and the time is now past ; send the multitude away that they may go into the 
villages and buy themselves victuals, etc. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — Our long ride through the Jaulan has whiled away 
the time and the road quite to the end of this Butaiha, and this bold head- 
land marks the .spot, according to my topography, where the 5,000 were fed 
with five barley loaves and two small fishes. From the four narratives of this 
stupendous miracle, we gather, 1st, that the place belonged to Bethsaida; 2d, 
that it was a desert place ; 3d, that it was near the shore of the lake, for they 
came to it by a boat ; 4th, that there was a mountain close at hand ; 5th, that 
it was a smooth, grassy spot, capable of seating many thousand people. Now all 
these requisites are found in this exact locality, and nowhere else, so far as I can 
discover. This Butaiha belonged to Bethsaida. At this extreme southeast cor- 
ner of it, the mountain shuts down upon the lake bleak and barren. It was, 
doubtless, desert then as now, for it is not capable of cultivation. In this little 



686 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

cove the ships or boats were anchored. On this beautiful sward at the base of 
the rocky hill the people were seated to receive from the hands of the Son of 
God the miraculous bread. — The Land and the Book, II., 29. 

Rae Wilson.— This mou;.t was called by my guide, The Multiplication of 
Bread, or, as I had heard others denominate it, The Table of our Lord. It is 
remarkable, that at this day there is "much grass in the place." Near it I was 
joined by a miserable, ragged soldier, who had been stationed at the foot of the 
hill to protect the grass. — Travels in the Holy Land, Vol. II. 

THE ADVERSE WIND. 

Matt, xiv : 24. — But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind 

was contrary. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — My experience in this region enables me to sympa- 
thize with the disciples in their long night's contest with the wind. I spent a 
night in that Wady Shukaiyif, some three miles up it, to the left of us. The 
sun had scarcely set when the wind began to rush down toward the lake, and it 
continued all night long with constantly increasing violence, so that when we 
reached the shore next morning the face of the lake was like a huge boiling 
caldron. The wind howled down every Wady from the northeast and east 
with such fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat to shore at 
any point along that coast. In a wind like that, the disciples must have been 
driven quite across to Gennesaret, as we know they were. To understand the 
causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember that the lake 
lies low — 600 feet lower than the ocean ; that the vast and naked plateaus of 
the Jaulan rise to a great height, spreading backwards to the wilds of the Hauran^ 
and upward to snowy Hermon ; that the water-courses have cut out profound 
ravines and wild gorges, conveying to the head of this lake, and that these act 
like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains. — The 
Land and the Book, II., 32. 

Matt, xiv : 34. — And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The land of Gennesaret, accord- 
ing to both Josephus and the New Testament, was situated on the west side of 
the lake. Josephus describes it as thirty furlongs in length, and twenty in 
breadth, the exact extent of the Ghuweir, so fruitful that all sorts of trees will 
grow upon it, and enjoying perpetual spring. Not the slightest question can 
arise as to the identification of Gennesaret with the modern El Ghuweir.*— 
Land of Lsrael,p. 444. 

UNWASHED HANDS. 

Matt, xv : 2. — Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they Wash not 

their hands when they eat bread. 

Josephus. — The Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observ 
ances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the law of 
Moses. — Antiq., b. xiii., c. 11, § 6. 




(687) 



688 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Mishna. — Any transgression of the " Traditions of the Elders," or the " Law 
upon the lip," is more heinous than a transgression of the written Law. — 
Sanhed., X., 3. 

Aristophanes. — Water for the hands ! bring in the table ; we sup ; we are 
washed. — Vesp., v. 12 16. 

Roberts. — No Hindoo of good caste will eat till he have washed his hands. 
Thus, however numerous a company may be, the guests never commence eating 
till they have done this. — Oriental Illustrations, p. 532. 

Matt, xv : 11. — Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man ; but that which cometh out 
of the mouth, this defileth a man. 

Menander. — Each one is destroyed by his own vices ; and all things that do 
injury are within ourselves. — Apud. Stop., 38. 

THE WOMAN OF CANAAN, 

Matt, xv : 21, 22. — Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 
And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, etc. 

Dr. Wells. — The old inhabitants of this tract were descendants of Canaan, 
the grandson of Noah, who were not driven out by the Israelites ; whence this 
part of the country seems to have retained the name of Canaan, long after the 
name had ceased in the parts which were taken possession of by the Israelites. 
The Greeks called the tract inhabited by the old Canaanites, along the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, Phenicia; the more inland parts, as being inhabited partly by 
Canaanites or Phenicians, and partly by Syrians, who had conquered it, they 
called Syro-Phenicia. Hence this woman is said, by Matthew, to be of 
Canaan, but by Mark, to be a Syro-Phenician by nation, as she was a Greek by 
religion and language. — Historical Geography of the Bible. 

THE MULTITUDE IN THE WILDERNESS. 

Matt, xv : 32, 33. — Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on the 
multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and 
I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And his disciples say unto him, 
Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude ? 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — In the Gospel narratives, allusions to manners and 
customs are more numerous than, even those to the topography of the land, and 
they agree most perfectly with the supposed age of the world and character of 
the people. It is implied in almost countless ways that those with whom our 
Lord associated on these shores were accustomed to outdoor life. They meet 
on the mountain to hear him preach ; they follow him into a desert place of 
Bethsaida to be fed ; they spend whole days there without any apparent provision 
for either shelter, sleep, or food ; they are found in the open court of houses, or on 
the shore of the lake, at all times, etc., etc. Now all the specifications are here, 
just as they should be — the mountain, the desert place, the shore, the open 
court, the climate so warm as to lead the people into the open air, the present 
habits of the people — everything in exact accord with the Gospel narratives. 



MATTHEW XVI. 

The inhabitants not only go forth into the country, as represented in the New- 
Testament, but they remain there, and sleep in the open air, if occasion require, 
without the slightest inconvenience. — The Land and the Book, II., 84. 

Matt, xv : 36. — And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, 

and gave to his disciples, etc. 

Dr. John Kitto. — We never read in the Bible of cutting of bread with a knife ; 
nor is this now done in the East. Bread was, and is, always " broken." The 
bread being baked in small cakes, or in broad and thin ones, not in large, dense 
loaves, is easily broken into such portions as may be required. — Must. 

Matt, xv : 38. — And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. 
Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The incidental mention of women and children in the 
great assemblies gathered around Jesus is true to Oriental life, strange as it may 
appear to those who read so much about female seclusion in the East. In the 
great gatherings of this day, at funerals, weddings, festas, and fairs, women and 
children often constitute the largest portion of the assemblies. I have seen 
hundreds of these gatherings in the open air ; and should a prophet now arise 
with a tithe of the celebrity of Jesus of Nazareth, there would quickly be immense 
assemblies about him "from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, 
and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan." — Land and Book, II., 84. 

MAGDALA. 

Matt, xv : 39. — And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of 

Magdala. 

Captain Wilson, R. E. — At the southern extremity of the plain of Gennes- 
areth is a heap of ruins, now called Mejdel, the site of Magdala, once the home 
of that Mary whose history is so touchingly recorded in the New Testament. — 
Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 275. 

Dean Stanley. — But the most sacred region of the lake — shall we not say 
of the world ? — is the little Plain of Gennesareth. Few scenes have undergone 
a greater change. Of all the numerous towns and villages in what must have 
been the most thickly-peopled district of Palestine, one only remains. A col- 
lection of a few hovels stands at the southeastern corner of the Plain, — its 
name hardly altered from the ancient Magdala or Migdol — so called, probably, 
from a watch-tower, of which ruins appear to remain, that guarded the entrance 
of the Plain ; deriving its whole celebrity from its being the birthplace of her, 
through whom the name of " Magdalen " has been incorporated into the lan- 
guages of the world. A large solitary thorn-tree stands beside it. Its situation, 
otherwise unmarked, is dignified by the high limestone rock which overhangs it 
on the southwest, perforated with caves, while a clear stream rushes past into 
the sea. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 374. 

A SIGN FROM HEAVEN. 

Matt, xvi : I.— The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he 
would show them a sign from heaven. 



690 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Hon. E. T. B. Twistleton, M. A. — Antiochus Epiphanes had partially suc- 
ceeded in breaking down the barrier which divided the Jews from his other 
subjects (about 170 b. c); and it was in the resolute determination to resist the 
adoption of Grecian customs, and the slightest departure from the requirements 
of their own law that the Perishin, or " Pharisees," took their rise as a party — 
the signification of the name being Separated. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 
2471. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The " Sadducees " had their origin and name from one 
Sadoc, a disciple of Antigonus of Socho, president of the Sanhedrim, and teacher 
of the Law in one of the great divinity schools in Jerusalem, 264 b. c. — Note, 
in loco. 

Matt, xvi : 2, 3. — He answered and said unto them, When it is evening ye say, It will be fair 
weather; for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day; for the sky 
is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern ihe face of the sky, etc. 

Pliny. — When the clouds are red at sunset, they give promise of a fine day 
to-morrow. — Hist. Nat., XVIII., 35. 

Lucian. — Ruddy evening skies foretell the morning fair. — Phars., I,V., 125. 
Aratus. — If bright he rise, from speck and tarnish clear, 
Throughout the day no rain or tempest fear: 
But if returning to the eastern sky, 
A hollow blackness on his centre lie ; 
Or north and south his lengthened beams extend, 
These signs a stormy wind or rain portend. — P>iosem., v. 87. 

Matt, xvi : 6. — Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees 

and of the Sadducees. 

Chrysostom. — That which is once leavened becomes leaven to the rest. — In 
Maith., Horn., 46. 

CESAREA PHILIPPL 

Matt, xvi : 13. — When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, etc. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Cesarea Philippi was a city in the tribe of Naphthali, 
near to Mount Libanus, in the province of Iturea. Its ancient name was Dan, 
afterwards it was called Lais. But Philip the tetrarch, having rebuilt and beauti- 
fied it, gave it the name of Cesarea, in honor of Tiberius Cesar, the reigning 
emperor; but to distinguish it from another Cesarea, on the coast of the Medi- 
terranean, and to perpetuate the fame of him who built it, it was called Cesarea 
Philippi. — Note, in loco. 

Josephus. — When he had conducted Cesar to the sea, and was returned home, 
Herod built him a most beautiful temple, of the whitest stone, near the place 
called Panium. This is a very fine cave in a mountain, which is abrupt and 
prodigiously deep, and full of still water; over it hangs avast mountain, and 
under the caverns arise the springs of the river Jordan. Herod adorned this 
place, which was already a very remarkable one, still further, by the erection of 
this temple, which he dedicated to Cesar. — Antq., XV., 10, 3. 



MATTHEW XVI. Q^l 

Dean Stanley. — The cavern-sanctuary of Cesarea was at once adopted by 
the Grecian settlers, both in itself and for its romantic situation the nearest like- 
ness that Syria affords of the beautiful limestone grottos which in their own 
country were inseparably associated with the worship of the sylvan Pan. This 
was the one Paneum, or sanctuary of Pan, within the limits of Palestine, which 
before the building of Philip's city gave to the town the name of Paneas, a 
name which has outlived the Roman substitute, and still appears in the modern 
appellation of Banias. Greek inscriptions in the face of the rock (still legible) 
testify its original purpose. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 390. 

PETER. 

Matt, xvi : 18. — And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

Homer. — Thou shalt descend to the gates of hell. — Iliad, lib. v., v. 646. 
./Eschylus. — I adjure thee by these gates of hell. — Again., v. 1291. 

Matt, xvi : 19. — And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 

Martin. — When the Jews made a man a Doctor of the law, they put into 

his hand the key of the closet in the temple, where the sacred books were kept, 

and also tablets to write upon ; signifying by this that they gave him authority 

to teach, and to explain the Scriptures to the people. — In Clarke's Com., in loco. 

SELF-DENIAL. 

Matt, xvi: 24. — Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

Seneca. — You command impossibilities. We are at best but poor and infirm 
mortals. This self-denial is too hard a lesson for us. — But do you know why 
the things commanded seem impossible ? I will tell you. It is because we 
think them so ; but they are not so in fact. We defend our vices because we 
love them. — Efiist., 116. 

THE SOUL BEYOND PRICE. 

Matt, xvi : 26. — For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? 

Plato. — Socrates. You would not be willing to give your life in exchange 
for all Greece, and for absolute dominion over all the Greeks and Barbarians. 
Alcibiades. No, indeed ! For what use could I make of them? — Plat. Alcib., 
II., 4. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — There was one living who, scarcely 
in figure, might be said to have " the whole world." The Roman Emperor 
Tiberius was at that moment infinitely the most powerful of living men, 
the absolute, undisputed, deified ruler of all that was fairest and richest in 
the kingdoms of the earth. There was no control to his power, no limit to his 
wealth, no restraint upon his pleasures. And to yield himself still more unre- 
servedly to the boundless self-gratification of a voluptuous luxury, not long after 
43 



692 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

this time he chose for himself a home on one of the loveliest spots on the earth's 
surface, under the shadow of the slumbering volcano, upon an enchanting islet 
in one of the most softly delicious climates of the world. What came of it all ? 
He was, as Pliny calls him, tristissimus ut constat hominum, confessedly the most 
gloomy of mankind. And there, from this home of his hidden infamies, from 
this island where on a scale so splendid he had tried the experiment of what hap- 
piness can be achieved by pressing the world's most absolute authority, and the 
world's guiltiest indulgences, into the service of an exclusively selfish life, he 
wrote to his servile and corrupted Senate, "What to write to you, Conscript 
Fathers, or how to write, or what not to write, may all the gods and goddesses 
destroy me worse than I feel that they are daily destroying me, if 1 know." Rarely 
has there been vouchsafed to the world a more overwhelming proof that its 
richest gifts are but fairy gold that turns to dust and dross, and its most colossal 
edifices of personal splendor and greatness no more durable barrier against the 
encroachment of bitter misery than are the babe's sandheaps to stay the mighty 
march of the Atlantic. In such perplexity, in such anguish, does the sinful pos- 
session of all riches and all rule end. Such is the invariable Nemesis of unbri- 
dled lust. It does not need the snaky tresses or the shaken torch of the fabled 
Erinnyes. The guilty conscience is its own adequate avenger; and " if the 
world were one entire and perfect chrysolite," and that gem ours, it would not 
console us for one hour of that inward torment, or compensate in any way for 
those lacerating pangs. — Life of Christ, Vol. L, p. 136. 

Seneca. — There is nothing admirable in thee, but the soul. Nothing so great 
as to be compared with the greatness of it. — Epist. 8. 

THE TEMPLE TRIBUTE. 

Matt, xvii : 24. — And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money 
came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute [margin, didrachma) ? 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— A tax of half a shekel was collected of 
every Jew who had reached the age of twenty years as a "ransome for his soul" 
unto the Lord. This money was devoted to the service of the temple. This 
tax was paid by every Jew in every part of the world, whether rich or poor; 
and as on the first occasion of its payment, to show that the souls of all alike 
are equal before God, " the rich paid no more, and the poor no less." It pro- 
duced vast sums of money, which were conveyed to Jerusalem by honorable 
messengers. These collections are alluded to by Cicero, Dio Cassius, and Jose- 
phus.— Life of Christ, Vol. II., 41. 

Cicero. — As gold, under the pretence of being given to the Jews, was accus- 
tomed every year to be sent out of Italy and all the provinces to Jerusalem, 
Flaccus issued an edict establishing a law that it should not be lawful for gold 
to be exported after this way. — Pro Flac., c. 28. 

Josephus. — After the destruction of Jerusalem with the temple, Caesar also 
laid a tribute upon the Jews wheresoever they were, and enjoined every one of 
them to bring two drachmae every year into the capitol, as they used to pay the 
same to the temple at Jerusalem.— -Jewish Wars, VII., 6, § 6. 



MATTHEW XVIII. 

Matt, xvii : 27. — Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up ; 
and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money [niarg., stater) : that 
take, and give unto them for me and thee. 

Reginald Stuart Poole, British Museum. — The stater must here mean a silver 
tetradrachm ; and the only tetradrachms then current in Palestine were of the 
same weight as the Hebrew shekel. And it is observable, in confirmation of the 
minute accuracy of the Evangelist, that at this period the silver currency in 
Palestine consisted of Greek imperial tetradrachms, or staters, and Roman 
denarii of a quarter their value, didrachms having fallen into disuse. Had two 
didrachms been found by Peter, the receivers of tribute would scarcely have 
taken them. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3109. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — A stater equals four drachmas, and was exactly the sum 
required for two people. — Life of Christ, II., 45, n. 

THE PUNISHMENT OF DROWNING, 

Matt, xviii : 6. — But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were 
better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the 
depth of the sea. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — It was customary among the Jews, as well as 
other nations, to cast sacrilegious and other execrable men into the sea, with a 
great weight about their necks. — Test, of Heath., p. 488. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Philip hanged Onomarchus, and the rest he caused to 
be thrown into the sea, as being guilty of sacrilege. — Diod. Sic., XVI., 35. 

Gentoo Code. — If a woman cause any person to take poison, sets fire to any 
person's house, or murders a man, then the magistrate, having bound a stone to 
her neck, shall drown her. — Halhead's, p. 306. 

OFFENDING BROTHER. 

Matt, xviii : 15. — If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee 

and him alone. 

Socrates. — It is not usual, Melitus, to accuse men before this court for 
undesigned offences, but to take them apart and admonish them. — Plat. Socr. 
ApoL, c. 13. 

CHRIST IN THE MIDST. 

Matt, xviii : 20. — Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst 

of them. 

Menander. — True reason will find a temple everywhere ; for it is the mind 
that holds communion with God. — Ap. Just, de mon. Dei. 

Seneca. — rGod himself ministers to man, and is everywhere present and easy 
of access to all. — Epist., 95. 

THE DEBTOR AND HIS FAMILY SOLD. 

Matt, xviii : 25. — But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and 
his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — By the laws of the Hebrews, they were permitted to 



694 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

sell debtors, with their wives and children, into servitude for a time sufficient to 
pay the debt. — Note, in loco. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — By the Laws of the Twelve Tables it was 
ordained that insolvent debtors should be given up to their creditors bound in 
fetters and cords. Though they did not entirely lose the rights of freemen they 
were in actual slavery, and often treated more harshly even than slaves. — Test, 
of Heath., p. 489. 

Livy. — One who had been a centurion in the army complained that in conse- 
quence of debts incurred during the war, he had been dragged by a creditor, 
not into servitude, but into a place of correction, or rather of execution. He 
then showed his back, disfigured with the marks of fresh stripes. — Liv., II., 23. 

THE QUESTION OF DIVORCE. 

Matt, xix: 3. — The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it law- 
ful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — This question (as the word " tempt " 
implies) was beset with many difficulties. It had given rise to a decided oppo- 
sition of opinion between the two most important and flourishing of the rabbinic 
schools. Hillel with his school explained the Mosaic Law in the sense that a 
man might "divorce his wife for any disgust which he felt towards her; " 
even, as the celebrated R. Akiba ventured to say, if he saw any other woman 
who pleased him more : whereas the school of Shammai interpreted it to mean 
that divorce could only take place in cases of scandalous unchastity. In those 
corrupt days the vast majority acted on the principle laid down by Hillel. 
While polygamy had fallen into discredit, they made a near approach to it by 
the ease with which they were able to dismiss one wife and take another. Even 
Josephus, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, who on every possible occasion promi- 
nently lays claim to the character and position of a devcut and religious man. 
narrates, without the shadow of an apology, that his first wife had abandoned 
him, that he had divorced the second after she had borne him three children, 
and that he was then married to a third. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 150, etc. 

Matt, xix : 6, 10. — What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. . . . His 
disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D.,F. R. S. — What a fatal blow would have been 
given to the world's happiness and the world's morality had He assented to their 
rash conclusion ! And how marvellous a proof is it of His Divinity, that whereas 
every other pre-eminent moral teacher — even the very best and greatest of all — 
has uttered or sanctioned more than one dangerous and deadly error which has 
been potent to poison the life or peace of nations — all the words of the Lord 
Jesus were absolutely holy, and divinely healthy words. — Life of Christ, Vol. 
II., p. 156. 

Matt, xix: II, 12.— But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to 
whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's 
womb : and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men : and there be eunuchs, 



MATTHEW XIX. 695 

that have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to 
receive it, let him receive it. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — Some are born with such a temperament of body, that 
they are all their lives devoid of those sexual inclinations, to which others are 
subject. — Note, in loco. 

Herodotus. — It happened that Periander, son of Cypselus, had taken three 
hundred boys, children of the chief nobles among the Corcyrseans, and sent 
them to Alyattes for eunuchs. — Thalia, c. 48. 

Idem. — And now the Persian generals made good all the threats wherewith 
they had menaced the Ionians before the battle. For no sooner did they get 
possession of the towns than they chose out all the best-favored boys and made 
them eunuchs. — Erato, c. 32. 

Josephus. — It deserves our admiration how much the Essenes exceed all 
other men in virtue and righteousness. They neither marry wives, nor are 
desirous to keep servants ; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and 
the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels. . . . They reject pleasures as an 
evil, but esteem continence and the conquest over our passions as a virtue. 
They neglect wedlock, but choose other persons' children while they are pliable 
and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred. — Antiq., XVIII. , 1, 
5; and/". Wars, II., 8, 2. 

Eusebius. — Origen, understanding the latter clause of this verse literally, went 
and literally fulfilled it on himself. — Eccl. Hist., VI., 8. 

THE LITTLE CHILDREN BLESSED. 

Matt, xix: 13.— Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands 
on them, and pray : and the disciples rebuked them. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— Women were not honored, nor chil- 
dren loved in antiquity as now they are ; no halo of romance and tenderness 
encircled them ; too often they were subjected to shameful cruelties and hard 
neglect. But He who came to be the friend of all sinners, and the helper of 
all the suffering and the sick, came also to elevate woman to her due honor, 
and to be the protector and friend of helpless infancy and innocent childhood. — 
Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 158. 

THE DANGER OF RICHES. 

Matt, xix : 20.— All these things have I kept from my youth up ; what lack I yet ? 
Rabbi Chanina. — Death is come to fetch me hence : Go and bring me the 
Book of the Law, and see whether there is anything in it which I have not kept. 
— Gfrbj-er., II., 102. 

Matt, xix : 23.— Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall 
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

Plato.— It is impossible to be exceeding good and exceeding rich.— DeLeg., 
v. 12. 



696 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Martial. — It is a difficult thing to preserve morality from the corruption of 
riches. — Mart., lib. xi., epig. 5. 

Matt, xix : 24. — It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to 

enter into the kingdom of God. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — A mode of expression common among the Jews to sig- 
nify a thing impossible or very unusual. — Note, in loco. 

Al Koran. — Nor shall he enter heaven till a camel shall pass through the 
eye of a needle. — Sarat. VII., v. 37. 

Rabbi Shesheth. — Perhaps thou art one of the Pambidithians who can make 
an elephant pass through the eye of a needle. — Lightfoot, in loco. 

Matt, xix : 26. — With men this is impossible ; but with God all things are possible. 
Sophocles. — By powers immortal all things may be done. — Ajax, v. 86. 
Linus. — All things are easy to God to do, and nothing is impossible. — Fragm. 

PARABLE OF THE HOUSEHOLDER. 

Matt, xx : I. — For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went 
out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — We hear the Divine Teacher speak of the vineyards ; 
of the good branches purged ; of the dry ones gathered for the fire ; of the 
penny-a-day laborers standing in the market waiting to be hired, and of their 
receiving their wages at the close of each day. Such things as these we now see 
constantly, daily, and to the minutest shade of verbal accuracy. — The Land and 
the Book, Vol. II., p. 85. 

Rev. Henry J. Van-Lennep, D. D. — During the whole season when vine- 
yards may be dug, the common workmen go early in the morning to the Sook or 
market-place of the village or city. The owners of vineyards come to the 
place and engage the number of laborers they need. These immediately go to 
the vineyard and work there until a little while before the sun sets. We have 
often seen men stand in the market-place through the entire day without finding 
employment, and have repeatedly engaged them ourselves at noon, for half a day's 
job, and later for one or two hours' work in our garden. — Bible Lands, p. 114. 

Matt, xx : 2. — And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into 

his vineyard. 

Prof. R. Chenevix Trench, M. A. — The "penny " of the householder was 
a denarius, a Roman silver coin, which passed current as equal to the Greek 
drachm, though in fact some grains lighter. It was equal to 8}4 d. (or about 16 
cents) at the latter end of the commonwealth ; afterwards, something less of our 
money. It was not an uncommon, though a liberal day's pay.— On Parab., 

/• 139. 

Tacitus. — The Roman soldiers required that their pay should be a denarius, 
or sixteen ases per day. — An., lib. i., c. 17. 

Matt, xx : 6, 7. — Why stand ye here all the day idle ? They say unto him, Because no man 

hath hired us. 



MATTHEW XXI. 697 

Morier. — At Hamadan we observed every morning, before the sun rose, that a 
numerous band of peasants collected with spades in their hands, waiting to 
be hired for the day to work in the surrounding fields. This custom struck me 
as a most happy illustration of our Saviour's parable, particularly when, passing 
by the same place late in the day, we still found others standing idle, and remem- 
bered his words, "Why stand ye here all the day idle? " as most applicable to 
their situation, for on putting the same question to them they answered us, 
"Because no man hath hired us." — Second Journey Through Persia, p. 265. 

THE ASCENT FROM JERICHO TO JERUSALEM. 

Matt, xx : 17, 18. — And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, 
and said unto them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — This was as they advanced towards 
Jericho. . . . Here it was necessary to rest before entering on the dangerous, 
rocky, robber-haunted gorge which led from it to Jerusalem, and formed a 
rough, almost continuous, ascent of six hours, from 600 feet below to nearly 3,000 
feet above the level of the Mediterranean. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 183. 

CUP OF SUFFERING. 

Matt, xx : 23. — And he said unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with 
the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit, etc. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This was fulfilled. James was slain with the sword 
by Herod (Acts xii : 2). John lived many years ; but he attended the Saviour 
through his sufferings, and was himself banished to Patmos, a solitary island, for 
the testimony of Jesus Christ — a companion of others in tribulation. (Rev. ; : 
9). — Note, in loco. 

JERICHO. 

Matt, xx : 29. — And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 
Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Jericho — that famous city — the city of 
fragrance, the city of roses, the city of palm-trees, the "Paradise of God." 
It is now a miserable and degraded Arab village, but was then a prosperous and 
populous town, standing on a green and flowery oasis, rich in honey and leaf- 
honey, and myro-balanum, and well watered by the Fountain of Elisha, and by 
other abundant springs. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 182. 

MOUNT OF OLIVES. 

Matt, xxi : 1. — And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the 
Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus, etc. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — On the east, Jerusalem is immediately enclosed by a 
long ridge running north and south. From every roof of the city this long 
ridge forms a familiar feature — so near, so immediately overhanging th^ town, 
that it almost seems to be within it. . . . Three paths lead from Bethany to 
Jerusalem ; one a steep foot-path over the summit of Mount Olivet ; another, 
by a long circuit over its northern shoulder ; the third, the natural continuation 



698 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of the road from Jericho over the southern shoulder, between the summit which 
contains the Tombs of the Prophets and that called the "Mount of Offence." 

" There can be no doubt that this last is the road of the Entry of Christ." 

Sinai and Pal. , p. 183-187. 

THE TRIUMPHANT ESCORT. 

Matt, xxi : 8. — And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down 

branches, etc. 

Author of 2 KiNGS.^-Then they hasted and took every man his garment, 
and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, 
" Jehu is king." — 2 Kings ix : 13. 

Plutarch.— When Cato left Macedonia to return to Rome, the soldiers spread 
their garments in the way and kissed his hand : instances of esteem which few 
generals met with from the Romans in those times. — Cato Min., c. 12. 

Malcolm. — When we approached Isfahan, the king and all his nobles went 
seven miles to meet the Prince (of the Usbegs). The whole road into the city 
was covered with rich silks, over which the two sovereigns rode. — History of 
Persia, Vol. I., p. 581. 

THE FRUITLESS FIG TREE. 

Matt, xxi : 19. — And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing 

thereon, but leaves only. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — Mount Olivet, besides its abundance of olives, is 
still sprinkled with fig trees. . . . Fig trees may now be seen overhanging the road 
from Jerusalem to Bethany, growing out of the rocky sides of the mountain. — 
Sinai and Palestine, p. 414. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — The custom of plucking ripe figs, &s you pass 
by the orchards, is still universal in this country, especially from trees by the 
roadside, and from all that are not enclosed. — Land and Book, I., 539. 

THE DEMAND FOR CHRIST'S AUTHORITY. 

Matt, xxi : 23. — And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and elders of the peo- 
ple came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things ? 
and who gave thee this authority ? 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S — Sternly and abruptly they asked him. 
But the answer they received surprised and confounded them. With that infi- 
nite presence of mind, of which the world's history furnishes no parallel, and 
which remained calm under the worst assaults, Jesus told them that the answer 
to their question depended on the answer which they were prepared to give to 
His question ; "The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? " .... 
This reduced them to a complete dilemma — reduced them to the ignominious 
necessity of saying, before all the multitude, " We cannot tell." — Life of Christ, 
Vol. II., p. 218, 219. 

THE BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

Matt, xxi : 26. — But if we say, Of men, we fear the people ; for all hold John as a prophet. 



MATTHEW XXI. 

Josephus. — Now John, who was called the Baptist, was a good man, and 
commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one 
another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism. When the people came 
in crowds about him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, Herod 
feared, lest the great influence John had over the people, might put it into his 
power and inclination to raise a rebellion, for they seemed ready to do anything 
he should advise. — Antiq., XVIII., 5, § 2. 

Matt, xxi : 31. — Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots 
go into the kingdom of God before you. 

E^pictetus. — By Jupiter, one might sooner hope to convince the most 
unnatural debauchees, than those who are thus dead and blind to their own 
evils. — Epict., lib. ii., c. 20. 

PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD LET OUT TO HUSBANDMEN. 

Matt, xxi : 33. — Hear another parable : There was a certain householder, which planted a vine- 
yard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it 
out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 

Dean Stanley, D. D. — One of the main characteristics of the southern 
scenery of Palestine — the inclosures of loose stone, with the square gray tower 
at the corner of each, catch the eye on the bare slopes of Hebron, of Bethlehem, 
and of Olivet, — at first sight hardly distinguishable from the ruins of ancient 
churches or fortresses, which lie equally scattered over the hills of Judea. And 
thus the past history of the nation concurs with our own present experience in 
pointing to what was one of the most obvious and familiar images of Palestine 
at the time when the parables were delivered, of which no less than five have 
relation to vineyards. — Sinai and Pal., p. 413. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D. } F. R. S. — The grapes were not carried home, 
but the juice was expressed on the spot, every vineyard possessing its own 
winepress. It consisted of two vats, hewn one below the other out of the solid 
rock, on the slope of the hill ; the two were connected by small holes bored 
through the rock, through which the juice streamed into the lower vat. These 
ancient winepresses are among the most interesting remains of the Holy Land, 
perhaps the only relics still existing of the actual handiwork of Israel prior to 
the first captivity. They attest the culture of the vine in every part of the 
country, even where man has long ceased to dwell, except as a nomad. The 
hills of southern Judea abound with them, and in the little explored region 
between Hebron and Beersheba we found them on all the ranges. Among the 
brushwood and thickets of Mount Carmel they are very numerous; I have 
visited as many as eleven on the east of Carmel alone, and four very near the 
town of Caiffa. There are many in Galilee, especially in the neighborhood of 
Kedes. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 408, 409. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Vineyards were often planted to be let out for profit, 
the owner receiving a part of the fruit. — Note, in loco. 

Pliny. — Some of my estates had hitherto been very badly managed; and 



700 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

I have found that the only method in which I can get any profit from them, is 
to let them out on shares. — -Ep., 1. 9, 37. 

PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE FEAST. 

Matt, xxii : 4. — Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Be- 
hold, I have prepared my dinner : my oxen and my fadings are killed, and all things are 
ready : come unto the marriage. 

Prof. R. C. Trench, M. A. — This second invitation, or admonishment 
rather, is quite according to Eastern manners. Thus Esther invites Haman to 
a banquet on the morrow (Esth. v : 8), and when the time is actually arrived, 
the chamberlain came to bring him to the banquet (vi : 14). Modern travellers 
testify to the same custom now of repeating the invitation to a great entertain- 
ment, at the moment when all things are in actual readiness. — On Parab., 

P- *75- 

Matt, xxii : 9, 10. — Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the 
marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as 
they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was furnished with guests. 

Rev. J. Roberts. — It is as common in the East for a rich man to give a feast 
to the poor, the maimed, and the blind, as it is in England for a nobleman to 
entertain men of his own degree. Does he wish to gain some temporal or 
spiritual blessing? he orders his head servant to prepare a feast for one or two 
hundred poor guests. Messengers are then despatched into the streets and 
lanes to inform the indigent, that on such a day rice and curry will be given 
to all who are there at the appointed time. Long before the hour, the visitors 
may be seen bending their steps towards the house of the Rasa, or king. — 
Orient. Must, p. 535. 

Matt, xxii : 11, 12. — And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which 
had not on a wedding garment : and he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither not 
having a wedding garment ? And he was speechless. 

Cicero. — Why did you attend at the banquet given by Quintus Arrius in a 
black robe ? Whom did you ever see do such a thing before ? Whom did you 
ever hear of? — In Vat., c. 12. 

Prof. R. C. Trench, M. A. — It was part of the state and magnificence of 
kings and wealthy persons in the East, to have great store of costly dresses laid 
up, as at the present day a great portion of their wealth is very commonly in- 
vested in numerous changes of costly apparel. Moreover, costly dresses were 
often given as honorable presents, marks of special favor : and marriage festivals 
and other occasions of festal rejoicing were naturally those -upon which gifts were 
distributed with the largest hand. If the gift took the form of costly raiment, 
it would reasonably be expected that it should be worn at once, as part of the 
purpose of the distribution would else be lost, which was to testify openly the 
magnificence and liberality of the giver, and also to add to the splendor and 
glory of the festal time, — not to say that the rejection of a gift, or the appear- 



MATTHEW XXII. 701 

ance of a slight put upon it, is ever naturally esteemed as a slight and contempt 
not of that gift only, but also of the giver. — On the Parabs., p. 183. 

Olearius. — The ambassadors and myself being invited to the table of the 
Persian monarch, it was told us by the mehmandar, that we according to their 
usage must hang the splendid vests that were sent us from the king over our 
dresses, and so appear in his presence. The ambassadors at first refused ; but 
the mehmandar urged it so earnestly, alleging, as also did others, that the omis- 
sion would greatly displease the king, since all other envoys observed such a 
custom, that at last they consented, and hanged, as did we also, the splendid 
vests over their shoulders, and so the cavalcade proceeded. — Travels, p. 214. 

Matt, xxii: 13. — Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him 
away, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Chardin. — The officer through whose hands the royal robe was to be for- 
warded, out of spite, sent in its stead a plain habit. The vizier would not 
appear in the city arrayed in this, lest it should be taken as an evidence that he 
was in disgrace at court, and put on in its stead a royal habit, the gift of the late 
king, and in that made his public entry into the city. When this was known 
at court, they declared the vizier a dog, that he had disdainfully thrown away 
the royal apparel, saying, I have no need of Sha Sefi's habits. Their account 
incensed the king, who severely felt the affront, and it cost the vizier his life. 
— In Trench On Parab., p. 184. 

THE QUESTION OF TRIBUTE TO CJESAR. 

Matt, xxii : 15-22. — Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him 
in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — The Herodians, as a party, had mainly 
a political significance ; they stood outside the current of religious life. They 
were, in fact, mere provincial courtiers, supporters of the Herodian Family and 
of Roman Imperialism. That the Pharisees should tolerate even the most tem- 
porary partnership with such men as these, whose very existence was a violent 
outrage on their most cherished prejudices, enables us to gauge more accurately 
the extreme virulence of hatred with which Jesus had inspired them. But to 
crush their enemy, the priests can unite with the politicians. They came to 
him circumspectly, deferentially, courteously: 

Rabbi, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for 
any man ; for thou regardest not the person of men. 
It was as though they would entreat Him, without fear or favor, confidentially 
to give them His private opinion ; and as though they really wanted His opinion 
for their own guidance. But why all this sly undulatory approach and serpentine 
ensalivation ? Tell us, therefore — since you are so wise, so true, so courageous — 
tell us, therefore, is it lawful to give tribute to Ccesar, or not ? He must, they 
thought, answer "Yes" or "No;" there is no possible escape from a plain 
question so cautiously, sincerely, and respectfully put. Perhaps he will answer, 



702 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

" Yes, it is lawful." If so, such a decision will at once explode and evaporate 
any regard which the people may feel for Him. If, on the other hand, He 
should answer, " No, it is not lawful," then in that case, too, we are equally rid 
of Him j for then He is in open rebellion against the Roman power, and these 
new Herodian friends of ours can at once hand Him over to the jurisdiction of 
the Procurator. Pontius Pilatus will deal very roughly with His pretensions, 
and will, if need be, without the slightest hesitation, mingle His blood, as he has 
done the blood of other Galileans, with the blood of the sacrifices. 

They must have awaited the answer with breathless interest ; but even if they 
succeeded in concealing the hate which gleamed in their eyes, Jesus at once saw 
the sting and heard the hiss of the Pharisaic serpent. They had fawned on 
Him with their "Rabbi," and "true," and " impartial," and "fearless; " He 
blights them with the flash of one indignant word, Hypocrites ! That word must 
have undeceived their hopes, and crumbled their craftiness into dust. 

Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? Bring me the tribute money. 

While the people stood round in wondering silence, they brought Him a 
denarius, and put it in His hand. On one side were stamped the haughty, 
beautiful features of the emperor Tiberius, with all the wicked scorn upon the 
lip ; on the obverse his title of Pontifex Maximus / — Wliose image and superscrip- 
tion is this ? They say unto Him, Ccesar's. There, then, was the simplest pos- 
sible solution of their cunning question. Render, therefore, unto Ccesar the 
things that are Ccesar 1 s. Their national acceptance of this coinage answered their 
question, and revealed its emptiness : for it was understood among the Jews, 
and was laid down in the distinctest language by their greatest Rabbis in later 
days, that to accept the coinage of any king was to acknowledge his supremacy. 
By accepting the denarius, therefore, as a current coin they were openly declar- 
ing that Caesar was their sovereign, and they had settled the question that it 
was lawful to pay the poll-tax, by habitually doing so. 

And when they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went 
their way. Amazed and humiliated at the sudden and total frustration of a plan 
which seemed irresistible — compelled, in spite of themselves, to admire the 
guileless wisdom which had in an instant broken loose from the meshes of their 
sophistical malice — they sullenly retired. There was nothing which even they 
could take hold of in his words. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 228-233. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D. — Everything in the country will be found in 
most perfect agreement with all ascertained facts of chronology, topography, 
and history. ... As an example — one of many equally pertinent — take the 
demand about the tribute money, and the answer of Jesus, " Render unto Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's." We have examined the " image and superscrip- 
tion " of this Roman penny on the very spot where the tax-gatherer sat, and with 
the evidences scattered all around us that these lordly Romans were actually here. 
History, the treasured Coin, and these prostrate Ruins, unite in proving that the 
teacher Jesus, the cavilling Pharisees, and the tax-gathering Romans were all 



MATTHEW XXII. 703 

here, and the entire incident is admirably illustrated and confirmed. — The Land 
and the Book, Vol. II., p. 83. 

THE SADDUCEES AND THE RESURRECTION. 

Matt, xxii : 23-33. — The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resur- 

rection. 

Josephus. — The doctrine of the Sadducees is this, that souls die with the 
bodies. — Antiq., XVII. , 1, § 4. 

Idem. — The Sadducees take away the belief of the immortal duration of the 
soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades.— -Jewish War, II., 8, § 14. 

St. Luke. — The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor 
spirit. — Acts xxii'i: 8. 

And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother 
shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven 
brethren : and the first when he had married a wife, deceased, and having no issue, left his 
wife unto his brother: likewise the second also, and the third unto the seventh. And last of 
all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven ? 
for they all had her. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Had Jesus been like any other merely 
human teacher, He might have treated this question with that contemptuous 
scorn which it deserved ; but the spirit of scorn is alien from the spirit of the 
dove, and with no contempt He gave to their conceited and eristic dilemma a 
most profound reply. Though the question came upon Him most unexpectedly, 
His answer was everlasti?tgly me?norable. It opened the gates of Paradise sp 
widely that men might see therein more than they had ever seen before, and it 
furnished against one of the commonest forms of disbelief an argument that 
neither Rabbi nor Prophet had conceived. ... In that heaven beyond the 
grave, though love remains, yet all the mere earthliness of human relationship 
is superseded and transfigured. They that shall be accowited worthy to obtain 
that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in 
marriage; neither can they die any more ; but are equal unto the angels ; and are 
the. children of God, being the children of the resurrection. 

But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was 
spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob ? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. God 
had described himself to their great law-giver as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, 
and of Jacob. How unworthy would such a title have been, had Abraham, and 
Isaac, and Jacob, then been but gray handfuls of crumbling dust, or dead bones, 
which should moulder in the Hittite's cave ! He is not the God of the dead, but 
the God of the living : ye therefore do greatly err. Would it have been possible 
that he should deign to call Himself the God of dust and ashes? How new, 
how luminous, how profound a principle of Scriptural interpretation ! 

And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. Even 
some of the Scribes, pleased by the spiritual refutation of a scepticism which 



704 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

their reasonings had been unable to remove, could not refrain from the grateful 
acknowledgment, "Master, thou hast well said." The more than human 
wisdom and insight of these replies created, even among his enemies, a 
momentary diversion in His favor. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., 233-238. 

THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 

Matt, xxii : 34-40. — Then one of the Pharisees, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, 
tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law ? 
Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — The Rabbinical schools had come to 
the sapient conclusion that there were in the ceremonial and moral laws 248 
affirmative precepts, and 365 negative — in all 613. Now surely, out of such a 
large number of precepts and prohibitions, all could not be of quite the same 
value; some were "light," and some were "heavy." But which? and what 
was the greatest commandment of all? According to some Rabbis, the most 
important of all is that about the tephillin and the tsitsith, the fringes and phy- 
lacteries ; and " he who diligently observes it is regarded in the same light as if 
he had kept the whole law." Some thought the omission of ablutions as bad as 
homicide ; some that the precepts of the Mishna were all " heavy ; " those of 
the Law were " some heavy " and " some light." Others considered the third 
to be the greatest commandment. . . . On the question proposed by the lawyer, 
the Shammaites and Hillelites were in disaccord, and as usual, both schools were 
wrong. 

Jesus said unto him, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great co7nmand- 
ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. 
The scribe had the sense to observe, and the candor to acknowledge, that the 
answer of Jesus was wise and noble. "Well, Master," he exclaimed, "thou 
hast said the truth." — Life of Christ, Vol. II., 239-242. 

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 

President Timothy Dwight, S. T. D., LL. D. — These two precepts, not- 
withstanding their brevity, are so comprehensive as to include every possible 
moral action. The archangel is not raised above their control ; nor can any 
action of his exceed that bound which they prescribe. The child, who has 
passed the verge of moral agency, is not placed beneath their regulation ; and 
whatever virtue he may exercise is no other than a fulfilment of their requisitions. 
All the duties, which we immediately owe to God, to our fellow-creatures, and 
to ourselves, are by these precepts alike comprehended and required. In a 
word, endlessly various as moral action may be, it exists in no form or instance 
in which he who perfectly obeys these precepts will not have done his duty, and 
will not find himself justified and accepted by God. — Theology, Serm. XCI. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Love to God issuing in love to man — 
love to man, our brother, resulting from love to our Father, God — on these two 
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., 
p. 241. 



^ MATTHEW XXIII. 705 

THOSE IN MOSES SEAT TO BE OBEYED. 

Matt, xxiii : 2. — The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Moses was the legislator of the Jews. By him the 
Law was given; and the office of explaining that Law devolved on the Scribes 
and Pharisees. In the synagogues they sat while expounding the Law, and rose 
when they read it. By sitting in the ■ seat of Moses we are to understand 
authority to teach the Law. — Note, in loco. 

Matt, xxiii : 3. — Ail therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not 
ye after their works : for they say and do not. 

Lucian. — It is impossible to find out two more discordant things in the world 
than the Sophists' discourses and their actions. — Fugit., c. 19. 

Epictetus. — We who are called Stoics say one thing and do another. We 
talk well and act ill. — Epict., lib. iii., c. 7. 

BROAD PHYLACTERIES. 

Matt, xxiii; 5. — They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — An original phylactery lies now before me. It is a 
piece of fine vellum, about eighteen inches long, and an inch and quarter 
broad. It is divided into four unequal compartments : in the first is written, 
in a very fair character, the first ten verses of Exodus xiii. ; in the second com- 
partment is written from the nth to the 16th verse of the same chapter inclu- 
sive; in the third from the 4th to the 9th verse inclusive, of Deuteronomy vi., 
beginning with, "Hear, O Israel," etc.; in the fourth, from the 13th to the 
21st verse inclusive, of Deuteronomy xi. — Note, in loco. 

THE CHIEF SEATS. 

Matt, xxiii : 6. — And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues. 

Campbell. — The middle couch, which lay along the upper end of the table, 
and was therefore accounted the most honorable place, and that which the 
Pharisees are said particularly to have affected, was distinguished by the name, 
" the first couch." — In loco. 

Martial. — Rufus, do you see yon person who is always sitting bejewelled and 
perfumed, upon the front benches? — Mart., lib. ii., epig. 29. 

Rosenmuller. — According to the most ancient custom among the Jews 
those who had no office in the synagogue sat in the order of age. But in 
many places it came to be the practice, at length, that they who had acquired 
some reputation for learning should occupy a more honorable seat. And there 
are extant in the books of the Hebrews decrees or rules on this subject, from 
which it appears that the doctors of the law ranked the same as the Pharisees. — 
In loco. 

GREETINGS. 

Matt, xxiii: 7. — And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — There were three words used among the Jews as titles 



706 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of dignity, Rabh, Rabbi, Rabban. These Rabbins were looked up to as infal- 
lible oracles in religious matters, and they usurped not only the place of the 
Law, but of God himself. — In loco. 

Matt, xxiii : 8. — And all ye are brethren. 
Lucian. — The original legislator of the Christians taught them that they 
were all brothers. — De Mort. Per eg., c. 13. 

PROSELYTING. 

Matt, xxiii : 15. — Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye compass sea and land 
to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell 
than yourselves. 

Horace. — I'll force you, like the proselyting Jews, 

To be like us, a brother of the muse. — Hor., lib. i., Sat. 4. 

Justin Martyr. — The proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ's doctrine, 

but were abundantly more blasphemous against him than the Jews themselves, 

endeavoring to torment and to cut off the Christians wherever they could, they 

being in this the instruments of the Scribes and Pharisees. 

f 

PROFANE SWEARING. 

Matt, xxiii : 16. — Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the tern, 
pie, it is nothing ; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.— Woe for the blind hair-splitting folly 
which so confused the sanctity of oaths as to tempt their followers into gross pro- 
fanity. The miserable quibbles by which, in consequence of such pernicious 
teaching, the Jews evaded their oaths, became notorious even in the heathen 
worlds. See Martial, Ep. XL, 94. The charges which our Lord uttered are 
also amply supported by Jewish testimonies. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 245. 

Martial. — Behold, thou deniest and swearest to me by the temples of 
Jupiter ; I will not credit thee : swear, O Jew, by the temple of Jehovah. — 
Martial, Ep. XL, 95. 

Matt, xxiii: 17, 19. — Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that 
sanctifieth the gold? . . . the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift ? 

Michaelis. — There came a doctrine into vogue among the Jews, in the time 
of Christ, which made such a nice distinction between what was and what was 
not an oath, that illiterate people were really incapable of comprehending it,- or 
indeed forming any idea of it : and thus a Jew had it in his power to be guilty 
of the greatest treachery to his neighbor, even when the latter thought he had 
heard him S7uear by all that was sacred. Who could suppose, for instance, that 
a Jew did not speak seriously, when he swore by the temple. Yet by this doc- 
trine, such an oath was merely nothing, because the stones of the temple were not 
consecrated ! The Pharisees were in the way of saying, " If a man swear by the 
temple, he is not bound by that oath ; but if he swear by the gold of the temple, 
he is bound." This was a very paradoxical distinction ; and no one who heard 



MATTHEW XXIII. 707 

their oaths, could possibly divine it, unless he happened to be initiated into the 
whole villany of the business. But the foundation of the refined distinction 
made by the Pharisees was, that the gold was sanctified, but not the materials 
of the edifice. Again, the Pharisees said, "If a man swear by the altar, it is 
no oath; but if he swear by the offering, he is bound;" because, forsooth, 
the offering was consecrated, but the stones of the altar, nothing more than 
common stones. — Com. on Laws of Moses. 

TITHING MINT AND ANISE. 

Matt, xxiii : 23. — Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint, and 
anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and 
faith : these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 

Isocrates. — Show your gratitude to heaven, not only by sacrifices, but by 
a sacred observance of all oaths : the first, indeed, shows munificence ; but the 
latter only, a truly good and noble disposition. — Orat., 1. 

WHITED SEPULCHRES. 

Matt, xxiii : 27. — Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are like unto whited 
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, 
and of all uncleanness. 

Jahn. — The doors of sepulchres, indeed the whole external surface, unless 
they were so conspicuous without it, as to be really discovered and known, were 
painted white, on the last month of every year, that is, the month Adar. The 
object of this practice was, by a timely warning, to prevent those, who came to 
the feast of the Passover, from approaching them, and thus become contaminated. 
— Bib. Archce., § 207. 

Harmer. — The Passover was at hand when our Lord made this comparison, 
as is evident from the context ; and therefoie it is likely the sepulchres were just 
whitened afresh, when, the season for such rainy and bad weather as is wont to 
wash off these decorations was just over, and the time was at hand when Israel 
were about to assemble in Jerusalem at their national solemnities, which were 
all or nearly all held in the dry part of the \ear. — Observations, Vol. III., p. 92. 

TOMBS OF THE PROPHETS. 

Matt, xxiii: 29. — Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs 
of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, etc. 

Vitringa. — We may not doubt but that the synagogues were built at first near 
the sepulchres of distinguished men, thus to perpetuate their memory with pos- 
terity. For if ever men were inclined to build the tombs of the prophets and 
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, the Jews were those men. Thus we 
read in the Cippis Helraicis, that they were accustomed to honor the tomb of 
Mordecai by a certain annual religious celebration : " From all over that region 
the Jews congregated together on the day of Purim, and proceeded towards his 
sepulchre, chanting canticles and eulogies, with drums and choirs exulting and 
44 



708 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

rejoicing, because a miracle was there performed." The same is said of the tomb 
of Esther. Benjamin of Tudela says, "Before one of the synagogues are the 
tombs of Mordecai and Esther." The opinion was prevalent, at that time, that 
the souls of the dead hovered about the tombs which inclosed the bodies, and 
help from God could be obtained with more facility by their intercession. The 
sepulchre of Moses was concealed, lest this folly should take place. — De Synagoga. 
Burder. — It was a custom among the Greeks, as well as among the Jews, not 
only to erect, but also to repair and adorn the monuments of those who had 
merited well of them, or who had suffered an undeserved death. — Orient. Cust. 

MESSENGERS OF GRACE PERSECUTED. 

Matt, xxiii : 34. — Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and 
some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, 
and persecute them from city to city. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — He did send them apostles and other teachers of 
religion : some of these were killed, as Stephen and James ; some of them were 
imprisoned, as Peter and John ; some of them were beaten, as were the whole 
company of the apostles at the command of the Jewish council ; and multitudes 
of them were pursued even to strange cities. — Note, in loco. 

Matt, xxiii : 35, 36. — That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, 
from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye 
slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, I say unto you, All these things shall come 
upon this generation. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — And did not all the righteous blood 
shed upon the earth since the days of Abel come upon that generation ? Did 
not many of that generation survive to witness and feel the unutterable horrors 
which Josephus tells? — to see their fellows crucified in jest, "some one way 
and some another," till "room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the 
carcasses?" — to experience the "deep silence" and the kind of deadly night 
which seized upon the city in the intervals of rage? — to see 600,000 dead bodies 
carried out of the gates ? — to see friends fighting madly for grass and nettles, 
and the refuse of the drains? — to see bloody zealots "gaping for want, and 
stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs?" — to hear the horrid tale of 
the miserable mother who, in the pangs of famine, had devoured her own child? 
— to be sold for slaves in such multitudes that at last none would buy them?— 
to see the streets running with blood, and the " fire of burning houses quenched 
in the blood of their defenders ? " — to have their young sons sold in hundreds, or 
exposed in the amphitheatres to the sword of the gladiator or the fury of the 
lion, until at last, "since the people were now slain, the Holy House burnt 
down, and the city in flames, there was nothing farther left for the enemy to 
do?" In that awful siege it is believed that there perished i, 100,000 men, 
beside the 97,000 who were carried captive, and most of whom perished subse- 
quently in the arena of the mine ; and it was an awful thing to feel, as some of 



MATTHEW XXIII. 709 

the survivors and eye-witnesses — and they not Christians — did feel, that " the 
city had deserved its overthrow by producing a generation of men who were the 
causes of its misfortunes; " and that "neither did any other city ever suffer 
such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness 
than this was, since the beginning of the world" (Every detail in this paragraph 
is taken from Josephus' B. J. V., 6 — VI., 10, passim.) — Life of Christ, Vol. II., 

JERUSALEM LAMENTED. 

Matt, xxiii: 37. — O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which 
are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The metaphor which our Lord uses here is a very beau- 
tiful one. "When the hen sees a bird of prey coming, she makes a noise to 
assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. 
The Roman Eagle is about to fall upon the Jewish state — nothing can prevent 
this but their conversion to God through Christ — Jesus cries throughout the 
land, publishing the Gospel of reconciliation — they would not assemble, and the 
Roman Eagle came and destroyed them. — Note, in loco. 

THE COMING DESOLATION. 

Matt, xxiii : 38. — Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 

Rev. Matthew Henry. — Both the City and the Temple, God's house and 
their own, shall be laid waste — shall be left desolate, left a wilderness. — Com., in 
loco. 

Josephus. — But as for that House, God had for certain long age doomed it to 
the fire : and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages ; 
it was the 10th day of the month Ab. At which time, one of the Roman 
soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon 
him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried only by a certain divine fury, 
snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by 
another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a 
passage to the rooms that were round about the Holy House, on the north side 
of it. As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamor, such as so 
mighty an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it : and now they 
spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered anything to restrain their force, 
since that Holy House was perishing, for whose sake it was that they kept such 
a guard about it.— Jewish Wars, VI., 4, § 5. 

Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. D.— No traveller thinks of leaving Jerusalem 
without paying a visit to the Wailing place of the Jews, in the Tyropean, at the 
base of the wall which supports the west side of the Temple area. Those stones, 
no doubt, formed part of the foundations of the Holy House. No sight meets 
the eye in Jerusalem more sadly suggestive than this wailing of the Jews over 
the ruins of their Temple. It is a very old custom, and in past ages they have 
paid immense sums to their oppressors for the miserable satisfaction of kissing 



710 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

the stones and pouring out lamentations at the foot of their ancient sanctuary. 
With trembling lips and tearful eyes, they sing, Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, 
neither remember iniquity for ever : behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy 
people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a deso- 
lation. Our holy and beautiful House, where our fathers praised Thee, is burneh 
up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste. — Land and Book 
II., 587. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, A. M.— It was on Friday I found myself in the 
"Jews' Place of Wailing." A crowd of miserable devotees had assembled— 
men and women of all ages, and from all countries, dressed in their quaint and 
various costumes. Old men were there,— pale, haggard, careworn men, tot- 
tering on pilgrim staves \ and little girls with white faces, and lustrous black 
eyes, gazing wistfully now at their parents, now at the old wall. Some were on 
their knees, chanting mournfully from a book of Hebrew prayers/swaying their 
bodies to and fro ; some were prostrate on the ground, pressing forehead and 
lips to the earth; some were close to the wall, burying their faces in the rents 
and crannies of the old stones; some were kissing them, some had their arms 
spread out as if they would clasp them to their bosoms, some were bathing them 
with tears, and all the while sobbing as if their hearts would burst. It was a 
sad and touching spectacle. Eighteen centuries of exile and woe have not 
dulled their hearts' affections, or deadened their feelings of national devotion. 
Here we see them assembled from the ends of the earth, poor, despised, down- 
trodden outcasts, — amid the desolations of their fatherland, beside the dishon- 
ored ruins of their ancient Sanctuary, — chanting, now in accents of deep pathos, 
and now of wild woe, the prophetic words of their own Scripture. — Giant Cities 
of Bashan, p. 128. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY AND TEMPLE FORETOLD. 

Matt, xxiv: 1. — And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to 
him for to show him the buildings of the temple. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — And now Jesus left the temple for the 
last time; but the feelings of the apostles still clung with the loving pride of 
their nationality to that sacred and memorable spot. They stopped to cast upon 
it one last lingering gaze, and one of them was eager to call his attention to its 
goodly stones and splendid offerings — those nine gates overlaid with gold and 
silver, and the one of solid Corinthian brass yet more precious ; those graceful 
and towering porches ; those bevelled blocks of marble forty cubits long and ten 
cubits high, testifying to the toil and munificence of so many generations ; those 
double cloisters and stately pillars ; that lavish adornment of sculpture and 
arabesque; those alternate blocks of red and white marble, recalling the crest 
and hollow of the sea- waves ; those vast clusters of golden grapes, each cluster 
as large as a man, which twined their splendid luxuriance over the golden doors. 
They would have him gaze with them on the rising terraces of courts — the 
Court of the Gentiles with its monolithic columns and rich mosaic ; above this 




(711,) 



MATTHEW XXIV. 713 

the flight of fourteen steps which led to the Court of the Women ; then the 
flight of fifteen steps which led up to the Court of the Priests ; then, once more, 
the twelve steps which led to the final platform crowned by the actual Holy, and 
Holy of Holies. — It is as though they thought that the loveliness and splendor 
of this scene would intercede with Him, touching his heart with mute appeal. 
But the heart of Jesus was sad. To Him the sole beauty of a Temple was the 
sincerity of its worshippers, and no gold or marble, no brilliant vermilion or 
curiously-carven cedar-wood, no delicate sculpturing or votive gems could 
change for Him a den of robbers into a House of Prayer. — Life of Christ, Vol. 
II., p. 254. 

Matt, xxiv : 2. — And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things ? Verily, I say unto you, 
There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. 
Tacitus. — The situation of Jerusalem was steep and high, and fortified besides 
with works and ramparts, such as would have proved a sufficient defence even to 
a place standing on a plain. There were two hills immensely high, and 
enclosed by a wall built purposely crooked with angles and windings. They 
had also great towers, some built upon the summit, and raised sixty feet high, 
others upon the sides of the hills mounting up to a hundred and twenty feet. 
The temple was raised like a great castle, and enclosed with fortifications of its 
own, in structure and strength super i6r to all the others. Even the portals and 
cloisters built round the Temple were a noble fortress. — Hist., lib. v., c. 11, 12. 
Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Thirty-five years afterwards (/. e., 
from Christ's prophetic utterance) that Temple sank into the ashes of its 
destruction ; neither Hadrian, nor Julian, nor any other, were able to build 
upon its site ; and now that very site is a matter of uncertainty. — Life of Christ, 
Vol. II., p. 256. 

Josephus. — The city taken — and no more people left to slay or plunder — 
Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, 
but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest 
eminency, and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. But 
for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by 
' those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those 
that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end to 
which Jerusalem came — a city of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among 
all mankind.— -Jewish Wars, VII., 1, § 1. 

Maimonides. — The very foundations of the Temple were digged up, according 
to the Roman custom. On that 9th day of the month Ab, fatal for vengeance, 
the wicked Terentius Rufus, of the children of Edom, ploughed up the Temple, 
and the places round about it, that the saying might be fulfilled, " Zion shall 
be ploughed as a field." — Taanith, c. 4. 

John Murray, F. S. A. — Jesus had already foretold that of the holy Temple 
"Not one stone should be left upon another that would not be thrown down." 
How literally that event was verified in the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus 
Vespasian, history proclaims, and existing monuments record. This terrible 



714 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



calamity, both Tacitus and Josephus have described ; and the Arch of Titus, 
at Rome, still affords, in its falling splendor, a memorial to the truth of this 
fact. This triumphal Arch of Titus, designed to commemorate the taking of 
Jerusalem, was erected on the via sacra, which commenced at the Circus 
Maximus, and extended to the Capitol. The sides of the arch-way are decorated 
by bas-reliefs : on the south side is seen the triumphant entry into Rome ; and 
on the opposite side is shown the procession of captive Jews, " with staves in 
their hands," bearing the spoils of the temple: the Golden Candlestick, with 
its seven branches ; the Golden Table, the Censer, the Silver Trumpets, etc. 




ARCH OF TITUS. 



There can be no doubt that these are exact representations of the sacred 
furniture of the Temple. — Truth of Rev. Dem., p. 368. 



FALSE CHRISTS. 

Matt, xxiv: 4, 5. — Take heed that no man deceive you : for many shall come in my name, 
saying, I am Christ ; and shall deceive many. 

Josephus. — There appeared about that time many men who deceived and 
deluded the people under pretence of Divine Inspiration; and these prevailed 
with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilder- 



MATTHEW XXIV. 715 

ness, as pretending that God would there show them the signals of liberty. — 
Jewish Wars, II., 13, § 4. 

Idem. — Now it came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a 
certain magician, whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people 
to take their effects with them, and follow him to the River Jordan, for he told 
them he was a prophet, and that he would at his own command, divide the 
River, and afford them an easy passage over it ; and many were deluded by his 
words. — Antq., XX, 5, § 1. 

Idem. — Now, as for the affairs of the Jews, they grew worse and worse 
continually, for the country was again filled with robberies, and impostors who 
deluded the people. Yet did Felix catch, and put to death, many of these 
impostors every day. . . . And now these impostors and deceivers persuaded 
the multitude to follow them into the wilderness, and pretended they would 
exhibit manifest wonders and signs, that should be performed by the providence 
of God. And many that were prevailed on by them suffered the punishments 
of their folly. Moreover there came out of Egypt about this time to Jerusalem, 
one that said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common 
people to go along with him to the Mount of Olives. He said farther, that he 
would show them from hence, how at his command, the walls of Jerusalem 
would fall down ; and he promised them, that he would procure them an 
entrance into the city through those walls, when they were fallen down. — 
Antq., XX., 8, § 5, 6. 

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS. 

Matt, xxiv : 6. — And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. 

Bishop Newton, D. D. — According to these words of Christ, there were " wars 
and rumors of wars," as appears in all the historians of those times, and above 
all in Josephus. To relate the particulars would indeed be to transcribe great 
part of his history of the Jewish wars. There were more especially ''rumors 
of wars," when Caligula, the Roman Emperor, ordered his statue to be set up in 
the temple of Jerusalem, which the Jews refused to suffer, and persisted in 
their refusal ; and having therefore reason to apprehend a war from the Romans, 
were in such a consternation that they omitted even the tilling of their lands : 
but this storm was soon blown over, and their fears were dissipated by the timely 
death of that emperor. — Dissertations, p. 333. 

See Josephus. — Antq., lib. 18, c. 9, and Bel. Jud., lib. 2, c. 10, and 
Tacitus, Hist., lib. 5, c. 9. 

Matt, xxiv : 7. — For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 

Bishop Newton, D. D. — Here, Christ declares that greater disturbances than 
those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of 
Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. That of "nation against nation" 
portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the Jews, and 
those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together : as particularly at 
Caesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, 



716 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

which contention at length proceeded so far, that above 20,000 Jews were slain, 
and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the whole 
nation of the Jews were exasperated ; and dividing themselves into parties, they 
burnt and plundered the neighboring cities and villages of the Syrians, and 
made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians in revenge destroyed 
not a less number of the Jews, and every city, as Josephus expresseth it, was 
divided into two armies. At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews 
who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and after the 
victory basely setting upon them by night, murdered above 13,000 of them, 
and spoiled their goods. At Ascalon they killed 2,500, at Ptolemais 2,000, and 
made not a few prisoners. The Syrians put many to death, and imprisoned 
more. The people of Gadara did likewise, and all the other cities of Syria, 
in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria the old enmity 
was revived between the Jews and heathens, and many fell on both sides, but of 
the Jews to the number of 50,000. The people of Damascus too conspired 
against the Jews of the same city, and assaulting them unarmed, killed 
10,000 of them. That of "kingdom against kingdom" portended the open 
wars of different Tetrarchies and Provinces against one another: as that of the 
Jews who dwelt in Perasa against the people of Philadelphia concerning their 
bounds, while Cuspus Fadus was procurator ; and that of the Jews and Galileans 
against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast 
of Jerusalem while Cumanus was procurator ; and that of the whole nation of 
the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman 
emperor, which began while Gessius Florus was procurator. But, as Josephus 
saith, there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judaea, but likewise 
in Italy, Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire. — Dissertations, p. 333. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — As a proof of the troublous and warlike character 
of this period, it may be stated that, within the brief space of two years (a. d. 
68 and 69) four emperors, Nero, Galba, Otho and Vitellius, suffered death. — 
Evid. from Proph. , p. 57. 

FAMINES, PESTILENCES, AND EARTHQUAKES. 

Matt, xxiv: 7. — And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. 

Luke. — And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the 
Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world ; which came 
to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar (a. d. 46, 47, 48). — Acts xi: 28. 

Suetonius. — During a scarcity of provisions, occasioned by bad crops for sev- 
eral successive years, Claudius was stopped in the middle of the Forum by the 
mob, who so abused him, at the same time pelting him with fragments of bread, 
that he had some difficulty in escaping into the palace by a back door. He 
therefore used all possible means to bring provisions into the city, even in win- 
ter. — Claud., c. 19. 

Josephus. — Queen Helena went down to the city Jerusalem, her son conducting 
her on her journey a great way. Now her coming was of very great advantage 



MATTHEW XXIV. 717 

to the people of Jerusalem; for whereas a famine did oppress them at that 
time, and many people died for want of what was necessary to procure food 
withal, queen Helena sent some of her servants to Alexandria with money 
to buy a great quantity of corn, and others of them to Cyprus, to bring a cargo 
of dried figs. And as soon as they were come back, and had brought those pro- 
visions, which was done very quickly, she distributed food to those that were in 
want of it ; and left a most excellent memorial behind her of this benefaction, 
which she bestowed on our whole nation. And when her son Izates was in- 
formed of this famine, he sent great sums of money to the principal men in Jeru- 
salem. — Antia., 20, 2, 5. 

Tacitus. — Many prodigies happened this year (a. d. 52). Among them was 
reckoned the barrenness of the season, and the effect of it, famine. Nor were 
the complaints of the people confined to houses and corners ; they even gathered 
in tumultuous crowds around the prince. It is certain that there was then in 
Rome but just provision for fifteen days. — Ann., lib. xii., c. 43. 
And earthquakes in divers places. 

Bishop Newton, D. D. — Earthquakes — as particularly that in Crete in the 
reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life of Apollonius, and 
those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, in all 
which places some Jews inhabited; and those at Rome mentioned by Tacitus; 
and that at Laodicea in the reign of Nero, mentioned by Tacitus, which city 
was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse; and that in Cam- 
pania, mentioned by Seneca ; and that at Rome in the reign of Galba mentioned 
by Suetonius; and that in Judea mentioned by Josephus. — Dissertations, p. 

335- 

Tacitus. — The city of Apamea, having been overturned by an earthquake, a 

remission of tribute was granted it for five years. — Ann., XII., 43. 

Idem. — In this year (a. d. 62) Laodicea, one of the capital cities of Asia, 
having been overthrown by an earthquake, rose again by her own ability and 
means into her former lustre. — Ann., lib. xiv., c. 27. 

Seneca. — During the consulship of Regulus and Virginius, an earthquake 
devastated Campania ; and that too in the month of February, although our an- 
cestors were in the habit of assuring themselves that no such calamity would 
ever happen during the winter. Pompeii was destroyed, and much of the sur- 
rounding country. — Qucest. Nat., lib. vi., c. 1. 

Suetonius. — As Galba was entering Rome (a. d. 68) he was welcomed by 
an earthquake. — Galb., c. 18. 

Josephus. — In the night there broke out a most terrible tempest, and violent 
strong winds with the most vehement showers, and continual lightnings, and 
horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth : and it was 
manifest, that the constitution of the universe, was confounded for the destruc- 
tion of men ; and any one might easily conjecture, that these things portended 
no common calamity.— -Jewish Wars, IV., 4, § 5. 



718 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

HATRED AND VIOLENCE TOWARDS CHRISTIANS. 

Matt, xxiv : 9. — Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you : and ye shall 
be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 

Bishop Newton, D. D. — We need look no further than the Acts of the Apos- 
tles for the completion of these particulars. — Disserts., p. 338. 

Cave. — Peter, Simeon, and Jude were crucified. Paul was beheaded. James 
was killed with a sword. Matthew, Thomas, Matthias, Mark and Luke were 
put to death in different countries, and in various manners. — Lives of the Apos- 
tles. 

Mosheim. — The Jewish priests and rulers, zealous for the laws of Moses, and 
plainly perceiving that if Christianity should prevail there would be an end of 
their authority and emoluments, opposed the doctrine of Christ with all imagin- 
able violence and rancor ; and availing themselves of every favorable opportu- 
nity to lay hold on his apostles and their disciples, they threw them into 
prison, where they were threatened and scourged, and had every other species 
of evil heaped on them without reserve : some of them being even made to 
undergo capital punishment. Of the malevolence and injustice which the first 
teachers of Christianity thus experienced at the hands of the Jews, abundant 
testimony is left on record. ... Not content with doing this in their own 
country, they dispatched legates or missionaries into all the different provinces, 
for the purpose of animating their distant brethren with similar sentiments of 
jealousy and hatred towards the Christians, and stirring them up to seek for 
every occasion of annoying and persecuting this inoffensive flock. And, as 
with one consent, the Jews everywhere made it their endeavor, by various cal- 
umnies and infamous machinations, to draw on the Christians the indignation 
and ill-will of the presidents, the magistrates, and the people at large. 

The Romans, it is true, extended their toleration to every kind of religion, 
from whence no danger to the public safety was to be apprehended ; but, at the 
same time, they would not endure that any one should deride or attempt to 
explode the religion of the state, or that which had the support of the laws : 
for there existed between the government and religion of the Romans such an 
intimate connection and dependence on each other, that whoever attacked or 
endeavored to undermine the latter, could not of necessity appear to them 
otherwise than as hostile to the former, and inimical to the dignity of the state. 
But the Christians, from their very principles, strenuously endeavored to make 
the Romans renounce their vain and idolatrous superstitions, and were contin- 
ually urging the citizens to give up and abolish those sacred rites, on the observ- 
ance of which, as they thought, the welfare and dignity of the commonwealth 
so much depended. For this reason, the Christians, though they intended no 
ill whatever to the state, came to be looked upon and treated as enemies of the 
Roman government. 

The fact that the Christians boldly asserted the falsehood and insufficiency of 
every other religious system in the world, was an additional cause of offence. 
For the inference which the Romans drew from this was, that the members of 



MATTHEW XXIV. 719 

this sect were not only immeasurably arrogant and supercilious in their preten- 
sions, but were also filled with hatred toward all those who differed from them 
in opinion, and were consequently to be regarded as persons likely to sow 
amongst the people the most inveterate discord, and to occasion disturbances of 
a very serious nature to the state. . . . These considerations had the effect of 
stirring up the emperors, the senate, the presidents, and the magistrates, to 
endeavor, as far as in them lay, to arrest the progress of Christianity by means 
of most rigorous laws and punishments. 

But this was not all. Attached to the service of that host of deities which 
the Romans worshipped, both in public and private, there was an immense 
number of priests, augurs, soothsayers, a?id ministers of inferior order, who not 
only derived from it the means of living at their ease, with every luxury at com- 
mand, but were also, from the sacred nature of the functions with which they 
were invested, sure to stand high in the estimation of the people, and to possess 
no inconsiderable degree of influence over them. When all these perceived 
that it was highly probable, or rather felt it to be morally certain, that if once 
the Christian religion should become predominant with the public, there would 
immediately be an end to all the emoluments, honors, and advantages, which 
they then enjoyed ; a regard for their own interests naturally prompted them to 
endeavor, by every means in their power, to lessen the credit of the Christians, 
and to render them obnoxious to the people and to the magistrates. Asso- 
ciated with these in their efforts to put down Christianity, there was an innum- 
erable multitude of persons of various other descriptions, to whom the public 
superstitions were a source of no small profit ; such as merchants who supplied 
the worshippers with frankincense and victims, and other requisites for sacrifice, 
architects who planned the temples and the altars, vintners, gold and silver 
smiths, carpenters, statuaries, sculptors, players on the flute, harpers and others ; 
to all of whom the heathen polytheism, with its numerous temples, and long 
train of priests, and ministers, and ceremonies, and festivals, was a principal 
source of affluence and prosperity. 

The results of all these things were frequent and most violent persecutions, 
during which great numbers suffered death in the cause of Christ. These are 
facts that stand supported by the weightiest and most positive evidence. — His- 
torical Commefitaries, Vol. I., p. 120-136. 

Tacitus. — At that period, these people were commonly known by the name 
of Christians. The author of that name was Christ, who, in the reign of 
Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal, under the procurator Pontius Pilate. 
But this pestilent superstition, checked for a while, broke out afresh, and 
spread not only over Judea, where the evil originated, but also in Rome, where 
all that is evil on the earth finds its way and is practised. At first those only 
were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect ; afterward a vast mul- 
titude discovered by them ; all of whom were condemned, not so much for the 
crime of burning the city (of which they were innocent), as for their enmity to 
mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them to derision and 



720 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

contempt. Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, that they 
might be torn to pieces by dogs ; some were crucified ; while others, having 
been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up for lights in the night- 
time, and thus burned to death. For these spectacles Nero gave his own 
gardens, and, at the same time, exhibited there the diversions of the circus ; 
sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer, 
and at other times driving a chariot himself: until at length these men, though 
really criminal and deserving exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated, 
as people who were destroyed, not out of regard to the public welfare, but only 
to gratify the cruelty of one man. — Tacit. , lib. xv., c. 44. 

Suetonius. — Nero inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people 
who held a new and impious superstition. — Nero, c. 16. 

Mosheim. — The example of Nero was, in this respect, pretty uniformly copied 
after by his successors during three centuries ; although their severity was not 
always carried to the same extent : and hence the professors of Christianity had 
to endure a long series of dire afflictions, or to use a more familiar term, perse- 
cutions, to which an end was not put until the time of Constantine the Great. — 
Hist. Comments., I., 125. 

DEFECTIONS. 

Matt, xxiv : 10. — And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate 

one another. 

Dr. Alexander Keith. — The Apostle of the Gentiles often complained of 
"false brethren," that many turned away from him, and that he stood alone, 
forsaken by all, when he first appeared before Nero. — Evid. from Proph., p. 58. 

Tacitus. — At first, those only were apprehended who confessed themselves of 
that sect ; afterward a vast multitude discovered by them ; all of whom were 
condemned. — A?in., lib. xv., c. 44. 

FALSE PROPHETS. 

Matt, xxiv : 11. — And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 
Bishop Newton. — Such particularly was Simon Magus, and his followers, the 
Gnostics, were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, "false 
prophets," as they are called by St. Paul, "deceitful workers, transforming 
themselves into the apostles of Christ." Such also were Hymeneus and 
Philetus, of whom the apostle complains, that they affirmed " the resurrection to 
be past already, and overthrew the faith of some." — Disserts., p. 339. 

THE GOSPEL PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD. 

Matt, xxiv : 14. — And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a wit- 
ness unto all nations; and then shall the end "come. 

Paul. — The gospel, which is come unto you, as it is in all the world. . . The 
hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every 
creature which is under heaven. — Col. i: 6, 23. 

Idem. — I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is 
spoken of throughout the whole world. — Rom. i: 8. 



MATTHEW XXIV. 721 

Idem. — So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 
But I say, Have they not heard ? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the 
earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. — Rom. x: 17, 18. 

Clement. — Paul was a preacher both in the East and in the West: he taught 
the whole world righteousness, and travelled as far as to the utmost borders of 
the West. — Ep. ad Cor. I., c. 5. 

Eusebius. — The apostles preached the gospel in all the world, and some of 
them passed beyond the ocean to the Britannic Isles. — Dem. Evang., III., 5. 

Theodoret. — The apostles had induced, not the Romans only, but every 
nation and kind of men to embrace the gospel. — Serm. IX. 

Bishop Newton. — It appears from the writers of the history of the church, 
that before the destruction of Jerusalem (a. d. 70) the gospel was not only 
preached in Lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy, the great theatres of action then 
in the world ; but was likewise propagated as far northward as Scythia, as far 
southward as Ethiopia, as far eastward as Parthia and India, as far westward as 
Spain and Britain. — Disserts., p. 341. 

Gibbon. — While the great Roman Empire was invaded by open violence, or 
undermined by slow decay, a pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself 
into the minds of men, grew up in silence and obscurity, derived new vigDr 
from opposition, and finally erected the triumphant banner of the cross on the 
ruins of the Capitol. Nor was the influence of Christianity confined to the 
period or to the limits of the Roman Empire. After a revolution of thirteen or 
fourteen centuries, that religion is still professed by the nations of Europe, the 
most distinguished portion of human kind in arts and learning as well as in 
arms. By the industry and zeal of the Europeans, it has been widely diffused 
to the most distant shores of Asia and Africa; and by means of their colonies 
has been firmly established from Canada to Chili, in a world unknown to the 
ancients. — Decline and Fall of R. E., Chap. XV. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — What but the wisdom of God could foretell this? and 
what but the power of God could accomplish it? — Note, in loco. 

THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION. 

Matt, xxiv : 15, 16. — When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by 
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place — then let them which be in Judsa flee into the 
mountains. 

Bishop Newton. — "The abomination of desolation," according to Luke, is 
the Roman army, which was thus designated, for its ensigns and images, which 
were an "abomination" to the Jews. As Chrysostom affirms, every idol and 
every image of a man was called an abomination among the Jews. The object 
of that army would be to "desolate" Jerusalem. When therefore the Roman 
army shall advance to besiege Jerusalem, then let them who are in Judea consult 
their own safety, and fly into the mountains. This counsel was wisely remem- 
bered, and put in practice by Christians afterwards. -^-Disserts., p. 344. 

Eusebius. — The Christians were commanded by an oracle revealed to the 



722 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

best approved among them, that before the wars began, they should depart from 
the city, and inhabit a village beyond Jordan, called Pella. And this they did, 
and so escaped the general ruin which befell the city. — Euseb., lib. iii., c. 5. 

THE WARNING. 

Matt, xxiv: 17, 18. — Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out 
of his house : neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 

Bishop Newton. — Our Saviour maketh use of these expressions to intimate 
that their flight must be as sudden and hasty as Lot's was out of Sodom. And 
the Christians escaping just as they did was the more providential, because 
afterwards all egress out of the city was prevented (Jos. J. B. 4, 9, 1). — 
Disserts., p. 345. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — By such warnings the Christians were 
preserved. Before John of Giscala had shut the gates of Jerusalem, and Simon 
of Gerasa had begun to murder the fugitives — before the Roman eagle waved 
her wing over the doomed city, or the infamies of lust and murder had driven 
every worshipper in horror from the Temple Courts — the Christians had taken 
timely warning, and in the little Peraean town of Pella were beyond the reach of 
all the robbery, and murder, and famine, and cannibalism, and extermination 
which made the siege of Jerusalem a scene of greater tribulation than any that 
has been since the beginning of the world. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 262. 

EXTREME SUFFERINGS. 

Matt, xxiv: 19. — And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in 

those days! 

Bishop Newton. — For neither will such persons be in a condition to fly, 
neither will they be able to endure the distress and hardships of a siege. This 
woe was sufficiently fulfilled in the cruel slaughters which were made both of the 
women and children, and particularly in that grievous famine, which so miser- 
ably afflicted Jerusalem during the siege. — Disserts., p. 345. 

Josephus. — The famine was too hard for all other passions or affections; 
insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating 
out of their very mouths; and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers 
do as to their infants ; and when those that were most dear were perishing under 
their hands, they refrained not from taking from them the very last drops that 
might preserve their lives. — -Jewish Wars, V., 10, 3. 

Idem. — All hope of escaping out of the city was now cut off. The famine 
widened its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families ; 
the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine. — 
Jewish Wars, V., 12, 3. 

Idem. — A certain woman, Mary of Bethezub, eminent for her family and he-j 
wealth, had fled to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them 
besieged therein at this time. Having been stripped and plundered of all her 
substance and provisions by the soldiers, out of necessity and fury, she attempted 



MATTHEW XXIV. 723 

a most unnatural thing: snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her 
breast, she said : " O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in 
this war, this famine, and this sedition ? Should the Romans spare our lives, 
we must be slaves. But this famine will destroy us before that slavery comes. 
And these seditious murderers more terrible than both. Come on • be thou my 
food, and be thou a fury to these wicked wretches, and a byword to the world, 
which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews." As 
soon as she had said this, she slew her son, and then roasted him, and ate the 
one-half of him, and kept the other half by her, concealed. . . . When this 
shocking deed became known, the whole city was filled with horror. . . . 
Those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die, and 
those already dead were esteemed happy. — Jewish Wars, VI., 3, 4. 

Matt, xxiv : 21. — For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the 
world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Never was a narrative more full of 
horrors, frenzies, unspeakable degradations, and overwhelming miseries, than is 
the history of the siege of Jerusalem. Never was any prophecy more closely, 
more terribly, more overwhelmingly fulfilled than this of Christ. — Life of 
Christ, Vol. II. , p. 249. 

Josephus. — Jerusalem had arrived at a higher degree of felicity than any other 
city under the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the sorest of calami- 
ties again. ' Accordingly, it appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from 
the beginning of the world, if they be compared to these of the Jews, are not so 
considerable as they were. This makes it impossible for me to contain my 
lamentations. — Preface to Jewish Wars, § 4. 

Idem. — To speak briefly, no other city ever suffered such miseries, nor did any 
age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was from the 
beginning of the world. — J. B., v. 10, § 5. 

Bishop Porteus. — Is not this precisely what our Saviour says, "There shall 
be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world, no, nor 
ever shall be?" It is impossible, one would think, even for the most stubborn 
infidel not to be struck with the great similarity of the two passages ; and 
not to see that the prediction of our Lord, and the accomplishment of it as 
described by the historian, are exact counterparts of each other, and seem almost 
as if they had been written by the same person. Yet Josephus was not born 
till after our Saviour was crucified, and he was not a Christian, but a Jew, and 
certainly never meant to give any testimony to the truth of our religion. — 
Lectures on Matthew, in loc. 

Matt, xxiv : 22. — And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved : 
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 

Bishop Newton. — If these wars and desolations were to continue, none of the 
Jews would escape destruction, they would all be cut off root and branch. 
Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at 1,100,000, 



724 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

besides those who were slain in other places: and if the Romans had gone on 
destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would certainly in a 
little time have been extirpated. But for the elect's sake (i. e., the Christians') 
those days shall be shortened. Titus himself was desirous of putting a speedy end 
to the siege, having Rome and the riches and the pleasures there before his 
eyes (Tacit. Hist., 5, 11). The besieged, too, helped to shorten the days by 
their divisions and mutual slaughter: by burning their provisions, which would 
have sufficed for many years, and by fatally deserting their strongest holds, 
where they could never have been taken by force, but by famine alone. By these 
means the days were shortened. Titus himself could not but ascribe his success 
to God, as he was viewing the fortifications, after the city was taken. His 
words to his friends were very remarkable: " We have fought," said he, "with 
God on our side ; and it is God who hath pulled the Jews out of these strong- 
holds; for what could the hands of men or machines do against these towers?" 
(B. J., vi., 9, 1.) God, therefore, in the opinion of Titus, as well as of the 
Evangelist, shortened the days. — Disserts., p. 350. 

CAUTION AGAINST DECEIVERS. 

Matt, xxiv : 23-26. — Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there ; believe it 
not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, etc. 

See the testimonies under verses 4 and 5 of this chapter. 

Bishop Newton. — It is surprising that our Saviour should not only foretell 
the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of 
their conduct. For some he mentions as appearing in the desert, and some in 
the secret chambers ; and the event hath in all points answered the prediction 
(see Josephus, Ant., 20, 7, 6; and B. J., 2, 13, 4; and 6, 5, 2). — Disserts., 

THE ENEMY'S COURSE. 

Matt, xxiv : 27. — For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west ; so 
shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 

Bishop Pearce. — The Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, 
and carried on their conquests westward, as if not only the extensiveness of the 
ruin, but the very route which the army would take, was intended in the com- 
parison of the lightning coming out of the east, and shining even unto the west. 
— Dissert, on the Destruct. of Jerusalem. 

THE CARCASS AND THE EAGLES. 

Matt, xxiv : 28. — For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 

Bishop Newton. — By the word carcass is meant the Jewish nation, which 
was morally and judicially dead ; and by the eagles the Romans, who are prop- 
erly compared to these fiercest birds of prey, and whose ensign was an eagle. — 
Disserts., p. 354. 

Pliny. — Caius Marius, in his second consulship, abdicating the old standards, 
appointed the eagles for the Roman legions. Since then it has been remarked 



MATTHEW XXIV. 725 

that hardly ever has a Roman legion encamped for the winter without a. pair of 
eagles making their appearance at the spot. — Hist. Nat., lib. x., c. 5. 

Wheresoever the carcass is. 

Josephus. — While Jerusalem had to struggle with three of the greatest mis- 
fortunes, war and tyranny and sedition, there was no part of Judea but was in a 
like miserable condition. . . . The Romans pursued the Jews, and took and 
slew them everywhere. — B. J., 4, 7, 2 ; etc., etc. 

THE CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL ISSUES. 

Matt, xxiv : 29. — Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the 
heavens shall be shaken. 

Bishop Newton. — Some have understood this verse to refer to the end of the 
world, but the words "immediately after the tribulation of those days," show 
evidently that he is not speaking of any distant event, but of something imme- 
diately consequent upon the tribulation before mentioned, and that must be the 
destruction of Jerusalem. It is true, his figures^ are very strong, but not 
stronger than are used by the ancient prophets upon similar occasions. The 
prophet Isaiah speaks in the same manner of Babylon, Ezekiel of Egypt, Daniel 
of the Jews, and Joel of this very destruction of Jerusalem. Thus, in the usual 
prophetic language, Christ declares the final dissolution of the Jewish polity in 
church and state. — Disserts., p. 361. 

Dr. Warburton. — These prophetic figures were borrowed from ancient 
hieroglyphics. For in the hieroglyphic writing, the sun, moon, and stars, were 
used to represent states and empires, kings, queens and nobility ; their eclipse 
and extinction, to represent temporary disasters, or entire overthrow : in like 
manner the prophets call kings and empires by the names of the heavenly lumi- 
naries, and represent their misfortunes and overthrow by the eclipse, extinction 
or fall of those lumi'^nes. So the Saviour foretells, under the figures of " the 
sun and moon being darkened and of the stars falling," the abolition of the Jewish 
policy, and the establishment of the Christian. — Divine Legation, II., b. 4, § 4. 

Lightfoot. — The Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of its 
glory and happiness shall be darkened — brought to nothing. The " sun " is the 
religion of the church; the "moon" is the governme?it of the state; and the 
"stars" are the judges and doctors of both. ... All this received its literal 
fulfilment. — In loco. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — The darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the 
stars, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens, denote the utter extinction 
of the light of prosperity and privilege to the Jewish nation ; the unhinging of 
their whole constitution in church and state; the violent subversion of the 
authority of their princes and priests ; the abject miseries to which the people 
in general, especially their chief persons, would be reduced ; and the moral or 
religious darkness to which they would be consigned. — Note, in loco. 
45 



726 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Matt, xxiv : 30. — And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall 
all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — This destruction and overthrow would be an evident 
"sign" and demonstration of the Son of man's exaltation to his throne in 
heaven; whence he would come in his divine providence, as riding on "the 
clouds of heaven, with power and great glory" to destroy "his enemies, who 
would not have him to reign over them j"at which events, "all the tribes of the 
land" would mourn and lament, whilst they saw the tokens, and felt the weight, 
of his terrible indignation. — Note, in loco. 

Matt, xxiv: 31. — And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall 
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

Bishop Newton. — After the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ by his " angels," 
or ministers will gather to himself a glorious church out of all the nations under 
heaven. No one ever so little versed in history needs to be told, that the 
Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this period ; and hardly 
any one thing contributed more to this success of the Gospel than the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, falling out in the very manner, and with the very circum- 
stances, so particularly foretold by our blessed Saviour. — Disserts., p. 363. 

Dr. T. Scott. — He would send forth his "angels," or messengers, the 
preachers of the Gospel, as with a great sound of a trumpet, proclaiming the 
year of jubilee, " the acceptable year of the Lord." Thus he would "gather 
his elect" into his church, from every quarter, all over the world. — Note, in 
loco. 

THE TIME NEAR AND THE EVENTS CERTAIN. 

Matt, xxiv : 34. — Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these thmgs be 

fulfilled. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — The predictions of this chapter were 
delivered by our Saviour on Tuesday of Passion Week, April the 4th, a. d. 30, 
(or, a. u. c. 780). — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 188, and 265. 

Josephus. — The war with the Romans commenced in the 12th year of the 
reign of Nero, or a. d. 66. — Antq., 20, 11, 1. 

Idem. — The siege of Jerusalem began early in the spring of a. d. 70.- -Jewish 
Wars, 5, 3, 1, and 6, 9, 3. 

Idem. — The Temple was burned, July 15th, a. d. 70, the same day and 
month on which it -had been burned by the king of Babylon. — Antq., 20, 11, 8. 

Idem. — The City was taken, September 12th, a. d. 70, or in the 2d year of 
the reign of Vespasian. — Antq., b. vi., c. 10. 

Matt, xxiv : 35. — Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 

Bishop Newton. — It appears next to impossible, that any man should duly 
consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them ; rrd if he is a 
believer, not to be confirmed in the faith : or if he is an infidel, not be converted. 
Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of 
prophecy, and can any stronger proof be given of the spirit of prophecy, 



MATTHEW XXIV. 727 

than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and I 
may say improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never fore- 
see, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished ! At the time 
when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at 
Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience : and could 
human prudence foresee that the city as well as the country would revolt and 
rebel against the Romans ? Could human prudence foresee famines, and pes- 
tilence, and earthquakes, in divers places ? Could human prudence foresee the 
speedy propagation of the Gospel so contrary to all human probability ? Could 
human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the 
circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the 
Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable therefore 
that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should 
happen under the humane and generous Titus, who was indeed, as he was called, 
"The Love and Delight of Mankind." — Disserts., p. 381. 

THE WARNING REPEATED. 

Matt, xxiv: 41. — Two women shall be grinding at the mill: the one shall be taken, and the 

other left. 

Dr. Clarke. — Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception 
(at Nazareth), when, looking into the court-yard belonging to the house, we 
beheld two women grinding at the mill, in a manner most forcibly illustrating the 
saying of our Saviour. They were preparing flour to make our bread, as is 
always customary in the country when strangers arrive. The two woftien, 
seated upon the ground, opposite to each other, held between them two round 
flat stones, such as are seen in Lapland, and such as in Scotland are called 
querns. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn ; 
and by the side of this, an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As 
the operation began, one of the women with her right hand pushed this handle 
to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion, — thus communi- 
cating a rotary and very rapid motion to the upper stone ; their left hands being 
all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour 
escape from the sides of the machine. — Travels, IV., 167, 168. 

Matt, xxiv : 50, 51. — The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, 
and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder; and appoint him his 
portion, etc. 

Jahn. — Dichotomy, or "cutting asunder," was amethod of putting criminals 
to death that prevailed among several ancient nations. — Archceology, 260, 265. 

Herodotus. — Sabacos saw in his sleep a vision : — a man stood by his side, 
and counselled him to gather together all the priests of Egypt and cut every 
one of them asunder. — Euterpe, c. 139. 

Idem. — Having thus spoken, forthwith Xerxes commanded those to whom 
such tasks were assigned, to seek out the eldest of the sons of Pythius, and 



728 - TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

having cut his body asunder, to place the two halves, one on the right, the other 
on the left of the great road, so that the army might march out between them. 
— Polymnia, c. 39. 

Aulus Gellius. — Of the inhuman custom of cutting and dividing up the 
human body on account of debts due, it is painful even to speak. — Aul. GelL, 
lib. xx., c. 1. 

PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS. 

Matt, xxv : I— 13. — Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, -which took 
their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, etc. 

Prof. R. C. Trench, M. A. — The circumstances of a marriage among the 
Jews, so far at least as they supply the groundwork of the present parable, are 
sufficiently well known, and have been abundantly illustrated by writers on Jewish 
antiquities ; and indeed no less through the accounts given by modern travellers 
in the East, — for the customs alluded to hold in full force to the present day, 
and form as important a part of the nuptial ceremony as they did in ancient 
times. — On Parabs., p. 192. 

Rev. William Ward. — At a marriage, the procession of which I saw some 
years ago, the bridegroom came from a distance ; and the bride lived at Se- 
rampore, to which place the bridegroom was to come by water. After waiting 
for two or three hours, at length, near midnight, it was announced, as if in the 
very words of Scripture, " Behold the bridegroom cometh ! go ye out to meet 
him." All the persons employed now lighted their lamps, and ran with them 
in their hands to fill up their stations in the procession. Some of them had 
lost their lights, and were unprepared ; but it was then too late to seek them : 
and the cavalcade moved on to the house of the bride, at which place the 
company entered a large and splendidly-illuminated area before the house, 
covered with an awning, where a great multitude of friends, dressed in their 
bsst apparel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was carried in the arms 
of a friend, and placed in a superb seat in the midst of the company, where he 
sat a short time, and then went into the house, the door of which was 
immediately closed, and guarded by Sepoys. I and others expostulated with 
the door-keepers, but in vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful 
parable, as at that moment. "And the door was shut." — View of the Hindoos, 
Vol. II., p. 29. 

PARABLE OF THE TALENTS. 

Matt, xxv : 14-30. — For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who 
called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five 
talents, etc. 

Prof. R. C. Trench, M. A. — Slaves in antiquity were often artisans, or were 
allowed otherwise to engage freely in business, paying, as it was frequently ar- 
ranged, a fixed yearly sum to their master; or, they had money given them 
wherewith to trade on his account, or with which to enlarge their business, and 
to bring him a share of the profits. — On Parabs., p. 213. 



MATTHEW XXVI. 729 

THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 

Matt, xxv : 32. — And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one 
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — When sheep and goats are fed together in the 
same pasture, the shepherd often has occasion to separate them, especially as 
the goats are apt to be troublesome to the sheep when folded in the same en- 
closure, on account of their butting propensities and general restlessness ; hence 
it is a very common sight to see a shepherd "dividing his sheep from the 
goats." It is done with the crook, by striking the goats either on their bodies 
or their horns, and thus driving them off by themselves, while the quiet sheep 
remain in their places. The comparison of the righteous and the wicked to 
these two classes of animals has a foundation in their respective tempers and 
characteristic traits, and to an Oriental mind is extremely graphic and appropri- 
ate. The goat is constantly compared, by the inhabitants of Eastern lands, to 
the Evil One. — Bible La?ids, p. 207. 

Matt, xxv: 34 and 41. — Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . . 
Then shall he also say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

Plato. — When the judges gave judgment, they commanded the just to go on 
the right hand, and upwards through the heaven, having placed marks on the 
front of those that had been judged ; but the unjust they commanded to the 
left, and downwards, and these likewise had behind them marks of all that they 
had done. — De Rep., lib. x., c. 13. 

Virgil. — Here in two ample roads the way divides, 

The right direct, our destin'd journey guides 

By Pluto's palace, to the Elysian plains ; 

The left to Tartarus, where bound in chains 

Loud howl the damn'd in everlasting pains. — ^En. VI., 540. 

CAIAPHAS. 

Matt, xxvi : 3. — Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the 
people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas. 

Josephus. — Caiaphas was appointed High Priest by the Procurator Valerius 
Gratus, Pilate's predecessor in the government of Judea, towards the end of his 
administration, or about a. d. 24; and his removal was one of the first acts of 
Vitellius, Pilate's successor, a. d. 36. Caiaphas, therefore, was High Priest 
during the whole of Pilate's administration. — Antiq., 18, 2, 2, and 18, 4, 3. 

THE ALABASTER BOX. 

Matt, xxvi : 7. — There came unto him a woman, having an alabaster box of very precious oint- 
ment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. 

Pliny. — The stone called alabaster is hollowed out into vessels for ointments, 



730 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

which is said to be preserved with greatest purity in these receptacles. — Hist. 
Nat., lib. 36, c. 8. 

Idem. — Unguents exceed in price so large a sum as 400 denarii per pound. — 
Hist. Nat., lib. 13, c. 4. 

Martial. — The perfumes I own were good, which you gave your guests yes- 
terday; but you carved nothing. It is a curious entertainment to be anointed 
and starved at the same time. — Mart., lib. iii., epig. 12. 

Plato. — The man whom we esteem as a pious, wonderful, and pleasant per- 
son we should send away, pouring oil upon his head, and crowning him with a 
woollen chaplet. — De Rep., lib. iii., c. 9. 

Matt, xxvi: 12. — For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my 

burial. 

Pliny. — The use of unguents has begun to be adopted by our own country 
among the honors paid to the dead. — Nat. Hist., lib. xiii., c. 1. 

Juvenal. — Crispuss, reeking with unguents more than enough to furnish two 
funerals. — Sat. IV., v. 108. 

Matt, xxvi: 13. — Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole 
world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Another remarkable proof of the prescience of Christ. 
Such a matter as this, humanly speaking, depended on mere fortuitous circum- 
stances, yet so has God disposed matters that the thing has continued, hitherto, 
as firm and regular as the ordinances of heaven. — In loco. 

TEE LAST SUPPER. 

Matt, xxvi : 26-28. — And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, 
and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and 
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the new 
testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

Rev. F. W.- Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Never since that memorable evening 
has the church ceased to observe the commandment of her Lord ; ever since 
that day, from age to age, has this blessed and holy Sacrament been a memorial 
of the death of Christ, and a strengthening and refreshing of the soul by the 
body and blood, as the body is refreshed and strengthened by the bread and 
wine. — Life of Christ, II., 292. 

GETHSEMANE. 

Matt, xxvi : 36. — Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto 
the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Their way led them through one of the 
city gates — probably that which then corresponded to the present gate of St. 
Stephen — down the steep sides of the ravine, across the wady of the Kidron, which 
lay a hundred feet below, and up the green and quiet slope beyond it. To one 
who has visited the scene at the very season of the year and at that very hour 
of the night — who has felt the solemn hush of the silence even at this short dis 



MATTHEW XXVII. 731 

tance from the city wall— who has seen the deep shadows flung by the great 
boles of the ancient olive-trees, and the chequering of light that falls on the 
sward through their moonlight-silvered leaves, it is more easy to realize the 
awe which crept over those few Galileans, as in almost unbroken silence, with 
something perhaps of secresy, and with a weight of mysterious dread brooding 
over their spirits, they followed Him, who with bowed head and sorrowing 
heart walked before them to His willing doom ! . . . I had the deep and memo- 
rable happiness of being able to see Gethsemane with two friends, unaccom- 
panied by any guide, late at night and under the full glow of the Paschal moon, 
on the night of April 14th, 1870. It is usually argued that the eight old time- 
hallowed olive-trees cannot reach back to the time of Christ, because Titus cut 
down the trees all round the city. This argument is not decisive ; but still it 
is more probable that these trees are only the successors and descendants of 
those which have always given its name to the sacred hill. It is quite certain 
that Gethsemane must have been near this spot, and the tradition which fixes 
the site is very old. — Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 305, 308. 

Tischendorf. — I found the traditionary locality in perfect harmony with all 
that we learn from the Evangelists. — Reise in den Orient, L, 312. 

PILATE. 

Matt, xxvii : 2. — And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pon- 
tius Pilate the governor. 

Bishop Cotton, D. D. — Pontius Pilate was the sixth Roman procurator of 
Judea, and under him our Lord labored, and suffered, and died, as we learn, 
not only from the obvious Scriptural authorities, but also from Tacitus. He was 
appointed A. d. 26. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2527. 

Josephus. — Gratus went back to Rome, after he had tarried in Judea eleven 
years, when Pontius Pilate came as his successor. — Antiq., lib. xviii., c. 2, § 2. 

Tacitus. — In the reign of Tiberius, Christ suffered capital punishment by 
order of the procurator Pontius Pilate. — A?in., 15, 44. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — Of Pilate's origin, and of his antece- 
dents before a. d. 26, when he became the 6th procurator of Judea, but little is 
known. In rank he belonged to the ordo equester, and he owed his appointment 
to the influence of Sejanus. — Life of Christ, II., 360. 

REMORSE OF JUDAS. 

Matt, xxvii : 3, 4. — Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, 
repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 
saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. 

Tacitus. — The crime committed, at once its enormity becomes apparent. — 
Ann., XIV., 10. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — There is in a great crime an awfully 
illuminating power. It lights up the theatre of the conscience with an unnatural 
glare, and, expelling the twilight glamour of self-interest, shows the actions and 



732 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

motives in their full and true aspect. In Judas, as in so many thousands before 
and since, this opening of the eyes which follows the consummation of an awful 
sin to which many other sins have led, drove him from remorse to despair, from 
despair to madness, from madness to suicide. — Life of Christ, II., 357. 

I have betrayed the innocent blood. 

Bishop Porteus. — Judas was the constant companion of our Saviour's min- 
istry, and witness to everything he did or said. If there had been any plar* 
concerted to impose a false religion on the world, Judas must have been in 
the secret. His testimony is invaluable, because it is the testimony of an un- 
willing witness ; the testimony, not of a friend, but of an enemy. — Lectures on 
Matthew. 

Robert Haldane. — The greatest enemy, with a choice of means for detection 
of fraud and collusion, could not have pointed out anything better calculated to 
suit his purpose, than the placing of Judas among the apostles. It was a 
remarkable provision made by the Lord, for increasing, to the highest point, 
the Value of the testimony of the twelve apostles. He, like them, although in 
a different way, sealed his testimony with his blood. — Evidence of Divine Rev- 
elation. 

And they said, What is that to us ? see thou to that. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — Did he expect them to console his remorseful agony, to 
share the blame of his guilt, to excuse and console him with their lofty dignity ? 
In guilt there is no possibility for mutual respect, no basis for any feeling but 
mutual abhorrence. — Life of Christ, II., 358. 

PILATE'S WIFE'S DREAM. 

Matt, xxvii: 19. — When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, 
Have thou nothing to do with that just man ; for I have suffered many things this day in a 
dream because of him. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Dreams were occasionally considered as indications 
of the Divine will, and among the Romans and Greeks as well as the Jews, great 
reliance was placed on them. — Note, in loco. 

Horace. — After midnight, when dreams are true. — Sat. I:, 10, 31. 

Ovid. — Just before sun-rise — the time in which they were wont to have 
dreams that proved true. — Her., XIX., 195. 

PILATE WASHING HIS HANDS. 

Matt, xxvii ; 24. — When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was 

made. 
Josephus. — (Jewish mobs, as we may learn from Josephus, often proved both 
dangerous and abusive.) "They came about Pilate's tribunal, and made a 
clamor at it." — " Many myriads of the people got together, and made a clamor 
against him, and insisted that he should leave off that design. Some of them 
also used reproaches, and abused the man (Pilate), as crowds of such people 



MATTHEW XXVII. 733 

usually do. ... So he bade the Jews go away, but they, boldly casting reproaches 
upon him, etc.— -Jewish Wars, 2, 9, 4; and Antiq., 18, 3, 2. 

He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood 

of this just person, see ye to it. 

Moses. — All the elders shall wash their hands, and say, Our hands have not 
shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. — Deut. xxi : 6, 7. 

Plutarch. — Cataline having killed Marcus Marius, brought his head to Sylla 
as he sat upon his tribunal in the forum, and then washed his hands in the 
lustral water at the door of Apollo's temple. — Suit., c. 32. 

HIS BLOOD BE ON US. 

Matt, xxvii : 25. — Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our 

, children. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — And now mark, for one moment, the 
revenges of History. Has not his blood been on them, and on their children ? 
Has it not fallen most of all on those most nearly concerned in that deep trag- 
edy? Before the dread sacrifice was consummated, Judas died in the horrors 
of a loathsome suicide. Caiaphas was deposed the year following. Herod died 
in infamy and exile. Stripped of his procuratorship very shortly afterwards, on 
the very charges he had tried by a wicked concession to avoid (on the trial of 
Jesus), Pilate, wearied out with misfortunes, died in suicide and banishment, 
leaving behind him an execrated name. The house of Annas was destroyed a 
generation later by an infuriated mob, and his son was dragged through the 
streets, and scourged and beaten to his place of murder. Some of those who 
shared in and witnessed the scenes of that day — and thousands oj their children — 
also shared in and witnessed the long horrors of that siege of Jerusalem which 
stands unparalleled in history for its unutterable fearfulness. "It seems," says 
Renan, " as though the whole race had appointed a rendezvous for extermina- 
tion." They had shouted, "We have no king but Caesar ! " and they had no 
king but Caesar ; and leaving only for a time the fantastic shadow of a local and 
contemptible royalty, Caesar after Caesar outraged, and tyrannized, and pillaged, 
and oppressed them, till at last they rose in wild revolt against the Caesar whom 
they had claimed, and a Caesar slaked in the blood of its best defenders the red 
ashes of their burnt and desecrated Temples. They had forced the Romans to 
crucify their Christ, and though they regarded this punishment with especial 
horror, they and their children were themselves crucified in myriads by the 
Romans outside of their own walls, till room was wanting and wood failed, and 
soldiers had to ransack a fertile inventiveness of cruelty for fresh methods of 
inflicting this insulting form of death. They had given thirty pieces of silver 
for their Saviour's blood, and they were themselves sold in thousands for yet 
smaller sums. They had chosen Bar-Abbas in preference to their Messiah, and 
for them there has been no Messiah more, while a murderer's dagger swayed 
the last counsels of their dying nationality. They had accepted the guilt of blood, 



734 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and the last pages of their history were glued together with the rivers of their 
blood, and that blood continued to be shed in wanton cruelties from age to age. 
They who will, may see in incidents like these the mere unmeaning chances of 
History; but there is in History nothing unmeaning to one who regards it as 
the Voice of God speaking among the destinies of men ; and whether a man sees 
any significance or not in events like these, he must be blind indeed who does 
not see that when the murder of Christ was consummated, the axe was laid at 
the root of the barren tree of Jewish nationality. Since that day Jerusalem and 
its environs, with their " ever-extending miles of grave-stones and ever-length- 
ening pavement of tombs and sepulchres," have become little more than one 
vast cemetery — an Aceldama, a field of blood, a potter's field to bury strangers 
in. Like the mark of Cain upon the forehead of their race, the guilt of that blood 
has seemed to cling to them — as it ever must until that same blood effaceth it. 
— Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 388-391. 

JESUS SCOURGED. 

Matt, xxvii : 26. — And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D. — The punishment of crucifixion properly com- 
menced with scourging, after the criminal had been stripped ; hence in the 
common form of sentence we find "summore, lictor, despolia, verbera," etc. 
For this there are a host of authorities. It was inflicted not with the compara- 
tively mild virgce, but the more terrible flagellutn, which was not used by the 
Jews. Into these scourges the soldiers often stuck nails, pieces of bone, etc., 
to heighten the pain, which was often so intense that the sufferer died under it. 
— Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 513. 

Lucian. — In my opinion he ought to be crucified, having been first scourged. 
— Piscat., c. 2. 

Livy. — Some, who had been ringleaders of the conspiracy at Etruria, the 
Praetor scourged with rods, and then crucified. — Livy, b. ^^, c. 36. 

Quintus Curtius. — Alexander commanded Arimazes, with all his family, 
to be scourged, and then crucified. — Q. Curt., lib. vii., c. 11. 

Josephus. — They also caught many of the quiet people, and brought them 
before Florus, whom he first chastised with stripes, and then crucified.— -Jewish 
Wars, 2, 14, 9. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — He delivered Jesus over to be scourged. 
The Greek word used for the scourging implies that it was done, not with rods, 
for Pilate had no lictors, but with what Horace calls the "horrible flagellum," 
of which the Russian knout is the only modern representative. It was a punish- 
ment so truly horrible, that the mind revolts at it. The unhappy sufferer was 
publicly stripped, was tied by the hands in a bent position to a pillar, and then, 
on the tense, quivering nerves of the naked back, the blows were inflicted with 
leathern thongs, weighted with jagged edges of bone and lead ; sometimes even 
the blows fell by accident — sometimes, with terrible barbarity, were purposely 
struck — on the face and eyes. It was a punishment so hideous that, under its 



MATTHEW XXVII. 735 

lacerating agony, the victim generally fainted, often died ; still more frequently 
a man was sent away to perish under the mortification and nervous exhaustion 
which ensued. — Life of Christ, II., p. 379. 

Horace. — To be cut by the horrible scourge. — Sat., III., 119. 

Idem. — He was beaten to death with the flagellum. — Sat., II., 41. 

JESUS MOCKED. 

Matt, xxvii : 27-30. — Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and 
gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a 
scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a 
reed in his right hand : and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, 
King of the Jews ! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar. D.-D., F. R. S. — Among the Romans, insult and derision 
were the customary preliminaries to the last agony. The " et perewitibus addita 
ludibria''' of Tacitus (Ann. 15, 44) might stand for their general practice. — 
Life of Christ, II., p. 380. 

Josephus. — So they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts 
of tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the 
city.— -Jewish Wars, 5, 11, 1. 

JESUS BEARING HIS CROSS. 

Matt, xxvii: 31, 32. — And they led him away to crucify him. .And as they came out, they 
found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear his cross. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — In John (xix: 16, 17) we are told Christ himself bore 
the cross, and this he did for a part of the way; but being exhausted with the 
scourging and other cruel usage which he had received, he was found incapable 
of bearing it alone; therefore they obliged Simon, not I think to bear it entirely, 
but to assist Christ by bearing a part of it. It was a constant practice among 
the Romans to oblige criminals to bear their cross to the place of execu- 
tion : insomuch that Plutarch makes use of it as an illustration of the misery of 
vice : " Every kind of wickedness produces its own particular torment, just as 
every malefactor, when he is brought forth to execution, carries his own cross." 
— Note, in loco. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — When the cross had been prepared they laid it upon his 
shoulders, and led him to the place of punishment. To one enfeebled by the 
horrible severity of the previous scourging, the carrying of such a burden would 
be an additional misery. But Jesus was enfeebled not only by this cruelty, t>ut 
by previous days of violent struggle and agitation, by an evening of deep and 
overwhelming emotion, by a night of sleepless anxiety and suffering, by the 
mental agony of the garden, by three trials and three sentences of death before 
the Jews, by long and exhausting scenes in the Praetorium, by examination 
before Herod, and by the brutal and painful derision which He had undergone, 
first at the hands of the Sanhedrim and their servants, then from Herod's body- 
guard, and lastly from the Roman cohort. All these, superadded to the sicken- 



736 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ing lacerations of the scourging, had utterly broken down His physical strength. 
His totter.ng f ootsteps, if not His actual falls under that fearful load, made it 
evident that He lacked the physical strength to carry it from the Praetorium to 
Golgotha. Even if they did not pity His feebleness, the Roman soldiers would 
naturally object to the consequent hindrance and delay. But they found an 
easy method to solve the difficulty. They had not proceeded farther than the 
city gate, when they met a man coming from the country, who was known to 
the early Christians as "Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus; " 
and perhaps, on some hint from the accompanying Jews that Simon sympathized 
with the teaching of the Sufferer, they impressed him without the least scruple 
into their odious service. — Life of Christ, II., 394. 

Epictetus. — It appears from the writings of this author that for Roman 
soldiers to impress people to assist them, or to carry burdens for them, was no 
uncommon thing. — See Dissert., IV., 1. 

JESUS REFUSING VINEGAR MINGLED WITH GALL. 

Matt, xxvii: 34. — They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted 

thereof, he would not drink. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — It was a common custom among the Jews to administer 
a stupefying potion, compounded of sour wine, frankincense and myrrh, to con- 
demned persons, to alleviate their sufferings, or to render them insensible to 
them. The Rabbins say that they put a grain of frankincense into a cup of 
strong wine. This practice was founded on Prov. xxxi : 6, " Give strong drink 
to him who is ready to perish, and wine to him who is bitter of soul," because 
he is just going to suffer the punishment of death. " Some person, out of kind- 
ness, administered this to our blessed Lord ; but he refused it, determined to 
endure the fulness of pain, and to tread the winepress alone. — Note, in loco. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — It had been the custom of wealthy ladies in Jerusalem 
to provide this stupefying potion at their own expense, and they did so quite 
irrespectively of their sympathy for any individual criminal. It was probably 
taken freely by the two malefactors ; but when they offered it to Jesus, He would 
not take it. The refusal was an act of sublimest heroism. The effect of the 
draught was to dull the nerves, to cloud the intellect, to provide an anaesthetic 
against some part, at least, of the lingering agonies of that dreadful death. But 
He, whom some modern skeptics have been base enough to accuse of feminine 
feebleness and cowardly despair, preferred rather "to look Death in the face " 
— to meet the king of terrors without striving to deaden the force of one 
agonizing anticipation, or to still the throbbing of one lacerated nerve. — Life 

of Christ, II., 400. 

JESUS CRUCIFIED. 

Matt, xxvii: 35. — And they crucified him. 
Tacitus. — The founder of the Christian name was Christ, one who, in the 
reign of Tiberius, suffered death as a criminal under Pontius Pilate, imperial 
procurator of Judea; and for a while the pestilent superstition was quelled, but 



MATTHEW XXVII. 737 

revived again and spread, not only over Judea, where this evil was first broached, 

but even through Rome. — A?in., lib. xv., c. 44. 

Lucian. — These people worship the famous man who was crucified in 

Palestine for having introduced new mysteries into the world. — De Mort. 

Pereg., t. if. 

And parted his garments, casting lots. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — Arrived at the place of execution, the sufferer was 
stripped naked (Artemid. Oneirocr, II., 58); the garments being the perquisites 
of the soldiers who performed the disagreeable work (Dig. XLVIII., 20, 6). — 
Smith's Did. of the Bible, p. 514. 

JESUS WATCHED UPON THE CROSS. 

Matt, xxvii : 36. — And sitting down they watched him there. 
Dr. F. W. Farrar. — Our Lord, having been crucified, was watched, accord- 
ing to custom, by a party of four soldiers, whose express office was to prevent 
the surreption of the body. But for this guard, the persons might have been 
taken down and recovered, as was actually done in the case of a friend of 
Josephus. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 514. 

JESUS' ACCUSATION. 

Matt, xxvii : 27- — And set up over his head his accusation, written, This is Jesus the King 

of the Jews. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — It was a common custom to affix a label to the cross, 
giving a statement of the crime for which the person suffered. This is still the 
case in China, when a person is crucified. Sometimes a man was employed to 
carry this before the criminal, while going to the place of punishment. — 
Note, in loeo. 

Suetonius. — A label hanging from his neck before his breast, signifying the 
cause of his punishment. — Calig., c. 32. 

Idem. — Domitian ordered him to be dragged from the benches into the 
arena, and exposed to the dogs, with this label upon him, "A Parmularian 
guilty of talking impiously." — Dom., c. 10. 

See also Eusebius, V., 1, and Plutarch, Cleom., c. 39. 

JESUS REVILED. 

Matt, xxvii; 39. — And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying etc. 
Juvenal. — How does the mob of Remus behave ? Why follow fortune, as 
mobs always do, and hate him that is condemned. — Sat., X., 72. 

JESUS' DIVINITY CONFESSED. 

Matt, xxvii : 54. — They feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. 

Lord Byron. — If ever man was God or God man, Jesus Christ was both. — 
Quoted in Keith! s Demonst., p. 317. 

Rousseau. — What prepossession, what blindness must it be, to compare 



738 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

(Socrates) the son of Sophroniscus to (Jesus) the Son of Mary ! What an infi- 
nite disproportion there is between them ! Socrates dying without pain or 
ignominy, easily supported his character to the last ; and if his death, however 
easy, had not crowned his life, it might have been doubted w T hether Socrates, 
with all his wisdom, was anything more than a vain sophist. He invented, it is 
said, the theory of morals. Others, however, before had put them in practice ; 
he had only to say, therefore, what they had done, and to reduce their example 
to precept. But where could Jesus learn, among his competitors, that pure and 
sublime morality of which he only hath given us both precept and example ? ' 
The death of Socrates, peaceably philosophizing with his friends, appears the 
most agreeable that could be wished for ; that of Jesus, expiring in the midst 
of agonizing pains, abused, insulted, and accused by a whole nation, is the most 
horrible that could be feared. Socrates, in receiving the cup of poison, blessed 
the weeping executioner who administered it ; but Jesus, in the midst of excru- 
ciating tortures, prayed for his merciless tormentors. Yes! if the life and death 
of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God. 
— Emelius, Vol. II., p. 218. 

JESUS' GRAVE GUARDED. 

Matt, xxvii : 65, 66. — Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch : go your way, make it as sure as 
ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. 

Pontius Pilate. — The ancient Romans were particularly careful to preserve 
the memory of all remarkable events which happened in the city; and this was 
done either in their Acts of the Senate (Acta Senatus), or in the Daily Acts of 
the People {Acta Diurna Populi), which were diligently made and kept at Rome. 
In like manner, it was customary for the governors of provinces to send to the 
emperor an account of remarkable transactions that occurred in the places where 
they resided, which were preserved as the Acts of their respective governments. 
In conformity with this usage, Pilate kept memoirs of the Jewish affairs during 
his Procuratorship, which were called Acta Pilati. Referring to this usage, 
Eusebius says: " Our Saviour's resurrection being much talked of throughout 
Palestine, Pilate informed the Emperor of it, as likewise of his miracles, of 
which he had heard; a?id that, being raised up after he had been put to death, he 
was already believed by many to be a God. ' ' These accounts were never pub- 
lished for general perusal, but were deposited among the archives of the empire, 
where they served as a fund of information to historians. Hence we find long 
before the time of Eusebius, that the primitive Christians, in their disputes with 
the Gentiles, appealed to these Acts of Pilate as to most undoubted testimony. 
Thus, Justin Martyr, in his first apology for the Christians, which was presented 
to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and the Senate of Rome, about the year 140, 
having mentioned the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and some of its attendant 
circumstances, adds: "And that these things were so done, you may know from 
the Acts made in the time of Pontius Pilate." Afterwards, in the same 
apology, having noticed some of our Lord's miracles, such as healing diseases 
and raising the dead, he says : "And that these things were done by him, you may 



MATTHEW XXVIII. 739 

know from the Acts made in the time of Pontius Pilate." The learned Ter- 
tullian, in his Apology for Christianity, about the year 200, after speaking of 
our Saviour's crucifixion and resurrection, and his appearance to the disciples, 
and ascension into heaven in the sight of the same disciples, who were ordained 
by him to publish the Gospel over the world, thus proceeds: " Of all these things 
relating to Christ, Pilate himself, in his conscience already a Christian, Sent an 
Account to Tiberius the Emperor." And again, in another connection, he 
says : " Search your own Public Documents, and you will there fnd that Nero 
was the first who raged with the i?nperial sword against this Sect, when rising 
most at Rome" — These testimonies of Justin and Tertullian are taken from 
public Apologies for the" Christian Religion, which were presented either to the 
emperor and senate of Rome, or to magistrates of public authority and great dis- 
tinction in the Roman Empire. Now it is incredible that such writers would 
have made such appeals, especially to the very persons in whose custody these 
Documents were, had they not been fully satisfied of their existence and con- 
tents. — Home's Introduction, p. 81. 

JESUS RISEN. 

Matt, xxviii : 8, 9. — And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and 
did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met 
them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. 

Josephus. — Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to 
call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men 
as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the 
Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was (the) Christ. And when Pilate, at 
the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, 
those that loved him at the first did not forsake him ; for he appeared to them 
alive again the third day ; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten 
thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, 
so named from him, are not extinct at this day. — Antq., XVIII. , 3, 3. 

M. Renan. — This accomplished French sceptic allows that Matthew wrote 
the Gospel which bears his name ; that he was an eye-witness and an ear-witness 
of what he records, or had very direct means of knowing the truth of it. He 
concedes all this on the internal credibility of the narrative, and on the 
authority of Papias, who wrote early in the second century, and of a chain of 
succeeding writers, who quote or refer to the Gospel. He is specially fond of 
insisting that Matthew preserved the discourses of our Lord — " he deserves, 
evidently, a confidence without limit for the discourses;" and, in particular, 
he grants that the parables, as being one narrative, could not be altered, and 
that we have them as our Lord delivered them. ... I find that there are 
about 971 verses in Matthew's Gospel, and Renan refers to no fewer than 791 
of these as giving an accurate account of the sayings or doings of our Lord. 
With the remaining verses he is not pleased, and contrives to dispense with 
them. — Dr. McCosh's Positivism, p. 225, 232. 



Mark. 



Bishop William Thomson, D. D. — All ancient testimony makes Mark the 
author of the Gospel which has come down to us bearing his name. Eusebius 
says, on the authority of Clement of Alexandria, that the hearers of Peter at 
Rome desired Mark, the follower of Peter, to leave with them a record of his 
teachings, upon which Mark wrote his Gospel, which the apostle afterwards 
sanctioned with his authority, and directed that it should be read in the churches 
(Euseb. H. E., II., 15). Tertullian also speaks of the Gospel of Mark as being 
connected with Peter, and as having his authority (Cont. Marc. IV., 5). Both 
Justin Martyr and Irenaeus quote from this Gospel. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, 
art. "Gospel of Mark." 

Papias. — This also John the elder said : — Mark being the interpreter of Peter, 
Wrote down exactly whatever things he remembered, but yet not in the order in 
which Christ either spoke or did them ; for he was neither a hearer nor a 
follower of the Lord's, but he was afterwards a follower of Peter. — Euseb. 
ff.E.,lll., Z9 . 

See Matt, i: 1. 

THE BAPTIST'S MINISTRY. 

Mark i: 4, 5. — John did baptize in the wilderness, and preached the baptism of repentance for 
the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of 
Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. 

Josephus. — John, who was called the Baptist, was a good man, and com- 
manded the Jews to exercise righteousness towards one another, and piety 
towards God, and so to come to baptism. The people came in crowds about 
him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, and they seemed ready 
to do anything he should advise. — Aniq., 18, 5, 2 

Mark i : 6. — And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins ; 
and he did eat locusts and wild honey. 
See Matt, iii : 4. 

Mark i : 7. — There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not 
worthy to stoop down and unloose. 
See Matt, iii: 11. 

CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS. 

Mark i : 13. — And was with the wild beasts. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — It is not a natural thing that the wild 
creatures should attack with ferocity, or fly in terror from, their master man. 
The terror or the fury of animals, though continued by hereditary instinct, was 
(740) 



MARK III. 741 

began by cruel and wanton aggression ; and historical instances are not wanting 
in which both have been overcome by the sweetness, the majesty, the gentleness 
of man. — Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 120. 

Mark i: 16. — Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother 
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. 
See Matt, iv: 18. 

Mark i : 19. — And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, 
and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 

See Matt, iv : 21. 

Mark i : 21. — And they went into Capernaum, etc. 

See Matt, iv: 13. 

Mark i : 22. — And they were astonished at his doctrine : for he taught them as one that had 
authority, and not as the scribes. 

See Matt, vii : 28. 

Mark i: 23, 24. — And there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit: and he cried 
out, saying, Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? etc. 

See Matt, viii : 29-32. 

Mark i : 30, 31. — But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever: and anon they tell him of her. 
And he came and took her by the hand, etc. 
See Matt, viii: 14. 

Mark i : 40. — And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, etc. 

See Matt, viii : 2, 3. 

Mark ii : 11. — Arise and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thy house. 

See Matt, ix : 6. 

Mark ii : 14. — And as he passed by he saw Levi the son of Alpheus, sitting at the receipt of 

custom, etc. 
See Matt, ix : 9. 

Mark ii : 17. — They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. 
See Matt, ix : 12. 

Mark ii : 22. — And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, etc. 

See Matt, ix: 17. 

Mark ii: 23. — And it came to pass, that he went through the corn-fields on the sabbath day; 
and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 

See Matt, xii : 1, 2. 

Mark iii : 6. — And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians 
against him, how they might destroy him. 
See Matt, xxii : 16. 

BOANERGES. 

Mark iii : 17. — And he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder. 
Plutarch. — We are told that Pericles, in his harangues, thundered and 
lightened ; and that his tongue was armed with thunder. — PercL, c. 8. 



742 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Pliny. — With what glowing language do you thunder forth the praises of 
your father? — Hist. Nat. Dedic. 

CHRIST SUSPECTED OF INSANITY. 

Mark iii : 21. — For they said, He is beside himself. 
Dr. F. W. Farrar. — To the world there has been ever a tendency to confuse 
the fervor of enthusiasm with the eccentricity of a disordered genius. " Paul, 
thou art mad ! " was the only comment which the Apostle's passion of exalted 
eloquence produced on the cynical and blase intellect of the Roman Procurator. 
"Brother Martin has a fine genius ! " was the sneering allusion of Pope Leo 
X. to Luther. "What crackbrained fanatics," observed the fine gentlemen of 
the eighteenth century when they spoke of Wesley and Whitefield. — Life of 
Christ, Vol. L, p. 282. 

Mark iii : 23, 24. — How can Satan cast out Satan ? And if a kingdom be divided against 
itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 
See Matt, xii : 25. 

Mark iv : 3-8. — Behold there went out a sower to sow : and it came to pass as he sowed, some 

fell by the wayside, etc. 

See Matt, xiii : 3-9. 

Mark iv : 30, 31. — And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what 
comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, etc. 

See Matt, xiii : 31. 

THE GREAT STORM. 

Mark iv : 38. — And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. 
Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — At the extreme end of the stern is often seen 
a small low bench, upon which the steersman sits for a change. Here the 
captain often rests his head when, as is his custom, he sleeps upon the quarter- 
deck. This little bench may generally be seen in the fishing crafts, particularly 
those which ply on the Sea of Galilee, a circumstance which explains the nature 
of the pillow upon which rested the head of our Lord during the sudden storm 
narrated in Mark. Passengers of distinction alone are allowed a place upon the 
quarter-deck. — Bible Lands, p. 62. 

DEMONIAC FROM THE TOMBS. 

Mark v: 1, 2. — And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the 
Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the 
tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 

See Matt, viii : 28-32. 

THE DISEASED WOMAN. 

Mark v : 25, 26. — And a certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had 
suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing 
bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and 
touched his garment. 



MARK VII. 743 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — Legend has assigned to this woman Veronica as a name, 
and Paneas (Csesarea Philippi) as a residence. An ancient statue of bronze at 
this place was believed to represent her in the act of touching the fringe of 
Christ's robe ; and Eusebius and Sozomen both mention this statue, which is 
believed to have been so curious a testimony to the reality of Christ's miracle, 
that Julian the Apostate is charged with having destroyed it. — Life of Christ, 

t, 356- 

THE DAMSEL RESTORED. 

Mark v : 39. — Why make ye this ado and weep ? the damsel is not dead but sleepeth. 
Jahn. — The grief of the Orientals formerly, on an occasion of death, was, and 
it is to this day in the East, very extreme. As soon as a person dies, the females 
of the family with a loud voice set up a sorrowful cry. They continue it as long 
as they can without taking breath, and the first shriek of wailing dies away in a 
low sob. After a short space of time, they repeat the same cry, and so continue 
for eight days. Many other indications of grief are often given, such as tearing 
the hair and clothes, smiting the breast, lying down in ashes, putting dust upon 
the head, etc. — Bib. ArchceoL, sect. 211. 

Mark vi : 4. — A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, 

and in his own house. 
See Matt, xiii: 57. 

Mark vi: 14-29. — And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad;) and he 
said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth 
themselves in him, etc. 

See Matt, xiv: 1-12. 

Mark vi : 35-44. — And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, 
This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed : send them away that they may go into 
the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread, etc. 

See Matt, xiv: 15-21. 

Mark vi : 53. — And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and 

drew to the shore. 
See Matt, xiv : 34. 

Markvii: I, 2. — Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which 
came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is 
to say with unwashen hands, they found fault. 

See Matt, xv: 1, 2. 

Mark vii : 14, 15. — And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken 
unto me every one of you, and understand : There is nothing from without a man, that entering 
into him can defile him : but the things which come out of him, these are they that defile a 
man. 

See Matt, xv : 11. 

Mark vii : 24, etc. — And from thence he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, etc. 
See Matt, xv: 21. 



744 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Mark viii : 1-9. — In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus 
called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, etc. 

See Matt, xv : 32. 

Mark viii : 27. — And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi ; etc. 

See Matt, xvi : 13. 

Mark ix : 42. — And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is 
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 

See Matt, xviii : 6. 

Mark ix : 50. — Salt is good, but if the salt have lost his saltness, etc. 

See Matt, v: 13. 

Mark x: 2-12. — And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put 
away his wife ? tempting him, etc. 
See Matt, xix : 3-6. 

Mark x : 13. — And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; and his 
disciples rebuked those that brought them. 

See Matt, xix : 13. 

Mark x : 20. — And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my 

youth. 
See Matt, xix : 20. 

Mark x : 23-27. — How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ! 
See Matt, xix : 23-26. 
Mark x : 32. — And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them : 

and they were amazed, etc. 
See Matt, xx: 17, 18. 

Mark x : 39. — And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of: etc. 
See Matt, xx : 23. 

Mark x: 46. — And they came to Jericho : and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a 
great number of people, blind Bartimeus, etc. 

See Matt, xx : 29. 

Mark xi : 1. — And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the 

Mount of Olives, etc. 

See Matt, xxi : 1. 

» 

Mark xi : 8. — And many spread their garments in the way ; and others cut down branches of the 
trees and strewed them in the way. 
See Matt, xxi : 8. 

Mark xi : 12-14. — And on the morrow when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry ; and 

seeing a fig-tree afar off, etc. 
See Matt, xxi : 19. 

Mark xi : 25. — And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any ; etc. 
See Matt, vi : 15. 

Mirk xi : 27. — And they come again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the tempi e, there 



MARK XIII. 745 

came to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and say unto him, By what 
authority doest thou these things ? 

See Matt, xxi : 23. 

Mark xii : I. — And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vine- 
yard, and set a hedge about it, etc. 
See Matt, xxi : 33. 

Mark xii: 13-17. — Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? 
See Matt, xxii : 15. 

Mark xii: 18. — Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection. And 
they asked him, saying, Master, Moses, etc. 

See Matt, xxii : 23. 

Mark xii : 28. — And one of the scribes came . . . and asked him, Which is the first command- 
ment of all ? 
See Matt, xxii : 35. 

Mark xii: 38. — And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go 

in long clothing, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii : 1. 

THE POOR WIDOW. 

Mark xii : 43. — Verily, I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they 
which have cast into the treasury, etc. 

Xenophon. — Socrates, when he sacrificed, feared not that his offering would 
fail of acceptance because he was poor ; but, giving according to his ability, he 
doubted not but in the sight of the gods he equalled those men whose gifts and 
sacrifices overspread the whole altar. — Afem., lib. i., c. 3. 

Plato. — It would be a dreadful thing if the gods looked to the value of gifts 
and sacrifices, and not to the souls of those who offer them. — Alcib., II., 13. 

Aristotle. — Liberality is denominated according to the property which is 
possessed ; for the liberal does not consist in the multitude of the gifts, but in 
the habit of the giver ; and this habit gives according to the means of giving. 
Nothing hinders that he may be a more liberal man who gives fewer things, if 
he gives them from less means. — Eth., lib. iv., c. 1. 

Ovid. — Although the power be wanting, yet the inclination is to be com- 
mended ; with this I trust the gods are content. This is the reason why even 
the poor approach the altars acceptably ; and why a lamb pleases not less than 
a slaughtered ox. — De Pont., lib. Hi., eleg. 4. 

Mark xiii: 1.— And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, 
see what manner of stones and what buildings are here ! 
See Matt, xxiv: 1, etc. 

Mark xiii : 9.— But take heed to yourselves : for they shall deliver you up to councils : and in 
the synagogues ye shall be beaten : etc. 

See Matt, x: 17, 18, and xxiv: 9. 



746 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Mark xiii : io. — And the gospel must first be published among all nations. 

See Matt, xxiv : 14. 

Mark xiii : 12. — Now the brother shall betray the brother, etc. 

See Matt, x: 21, and xxiv: 10. 

Mark xiii : 13. — And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. 

See Matt, xxiv : 9. 

Mark xiii : 14. — But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, etc. 

See Matt, xxiv : 15. 

Mark xiii : 19. — For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the 

creation, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv: 21. 

Mark xiii : 21. — And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or lo, he is there; etc. 

See Matt, xxiv : 23. 

Mark xiii : 24, 25. — But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the 
moon shall not give her light, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv : 29. 

Mark xiii : 26. — And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power 

and glory. 

See Matt, xxiv : 30. 

Mark xiv : 1 . — After two days was the feast of the passover, etc. 

See Matt, xxvi : 3. 

Mark xiv : 3. — And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there 
came a woman having an alabaster box, etc. 

See Matt, xxvi : 7. 

Mark xiv : 9. — Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the 
whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of as a memorial of her. 

See Matt, xxvi: 12, 13. 
Mark xiv: 22-24. — And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed and brake it, and gave 

to them, etc. 

See Matt, xxvi : 26-28. 

THE COCK-CROWING. 

Mark xiv: 30. — And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this 
night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 

Arundell. — It has often been remarked, in illustration of Scripture, that in 
the Eastern countries the cocks crow in the night, but the regularity with which 
they keep what may be called the watches has not been perhaps sufficiently 
noticed. I will, however, confine myself to one, and that is between eleven and 
twelve o'clock. I have often heard the cocks of Smyrna crowing in full chorus 
at that time, and with scarcely the variation of a minute. The second cock- 
crowing is between one and two o'clock. Therefore when our Lord says, "In 
this night, before the cock crow twice," the allusion was clearly to these 
seasons. — Discoveries in Asia Minor. 



MARK XV. 747 

Mark xiv : 32.— And they came to the place which was named Gethsemane : and he saith to his 
disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. 

See Matt, xxvi : 36. 
Mark xv : 1.— And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the 
elders and scribes, and the whole council, etc. 

See Matt, xxvii : 1. 
Mark xv: 15.— And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and 
delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. 

See Matt, xxvii : 26. 

THE PRET0R1UM. 

Mark xv : 16.— And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Pretorium; and they call 

together the whole band. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — At Jerusalem, Pontius Pilate occupied one of the two 
gorgeous palaces which had been erected there by the lavish architectural ex- 
travagance of the first Herod. It was situated in the Upper City, to the south- 
west of the Temple Hill, and like the similar building at Csesarea, having passed 
from the use of the provincial king to that of the Roman governor, was called 
Herod's Praetorium. It was one of those luxurious abodes, "surpassing all 
description," which were in accordance with the tendencies of the age, and on 
which Joseph us dwells with ecstasies of admiration. Between its colossal wings 
of white marble was an open space commanding a noble view of Jerusalem, 
adorned with sculptured porticos and columns of many-colored marble, paved 
with rich mosaics, varied with fountains and reservoirs, and green promenades. 
Externally, it was a mass of lofty walls, and towers, and gleaming roofs, mingled 
in exquisite varieties of splendors; within, its superb rooms, large enough to 
accommodate a hundred guests, were adorned with gorgeous furniture and 
vessels of gold and silver. ... In that kingly palace — such as in His days of 
freedom He had never trod—began, in three distinct acts, the fourth stage 
of that agitating scene which preceded the final agonies of Christ. — Life 
of Christy II., 364. 

See Matt, xxvii: 27. 

Mark xv: 21. — And they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian, etc. 

See Matt, xxvii : 32. 
Mark xv : 23. — And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh : but he received it not. 

See Matt, xxvii : 34. 

Mark xv : 24. — And when they had crucified him, etc. 

See Matt, xxvii : 35. 

THE SUPERSCRIPTION. 

Mark xv : 26. — And the superscription of his accusation was written over, The King of the 

Jews. 

Burder. — Thus Attalus the martyr was led round the amphitheatre, with a 
tablet before him, inscribed, "This is Attalus the Christian.' ' The same cus- 
tom prevailed in crucifixions. — In loco. 

See Matt, xxvii : 37. 



748 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Mark xv : 39. — The centurion said, Truly this man was the Son of God. 
See Matt, xxvii 54. 

THE WOMEN AT THE TOMB. 

Mark xvi: 1. — And when the sabbath was past Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of 
James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 

Pliny. — Take into account the vast number of funerals that are celebrated 
throughout the whole world each year, and the heaps of odors that are piled up 
in honor of the dead. — Hist. Nat., XII., 18. 

Plutarch. — On the death of Sylla, so great a quantity of spices was brought 
by the women, that, exclusive of those carried in 210 great baskets, a figure of 
Sylla, at full length, and of a lictor besides, was made of cinnamon and the 
choicest frankincense. — Sylla, c. 38. 

Mark xvi : 20. — And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, 
and confirming the word with signs following. 

See Matt, xxiv : 14. 



LUKE. 



PREFACE. 



Luke i : I. — Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those 
things which are most surely believed among us. 

Rev. George Campbell, D. D., F. R. S. — The very circumstance of the 
number of such narratives, at so early a period, is itself an evidence that there 
was something in the first publication of the Christian doctrine which excited 
the curiosity and awakened the attention of persons of all ranks and denomina- 
tions; insomuch, that every narrative which pretended to furnish men with 
additional information concerning so extraordinary a personage as Jesus, seems 
to have been read with avidity. — Prelim. Disserts, and Notes. 

Luke i : 2. — Even as they delivered them unto us. 

Rev. G. Campbell, D. D., F. R. S. — In the gospel histories a simple narrative 
of the facts is given; but no attempt is made, by argument, asseveration, or 
animated expression, to bias the understanding or work upon the passions. 
The naked truth is left to its own native evidence. — Ibid. 

Which from the beginning were eye-witnesses, and ministers of the word. 

Idem. — It is impossible, on reflection, to hesitate a moment in affirming, that 
the historian here meant to acquaint us, that he had received his information 
from those who had attended Jesus, and been witnesses of everything during his 
public ministration upon the earth, and who, after his ascension, had been 
intrusted by Him with the charge of propagating his doctrine throughout the 
world. — Ibid. 



luke ii. 749 

Luke i : 3, 4. — It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from 
the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know 
the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. 

Bishop William Thomson, f). D. — The third Gospel is ascribed, by general 
consent of ancient Christendom, to "the beloved physician," Luke, the friend 
and companion of the apostle Paul. — Smith's Diet, of Bible. 

Iren^eus. — Luke, the follower of Paul, preserved in a book the Gospel, which 
that apostle preached. — Cont. Ucer., III., 1. 

See Testimonies at the beginning of Matthew. 

Luke i: 5. — There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, etc. 
See Matt, ii : 1. 

BURNING INCENSE. 

Luke i : 9. — According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense, when he 
went into the temple of the Lord. 

Wetstein. — The sacerdotal offices being various, it was agreed among the 
priests, that all should be assigned or distributed by lot. By the first lot, was 
designated he who should cleanse the outside of the altar. Secondly, thirteen 
were taken who should sacrifice the lamb, sprinkle the blood, trim the lamps, 
and burn and scatter the incense. Thirdly, he who should ascend the high 
altar, and lay upon it the members of the victim. The most honorable of all 
the functions was that of burning incense ; an office that could only be 
discharged once. — From the Talmud. 

Luke i : 76. — And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before 
the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways. 

See Matt, iii : 4, and 1 1 : 2-6 ; also Mark i : 4. 

TEE TAXING. 

Lukeii: I.— And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesai 
Augustus, that all the world should be taxed (enrolled). 

Dr. Henry Alford. — Augustus Caesar was the first Roman emperor. He 
was born a. u. c. 691 or b. c. 63. His father was Caius Octavius, and his 
mother, Atia, the sister of Julius Caesar. The senate conferred on him the 
title Augustus in the year b. c. 27. In a. d. 12, he adopted Tiberius as his 
successor, and admitted him to a share in the government. Augustus died at 
Nola, in Campania, Aug. 19th, a. d. 14, in the 76th year of his age. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 199. 

Prof. Edward Hayes Plumtre, M. A. — An enrolment or census of persons 
and property was a common official act of the Romans. The inscription on the 
monument of Ancyra, names three general censuses in the years a. u. c. 726, 
746, 767. Dion Cassius mentions another in Italy, a. u. c. 757. Others in 
Gaul are assigned to a. u. c. 727, 741, and 767. Strabo, writing early in the 
reign of Tiberius, speaks of such enrolments as if they were common things. 
In a. u. c. 726, when Augustus offered to resign his power, he laid before the 



750 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

senate a Raiionarium imperii. After his death, in like manner, a Brevarium 
totius imperii was produced, containing full returns of the population, wealth, 
resources of all parts of the empire, a careful digest apparently of facts collected 
during the labors of many years. . . . Two distinct registrations of this sort are 
mentioned in the New Testament, both of them by St. Luke ; the first is said 
to have been the result of " a decree of the emperor Augustus," and the second 
is referred to in the speech of Gamaliel, Acts v : 37. Of this second census 
Josephus also gives a somewhat extended account. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 
3185, 3186. 

Luke ii ; 2. — And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. 

Dr. Henry Alford. — Considerable difficulty existed formerly in connection 
with this verse; but lately an unexpected light has been thrown upon it, by 
A. W. Zumpt, of Berlin, who has shown by arguments too long to be reproduced 
here, but very striking and satisfactory, that Cyrenius was, first, governor of 
Syria from the year 4-1 b. c. ; and, a second time, from a. d. 6, forward. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 525. 

President T. D. Woolsey, D. D., LL. D. — The enrolment in Luke ii : 2 
might thus be called " the first " in opposition to the second, or more noted one, 
which Luke had in his mind, and which he mentions in his report of Gamaliel's 
speech, Acts v: 37. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 526. 

Luke ii : 4, 5. — And Joseph also went .... unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem 
.... to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that 
while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 

Tertullian. — This author, writing against Marcion, incidentally appeals to 
the returns of the Census for Syria (taken at this very time), as accessible to all 
who cared to search them, and as proving that the birth of Jesus took place at 
Bethlehem. — Adv. Marc., IV., 19. 

THE SAVIOUR BORN AT BETHLEHEM, 

Luke ii : 7.— And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, 
and laid him in a manger ; because there was no room for them in the inn. 
Dr. F. W. Farrar.— In Palestine it not unfrequently happens that the entire 
khan (" the inn ") or at any rate the portion of it in which the animals are 
housed, is one of those innumerable caves which abound in the limestone rocks 
of its central hills. Such seems to have been the case at the little town of 
Bethlehem, in the land of Judea. Justin Martyr, who was born at Shechem, 
a. d. 103, and was familiar with Palestine, places the scene of the nativity in a 
cave. This is, indeed, the ancient and constant tradition both of the Eastern 
and Western Churches, and it is one of the few to which, though unrecorded in 
the Gospel history, we may attach a reasonable probability. Over this Cave 
has risen the Church and Convent of the Nativity. ... It is impossible to 
stand in the little Chapel of the Nativity, and to look, without emotion, on the 
Silver Star let into the white marble, encircled by its sixteen ever-burning lamps, 



LUKE III. 751 

and surrounded by the inscription, Hie de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus 
est. — Life of Christ, I., p. 5. 

THE ANGEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT. 

Luke ii : 8. — And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch 

over their flock by night. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The same practice continues to this day. — Nat. 
Hist, of Bible, p. 139. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — One mile from Bethlehem is a little plain, in which, 
under a grove of olives, stands the bare and neglected chapel known by the 
name of The Angel to the Shepherds. It is built over the traditional site of the 
fields where, in the beautiful language of St. Luke — more exquisite than any 
idyll to Christian ears — " there were shepherds keeping watch over their flock 
by night, when, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of 
the Lord shone round about them.". The present rude chapel is, perhaps, a 
mere fragment of a church built over the spot by Helena. — Life of Christ, I., 1. 

Luke ii : II. — Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the 

Lord. 

Hindoo Inscription — written in Sanscreet, on a stone foimd, and still existing, 
in a cave, near the ancient city of Gya, in the East Indies ; 

The Deity, who is the Lord, the possessor of all, appeared in this ocean of 
natural beings, at the beginning of the Kalee Yoog (Age of contention and 
baseness). He who is omnipresent, and everlastingly to be contemplated, the 
Supreme Being, the Eternal One, the Divinity worthy to be adored — appeared 
here with a portion of his Divine Nature. Reverence be unto thee, in the form 
of Bbbd-dha (Author of happiness). Reverence be to thee the Lord of the 
earth ! Reverence be unto thee an Incarnation of the Deity, and the Eternal 
One ! Reverence be unto thee, O God, in the form of the God of Mercy ; 
the dispeller of pain and trouble, the Lord of all things, the Deity who over- 
cometh the sins of the Kalee Yoog ; the guardian of the universe, the emblem of 
mercy towards those who serve thee, O'M ! (Jehovah) ; the possessor of all 
things in Vital Form ! Thou art B?ah?na, Veeshwo, and Mahesa / (the Hindoo 
Trinity). Thou art Lord of the universe ! Thou art under the form of all 
things, movable and immovable, the possessor of the whole ! and thus I adore 
thee. Reverence be unto the Bestower of Salvation, and the Ruler of the 
Faculties ! Reverence be unto thee the Destroyer of the evil spirit ! O Damor- 
dara ! (God of Virtue) show me favor ! I adore thee, who art celebrated by a 
thousand names, and under various forms, in the shape of Bbbd-dha, the God 
of Mercy ! Be propitious, O most High God !— Translation, by Dr. C. Wilkins, 
in Asiatic Researches, Vol. I., p. 284. 

THE PERIOD OF JOHN'S MINISTRY. 

Luke iii : i-j.—Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being 
governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of 



752 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Cai- 
aphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the 
wilderness. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — Tiberius, the second Roman emperor, 
began to reign a. d. 14, and reigned until a. d. 37. It will be seen hence that 
the ministry of John the Baptist, the public life of the Saviour, and some of 
the introductory events of the apostolic age, must have fallen within his admin- 
istration. The ancient writers who supply most of our knowledge respecting 
this emperor are Tacitus and Suetonius. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 3245. 

Josephus. — Herod the Great, in his last will and testament, made on his dying 
bed (b. c. 4), appointed Herod Antipas his son to be tetrarch of Galilee and 
Perea. . . . Herod Antipas, accompanied by his wife, went to Rome, from 
whence, under certain accusations brought against him, he was banished into 
Gaul (a. d. 39), and there he died an exile. (Thus it will be seen that the 
period of Herod's tetrarchy covered the ministry of both John and of Christ.) 
— Antiq., 17, 8, 1 ; and 18, 7, 2. 

Idem. — By the appointment of Caesar, Batanea, and Traehonitis, and Auran- 
itis, and certain parts of Zeno's house about Jamnia, with a revenue of a hundred 
talents, were made subject to Philip. (He died a. d. 34.) — -Jewish Wars, 
2, 6, 3. 

Idem. — (That Lysanias bore the office and title of tetrarch is sufficiently proved 
by the following incidental allusion of the Jewish historian.) And Caius gave 
to Agrippa the tetrarchy of Lysanias, and changed his iron chain for a golden 
one of equal weight. — -J. B. } 18, 6, 10. 

Idem. — Annas was appointed high priest by Quirinus, the imperial governor 
of Syria, in his thirty-seventh year (a. d. 7). After a term of seven years, 
he had to resign his office, which after having been occupied by a number of 
others, was conferred on his son-in-law, Joseph Caiaphas, who remained till the 
Passover of a. d. 37. Annas and Caiaphas were together at the head of the 
Jewish people, the latter as actual high priest, and the former as president of 
the Sanhedrim. — See Antiq., 18, 2, 1 ; and 18, 2, 2 ; and 20, 9, 1. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — There is one remark to be made here about the 
manner in which the Gospels were written. They have every mark of openness 
and honesty. An impostor does not mention names, and times, and places, par- 
ticularly. For thereby it would be easily seen that he was an impostor. But 
the sacred writers describe objects and men as if they were perfectly familiar 
with them. They never appear to be guarding themselves. They speak of 
things most minutely. And if they had been impostors, it would have been 
easy to detect them. If, for example, John did not begin to preach in the 
fifteenth year of Tiberius; if Philip was not tetrarch of Iturea ; if Pontius Pilate 
was not governor of Judea ; how easy would it have been to detect them in 
falsehood ! Yet it was never done. Nay we have evidence of that age in 
Josephus that these descriptions are strictly true ; and consequently the Gospels 
must have been written by men who were personally acquainted with what they 



LUKE IV. 753 

wrote, who were not impostors, and who were honest men. If they were honest, 
then the Christian religion is true. — Note, in loco. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The facts which St. Luke mentions in these verses tend 
much to confirm the truth of the evangelical history. Here we find the persons, 
the places, and the times marked with the utmost exactness. It was under the 
first Ccesars that the preaching of the Gospel took place ; and in their time, the 
facts on which the whole of Christianity is founded made their appearance : an 
age the most enlightened, and best known from the multitude of its historic records. 
It was mjudea, where everything that professed to come from God, was scru- 
tinized with the most exact and unmerciful criticism. In writing the history of 
Christianity, the evangelists appeal to certain facts which were publicly trans- 
acted in such places, under the government and inspection of such and such 
persons, and in such particular times. A thousand persons could have con- 
fronted the falsehood, had it been one ! These appeals are made — a challenge 
is offered to the Roman government, and to the Jewish rulers and people — a 
new religion has been introduced, in such a place, at such a time — this has been 
accompanied with such and such facts and miracles ! who can disprove this ? 
None — because none could. (Nay, the acknowledgment was forced from the 
bitterest enemies of the cause — " That indeed notable miracles have been done 
by these men is manifest to all them that dwell at Jerusalem ; and we cannot 
deny it.") Now, let it be observed, that the persons of that ii?ne, only, could 
confute these things had they been false — they never attempted it : therefore 
these facts are absolute and incontrovertible truths: this conclusion is necessary. 
Shall a man then give up his faith in such attested facts as these, because more 
than a thousand years after, an infidel creeps out, and ventures publicly to sneer 
at what his iniquitous soul hopes is not true? — In loco. 

Luke iii: 3. — And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of re- 
pentance for the remission of sins. 
See Mark i : 4. 

JOHN'S TEACHING. 

Luke iii: 13. — And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. 

Prof. E. H. Plumtre, M. A. — The Publicani were banded together to sup- 
port each other's interest, and at once resented and defied all interference. 
Their agents, the Portiores, were encouraged in the most vexatious or fraudu- 
lent exactions, and a remedy was all but impossible. Cicero, in writing to his 
brother, speaks of the difficulty of keeping the Publicans within bounds, and 
yet not offending them, as the hardest task of the governor of a province. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2636. 

Luke iii : 16. — I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, etc. 
See Matt, iii : n. 

Luke iv : 14. — And there went out a fame of him through all the region. 
See Matt, iv : 24. 



754 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Luke iv : 16. — And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. 

See Matt, ii : 23. 

Luke iv : 24. — No prophet is accepted in his own country. 

See Matt, xiii : 57. 

THE PRECIPICE OF NAZARETH. 

Luke iv : 29. — And they led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that 
they might cast him down headlong. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — The little town of Nazareth nestles in the southern* 
hollows of that hill; many a mass of precipitous rock lies imbedded in its 
slopes, and it is probable that the hill-side may have been far more steep and 
precipitous two thousand years ago. To one of these rocky escarpments they 
dragged Him, in order to fling Him headlong down. It may have been the 
cliif above the Ma.ronite church, which is about forty feet high. When I was at 
Nazareth, my horse was hurt, and might easily have been killed, by sliding 
down a huge mass of rock on the hill-side. — Life of Christ, L, p. 227. 

Plutarch. — The people of Delphi having condemned ^Esop, the ambassador 
of Crcesus, for sacrilege, put him to death by casting him down from the summit 
of the rock which they call Hyampea. — De Scr. Num. Vina 1 ., c. 12. 

DESCENT FROM NAZARETH TO CAPERNAUM. 

Luke iv : 31. — And he came down to Capernaum, etc. 
The Compiler. — The site of Nazareth stands 1,750 feet higher than that of 
Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee, so that when He came from the former to 
the latter place, as stated both by Luke and John, he literally "went down " to 
Capernaum. So accurate are the statements of the Gospel history. — Harmonies 
of the Universe, p. 63S. 
See Matt, iv : 13. 

Luke iv : 32. — And they were astonished at his doctrine ; for his word was with power. 
See Matt, vii : 28, 29. 

Luke iv: 3$. — And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him 

for her. 

See Matt, viii : 14. 

Luke v : 2. — And he saw two ships standing by the lake : but the fishermen were gone out of 
them, and were washing their nets. 
See Matt, iv : 18. 

FISHING IN THE SEA OF TIBERIAS. 

Luke v: 6. — And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their 

net brake. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — Walking along the shore, not far 
from Mejdel (Magdala), we had an opportunity of watching the mode of fishing 
as it is now carried on. An old Arab sat on a low cliff, and threw poisoned 
crumbs of bread as far as he could reach, which the fish seized, and, turning 
over dead, were washed ashore and collected for the market. The shoals were 



LUKE VI. 755 

marvellous black masses of many hundred yards long, with the black fins pro- 
jecting out of the water as thickly as they could pack. No wonder that any 
net should break which enclosed such a shoal. The lake swarms with fish, as I 
could not have believed water could swarm. — Land of Israel, p. 430. 

Luke v: 12. — Behold a man full of leprosy; who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought 
him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 

See Matt, viii : 2. 

Luke v: 27. — And after these things, he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting 

at the receipt of custom. 
See Matt, ix : 9. 

Luke v : 37. — And no man putteth new wine into old bottles. 
See Matt, ix: 17. 

OLD AND NEW WINE. 

Luke v : 39. — No man having drunk old wine straightway desireth new ; for he saith, The old 

is better. 

Anacreon. — Bring me, then, my gentle page, 

Wine that glows with strength and age. — Anacr., carm. 38. 
Horace.— Bring us down the mellow'd wine, 

Rich with years that equal mine. — Hor.,\\b.\., carm., 13. 

Luke vi : 1. — And it came to pass that they went through the corn fields, and his disciples 

plucked the ears of corn, etc. 
See Matt, xii : 1. 

Luke vi: 6, 7. — And there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and 

Pharisees watched him, etc. 
See Matt, xii : 10. 

Luke vi : 21. — Blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. 
See Matt, v : 6. 

Luke vi : 22. — Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, etc. 
See Matt, v: 11. 
uke vi : 27, 28. — But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which 

hate you, etc. 
See Matt, v : 44. 

Luke vi : 29. — And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, etc. 
See Matt, v: 39. 

Luke vi : 31. — And as ye would that men should do to you, etc. 
See Matt, vii : 12. 

Luke vi: 35. — But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, etc. 
See Matt, v : 45 . 

Luke vi : 36.— Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 
See Matt, v : 48. 

Luke vi: 41. — And why beholdest thou the mote that is, etc. 
See Matt, vii : 3. 

Luke vi : 43. — For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, etc. 
See Matt, vii: 16. 



756 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Luke vi : 47-49. — Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will 
show you to whom he is like : He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, etc. 

See Matt, vii : 24. 

Luke vii: 1, 2. — He entered into Capernaum, and a certain centurion's servant, who was dear 

unto him, was sick, etc. 

See Matt, viii : 5. 

NAIN, 

Luke vii ; 11-16. — And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and 
many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate 
of the city, behold there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was 
a widow. . . . And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, 
Weep not, etc. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — Nain — now a squalid and miserable village — is about 
twenty-five miles from Capernaum, and lies on the northwest slope of Jebel el- 
Duhy, or little Hermon. The name (which it still retains) means "fair," and 
its situation near Endor — nestling picturesquely on the hill-slopes of the graceful 
mountain, and full in view of Tabor and the heights of Zebulon — justifies the 
flattering title. — Life of Christ, L, 284. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — To the east of Nain, by the roadside, about ten 
minutes walk from the village, lies the ancient burying-ground, still used by the 
Moslems ; and probably on this very path our Lord met that sorrowing proces- 
sion. — Land of Israel, p. 129. 

Luke vii : 19. — And John calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, Art 

thou he that should come, etc. 

See Matt, xi : 2-6. 

ENTERTAINMENT IN SIMON'S HOUSE. 

Luke vii : 36-38. — And he went into the Pharisee's, and sat down to meat. And behold a 
woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's 
house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and 
began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed 
his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 

Scotch Mission. — At a dinner at the Consul's house at Damietta, we were 
much interested in observing a custom of the country. In the room where we 
were received, besides the divan on which we sat, there were seats all round the 
walls. Many came in and took their places on those side-seats, uninvited and yet 
unchallenged. They spoke to those at table on business or the news of the day, 
and our host spoke freely to them. This made us understand the scene in 
Simon's house at Bethany, where Jesus sat at supper, and Mary came in and. 
anointed his feet with ointment ; and also the scene in the Pharisee's house, 
where the woman who was a sinner came in, uninvited and yet not forbidden, 
and washed his feet with her tears. We afterwards saw this custom at Jerusalem, 
and there it was still more fitted to illustrate these incidents. We were sitting 
round Mr. Nicolayson's table, when first one and then another stranger opened 
the door, and came in, taking their seat by the wall. They leaned forward, 



LUKE X. 757 

and spoke to those at the table. — Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews 
in 1839. 

See Matt, xxvi : 7. 

Luke vii : 46. — My head with oil thou didst not anoint ; but this woman hath anointed my feet 

with ointment. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — Egyptian monuments represent servants 
anointing guests on their arrival at their entertainer's house, and alabaster vases 
still exist which retain traces of the ointment they once contained. This was 
adopted from the Egyptians by the Jews, and the settlement of many of these 
people at Alexandria served to maintain Egyptian customs among them. — Bible 
Lands, 134. 

Luke viii : 5. — A sower went out to sow his seed : and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, 

and it was trodden down, etc. 

See Matt, xiii : 3. 

Luke viii : 23. — But as they sailed he fell asleep : and there came down a storm of wind upon 

the lake, etc. 
See Matt, viii : 23. 

Luke viii : 26-36. — And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against 
Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city, a certain man, which 
had devils long time, etc. 

See Matt, viii: 28. 
Luke viii : 43-48. — And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all 

her living upon physicians, etc. 
See Mark v: 25. 

Luke ix : 3. — And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, 

neither bread, etc. 
See Matt. 10:9. 

Luke ix : 7. — Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him : and he was per- 
plexed, because it was said, etc. 
See Matt, xiv : 1. 

Luke ix : 12-17. — And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto 
him, Send the multitude away, etc. 
See Matt, xiv: 15. 

Luke ix : 25. — For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or 

be cast away ? 

See Matt, xvi : 26. 

LOOKING BACK. 

Luke ix : 62. — And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plough, and look- 
ing back, is fit for the kingdom of God. 

Hesiod. — He steadily shall cut the furrow true 

Nor towards his fellows glance a rambling view, 
Still on his task intent. — Oper. et Dies, v. 441. 

SALUTATIONS. 

Luke x : 4. — And salute no man by the way. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The same is now required of special messengers. 
47 



758 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

No doubt the customary salutations were formal and tedious, as they are still, 
and consume much valuable time. There is also such an amount of insincerity, 
flattery, and falsehood in the terms of salutation prescribed by etiquette, that 
our Lord, who is truth itself, desired his representatives to dispense with them 
as far as possible, perhaps tacitly to rebuke them. — The Land and the Book, I., 

534- 

Luke x: 5. — And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. 

See Matt, x : 12. 

Luke x : 1 3-1 5. — Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Bethsaic* etc. 
See Matt, xi : 21-23. 

SCORPIONS, 

Luke x: 19. — Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, etc. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — Scorpions swarm in every part of Palestine. Their 
sting is very painful, and sometimes fatal. — Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 303. 

TEE ROAD FROM JERUSALEM TO JERICHO. 

Luke x : 30-37. — A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, 

which stripped him, etc. 

The Compiler. — The scene of the parable of "The Good Samaritan " is laid 
on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho ; and for the deed of violence and blood 
which it describes, no more suitable scene could have been found in all the land ; 
and the topographical allusions in this beautiful narrative offer clear evidence 
that its author was familiar with the country, and had himself travelled the road 
and marked the peculiar , features of the scene of which he has given so correct 
and vivid a picture. The unfortunate traveller, it is said, "went down" from 
Jerusalem to Jericho : the former city stood on the high central ridge of the 
country, the latter in the deep Jordan valley, more than 3,000 feet below ; we 
see hence how strictly accurate the description of the parable is. The road from 
immediately beyond Bethany lay through "a wilderness as bare and as solitary 
as the Desert of Arabia," and for part of its course through a deep and tremen- 
dous gorge, dismal and desolate to the last degree. Buckingham, in his Travels, 
speaking of this portion of the road, says : " The very aspect of the scenery, the 
bold projecting crags of rocks, the dark shadows in which everything lay buried 
below, the towering height of the cliffs above, and the forbidding desolation 
which everywhere reigned around, seem to tempt to robbery and murder, and 
occasion a dread of it in those who pass that way." And Stanley, describing 
this locality, says : "The caves in the overhanging mountains, the sharp turns of 
the road, the projecting spurs of the rocks, everywhere facilitate the attack and 
escape of the plunderers." Here they seize upon the traveller, and rifle him 
of everything valuable about him, and then leave him bleeding and naked under 
the fierce heat reflected from the white, glaring mountains, to die, unless per- 
chance a passer-by pity and save him. A certain man went down from Jerusalem 



LUKE XI. 759 

to Jericho >, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded 
him, and departed, leaving him half dead. This touching description, while thus 
in perfect keeping with the features of the scene, is also in entire harmony with 
its whole history. Josephus testifies that not only was Judea at this time overrun 
with robbers and ruffians, who committed the greatest excesses, but that this road 
in particular was deplorably harassed by banditti. St. Jerome also mentions that 
this particular part of the road between Jerusalem and Jericho was called the 
"Red Way," as much blood had there been shed by robbers; and that in his 
time, there was at one point in this wilderness a Fort, with a Roman garrison, 
for the protection of travellers ; so that the incident of the poor traveller in the 
parable falling in that very journey among robbers seems taken from life. And 
this dread locality is the resort of robbers to this day, and nowhere in Palestine 
is a guard more necessary ; he who goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho with- 
out an escort is as liable now as ever to fall among thieves. The parable, in- 
deed, has been enacted within our own day, not a Jew, but an Englishman, 
being the victim on this occasion. — Harmo7iies of the Universe, p. 671. 

THE GOOD PART. 

Luke x : 42. — Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. 
Aristotle. — We declare that the true good is something belonging to and 
within ourselves, and which cannot easily be taken away from us. — Eth., lib. i., 
c. 5. 

Luke xi : 2. — Our Father which art in heaven, etc. 

See Matt, vi : 9. 

Luke xi: 17. — Every kingdom divided against itself, etc. 
See Matt, xii : 25. 

THE BLESSED MOTHER. 

Luke xi: 27.— A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed 
is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 
Mus^eus. — Blessed is the father from whose loins you sprung, 
Blessed is the mother at whose breast you hung, 
Blessed, doubly blessed, the fruitful womb that bore 
This Heavenly Form for mortals to adore. 

— Her. et Leand., v. 138. 
Luke xi : 42. — But woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii : 23. 

Luke xi : 43. —Woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye love the uppermost seats, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii : 6. 

Luke xi : 44 ._Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are as graves which 

appear, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii: 27. 

Luke xi : 47 .—Woe unto you ! for ye build the sepulchres, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii : 29. 



760 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Luke xi : 49-51. — Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets, and apos- 
tles, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii : 34. 

..THE INNUMERABLE MULTITUDE. 

Luke xii : I. — In the meantime when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude 
of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say, etc. 

Josephus. — The cities lie here very thick ; and the very numerous villages 
are so full of people, because of the fertility of the land . . . that the very 
smallest of them contain above 15,000 inhabitants. — B. /., 3, 3, 2. 
Luke xii : 4. — Be not afraid of them that kill the body, etc. 
See Matt, x : 28. 

Luke xii : 6. — Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, etc. 
See Matt, x: 29. 

THE RICH FOOL. 

Luke xii: 18. — And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and 
there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 
Philemon. — Let any one who goes into the country and passes by the monu- 
ments and sepulchres of the dead, reflect thus — Each one of these used to say, 
In due season I will travel, I will extend my boundaries, and increase my pos- 
sessions. — Apud. Comp. Men. et Philemon. 

Luke xii : 20. — But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee : 
then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided ? 
Seneca. — How ridiculous it is to promise ourselves a long life, when we are 
not certain of to-morrow ! what folly to stretch out and enlarge on distant 
hopes, saying, I will buy ; I will build ; I will give credit ; I will call in my 
debts ; I will sue for honors ; and when I have had enough of public business, I 
will retire, and indulge in my weary age, in repose and quiet ! Believe me, all 
things are doubtful and uncertain, even to the most happy. — Epist., 101. 
Luke xii : 22. — Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, etc. 
See Matt. vi:25. 
Luke xii : 46. — The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv : 51. 

THE GOSPEL A CAUSE OF DIVISION. 

Luke xii : 51. — Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you, Nay ; but rather 

division, etc. 

See Matt, x : 34. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — The prediction of these effects, which no philosophizing 
or speculative observer would ever have expected from so benign a religion, 
forms an additional demonstration that it is from God. — Note, in loco. 

SIGN OF SHOWERS. 

Luke xii: 54. — When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a 

shower; and so it is. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The winds in Palestine are 



LUKE XIII. 761 

remarkably regular, both in their seasons and in their effects. Thus, in the 
forty-three days during which rain fell in 1863-4, the wind was invariably west, 
or southwest. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 2>2>- 

SIGN OF HEAT. 

Luke xii : 55.— And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and k cometh 

to pass. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram. — The south wind, or Sirocco, is always oppressive at 
whatever time of the year it blows. We had two days' Sirocco with the south 
wind in November; again in January 14th and 15th ; March 1st and 2d ; April 
21st and 25th; May 15th, 16th, 26th and 27th. These were the only occasions 
on which there was south wind, and on each occasion the Sirocco was most 
oppressive. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 33. 

A FIG TREE IN A VINEYARD. 

Luke xiii : 6. — A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, etc. 
The Compiler. — In this parable we meet a feature that to our notions seems 
peculiar, and, therefore, so far improbable — a Fig tree planted in a Vineyard. 
However at variance this may be with our ideas and practice in this Western 
World, where we never plant a mixture of vines and corn and fruit trees, but each 
kind by itself: yet, as Dean Stanley informs us from his own observation, 
nothing is more common in Palestine than to see fig trees, thorn trees, and 
apple trees growing in vineyards, and even in corn fields, wherever they can get 
soil to support them. — Harmonies of the Universe, p. 673. 

Luke xiii : 18, 19. — It is like a grain of mustard seed, etc. 
See Matt, xiii : 31. 

Luke xiii: 21. — It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid, etc. 
See Matt, xiii : 33. 

Luke xiii : 24. — Strive to enter in at the strait gate, etc. 
See Matt, vii : 13. 
Luke xiii : 25. — When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, etc. 
See Matt, xxv : 10. 

Luke xiii : 28. — There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, etc. 
See Matt, viii : 11, 12. 

THE FOX HEROD. 

Luke xiii : 32. — And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold I cast out devils, and 
I do cures to-day and to-morrow, etc. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — If ever there was a man who richly deserved contempt, 
it was the paltry, perjured princeling — false to his religion, false to his nation, 
false to his friends, false to his brethren, false to his wife — to whom Jesus gave 
the name of " this fox." . . . Judea might well groan under the odious and petty 
despotism of these hybrid Herodians— jackals who fawned about the feet of the 
Caesarean lions. — Life of Christ, II., 98. 



762 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Luke xiii : 34. — O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii : 37. 

Luke xiii : 35. — Behold your house is left unto you desolate, etc. 
See Matt, xxiii : 38. 

Luke xiv : 3. — Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day ? 
See Matt, xii : 10. 

THE HIGHEST AND THE LOWEST SEAT. 

Luke xiv : 8-10. — When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest 
room; lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him ; and he that bade thee and 
him come and say to thee, Give this man place ; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest 
seat. But when thou art bidden, go and sit in the lowest room ; that when he that bade thee 
cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the 
presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 

Xexophon. — Let the best men with you be honored with the principal seats, 
as they are with me. The most deserving men in all companies are honored 
with the principal seats. — Cyrop., VIII,, 6. 

Morier. — When the assembly was nearly full, the governor of Kashan, a man 
of humble mien, although of considerable rank, came in and seated himself at 
the lowest place ; when the master of the house, after numerous expressions of 
welcome, pointed with his hand to an upper seat in the assembly, to which he 
desired him to move, and which he accordingly did. — -Journey Through Persia. 

BID AND FEAST THE POOR. 

Luke xiv: 12, 13. — When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy 
brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a 
recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the 
lame, the blind : etc. 

Plato. — In private entertainments, it will not be proper to invite our friends, 
but mendicants, and those who are in need of a hearty meal. — Phcedo., c. 8. 

Cicero. — In conferring or requiting kindness, the chief rule of our duty ought 
to be, if all other circumstances are equal, to confer most upon the man who 
stands in greatest need of assistance. The reverse of this is practised by the 
generality, who direct their greatest services to the man from whom they hope 
the most, though he may stand in no need of them. — De Off., lib. i., c. 15. 

Luke xiv: 16-24. — A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant 

at supper time, etc. 
See Matt, xxii : 2 

Luke xiv : 27. — And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my 

disciple. 
See Matt, xvi : 24. 

Luke xiv : 34. — Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his savour, etc. 
See Matt, v: 13. 



LUKE xv. 763 

THE LOST SHEEP, 

Luke xv : 4.-7. — What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not 
leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it ? 
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he, etc. 

Prof. R. C. Trench, M. A. — There is no image upon which the early church 
seems to have dwelt with greater delight than this of Christ as the Good Shep- 
herd bringing home his lost sheep. We have abundant confirmation of this in 
the very many gems, seals, fragments of glass, and other early Christian relics 
which have reached us, on which Christ is thus portrayed as bringing back a 
lost sheep to the fold upon his shoulders. In Tertullian's time it was painted 
on the chalice of the Holy Communion. Christ appears in the same character 
of the Good Shepherd in bas-reliefs on sarcophagi, and paintings in the 
catacombs. Sometimes there are other sheep at his feet, generally two, looking 
up with apparent pleasure at him and his burden • in his right hand he most 
often holds the seven-reeded pipe, emblem of the attractions of Divine Love, 
while with his left he steadies the burden which he is bearing on his shoulders. 
Sometimes he is sitting down, as if weary with the length of the way. And 
it is observable that this representation always occupies the place of honor, the 
centre of the vault or tomb. — Notes on the Parables, p. 298. 

THE TEN PIECES OF SILVER. 

Luke xv : 8. — Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not 
light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it. 

Bloomfield. — It will not seem strange that the woman should have needed 
to light a candle, in order to search for the coin, when we consider how 
exceedingly ill lighted were the houses of the lower ranks in ancient times. 
This is manifest from the relics of Herculaneum and Pompeii, where many 
of the smaller houses have no windows at all ; and in such as have them they 
are rather loop-holes than windows. — In loco. 

THE PRODIGAL. 

Luke xv : 15. — And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 
Bloomfield. — An employment contemptible among the Jews, as it had been 
with the Egyptians. Equally contemptible was it among the Greeks. — In loco. 

Luke xv : 16. — And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat. 
Prof. H. B. Tristram. — "Husks" — fruit of the Carob tree— a tree very 
common in Palestine from Hebron northwards. It blossoms at the end of Feb- 
ruary, and the pods are found in numerous quantities in April and May. They 
are flat and narrow, from six to ten inches in length. Before they are ripe, 
they are of a sweetish taste. These "husks," or pods, are to be seen on the 
stalls in all Oriental towns. They are chiefly used for feeding animals, es- 
pecially pigs. Both Horace and Juvenal speak of them as the food of the 
poorest and most miserable classes of men.— Nat. Hist, of Bib., p. 360. 



^64 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Luke xv : 32. — It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad : for this thy brother was 
dead, and is alive again ; and was lost, and is found. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — All this is indeed a divine epitome of the wandering 
of man and the love of God, such as no literature has ever equalled, such as no 
ear of man has ever heard elsewhere. Put in the one scale all that Confucius, 
or Sakya Mouni, or Zoroaster, or Socrates ever wrote or said — and they wrote 
and said many beautiful and holy words — and put in the other the Parable of 
the Prodigal Son alone, with all that this single parable connotes and means, 
and can any candid spirit doubt which scale would outweigh the other in 
eternal preciousness — in divine adaptation to the wants of man? — -Life of 
Christ, II., 135. 

Luke xvi : 13. — No servant can serve two masters, etc. 

See Matt, vi : 24. 
Luke xvi : 17. — And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. 
See Matt, v: 18. 

DIVES AND LAZARUS. 

Luke xvi : 22. — And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into 

Abraham's bosom. 

Socrates. — If I did not think that I should go first of all amongst other 
deities who are both wise and good, and next amongst men who have departed 
this life, better than any here, I should be wrong in not grieving at death. — 
Phozdo, c. 8. 

Luke xvi : 22, 23. — The rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, 
being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

Philemon. — Do you think that the dead, who, during their lifetime, enjoyed 
all kinds of luxuries, have escaped the deity, as if unseen by him ? There is an 
eye of Justice which sees all things. Even in Hades there are two paths; one 
of which is for the just, and the other for the unjust. — Apud Cle?n. Alex, 
strom., VII. 

Luke xvii: I. — Then said he unto his disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: 

but woe unto him, etc. 
See Matt, xviii : 6. 

Luke xvii : 3. — If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, etc. 
See Matt, xviii: 15. 

THE TEN LEPERS. 

Luke xvii: 12. — And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were 

lepers, which stood afar off. 

Lightfoot. — Lepers were not excluded from villages, and from those country 
towns which were unwalled in the time of Joshua. — In loco. 

Carne. — Near the foot of a hill, in Cyprus, in a most lonely spot, and in a 
wretched cottage, lived a family of lepers. These unfortunate people were 
avoided by all the other inhabitants, who dreaded to come near their dwelling. 
The disease was hereditary, for every one of their numerous family was afflicted 



LUKE XIX. 765 

with it. Some of them stood at the door, and looked the pictures of sadness 
and solitude. They would be starved, did not some of the people, who live in 
the plain, bring food occasionally, and place it at a short distance from the 
cottage. So great is the horror entertained of this disease. — Letters from the 
East. 

Luke xvii : 23. — And they shall say to you, See here ; or, See there : go not after them, nor 

follow them. 
See Matt, xxiv : 23. 

Luke xvii : 24. — For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv : 27. 

Luke xvii : 31. — In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his staff in the house, 

let him not, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv: 17. 

Luke xvii : 34, 35. — I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed ; the one shall 

be taken, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv: 41. 

Luke xvii : 37. — And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord ? And he said unto 
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. 
See Matt, xxiv : 28. 

THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 

Luke xviii : I. — Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. 
Seneca. — Cease not to pray; and ask particularly for wisdom, a sound mind, 
and health of body. Fear not to importune a gracious God, when you ask not 
for any foreign good, or for what belongs to another person. — Ej>ist., 10. 

SMITING UPON THE BREAST. 

Luke xviii: 13. — But smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful, etc. 
Quintillian. — By clenching the hand, and smiting the breast, we imply 
repentance or passion. — QuintiL, lib. xi., c. 3. 

Homer. — Smiting upon his breast, Ulysses thus began to chide his heart. — 
Od., xx., 17. 

Luke xviii : 15. — And they brought unto him also infants, that, etc. 
See Matt, xix: 13. 

Luke xviii : 21.— All these have I kept from my youth up. 
See Matt, xix : 20. 

Luke xviii : 24.— How hardly shall they that have riches, etc. 
See Matt, xix : 23. 

Luke xix : 1. — And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 
See Matt, xx : 29. 

ZACCHEUS. 

Luke xix : 2. — And behold there was a man named Zaccheus, which was the chief among the 

publicans, and he was rich. 
Dr. F. W. Farrar. — A colony of publicans was established in the city of 
Jericho to secure the revenues accruing from the large traffic in a kind of bal- 



766 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

sam, which grew more luxuriantly there than in any other place, and to regu- 
late the exports between the Roman province and the dominions of Herod 
Antipas. — Life of Christ, II., 183. 

Luke xix ; 4. — And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him ; for he was 

to pass that way. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — In Palestine, the Sycamore tree 
only grows in the mild climate of the maritime plains, Phoenicia, Acre, and 
Sharon, and in the hot Jordan valley. In growth with its low-spreading 
branches and dark foliage, it recalls the English oak, and its shade is most 
pleasing. It is, consequently, a favorite way-side tree, and is often planted by 
an Arab cafe to tempt the wayfarer to rest. It is very easy to climb, with its 
short trunk, and its wide lateral branches forking out in all directions. There 
are still a few gnarled and aged sycamores among the ruins by the way- 
side at ancient Jericho, and by the channel of the Wady Kelt. — Nat. Hist, of 
Bible, p. 398. 

THE NOBLEMAN GOING TO RECEIVE A KINGDOM. 

Luke xix ; 12. — A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, 

and to return. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This expression is derived from the state of things 
in Judea in the time of our Saviour. Judea was subject to the Romans, having 
been conquered by Pompey about sixty years before Christ. It was, however, 
governed by Jews who held the government under the Romans. It was 
necessary that the prince or king should receive a recognition of his right to 
the kingdom by the Roman emperor, and in order to this that he should go 
to Rome ; or, as it is said here, that he might receive to himself a kingdom. 
This actually occurred several times. Archelaus, a son of Herod the Great, 
about the time of the birth of Jesus, went to Rome to obtain a confirmation of 
the title which his father had left him, and succeeded in doing it. Herod the 
Great, his father, had done the same thing before to implore the aid and coun- 
tenance of Antony. Agrippa, the younger, grandson of Herod the Great, went 
to Rome also to obtain the favor of Tiberius, and to be confirmed in his gov- 
ernment. Such instances, having frequently occurred, would make this parable 
perfectly intelligible to those to whom it was addressed. — Note, in loco. 

Luke xix : 14.— But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not 

have this man to reign over us. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — This actually took place. — Archelaus went to Rome 
to obtain from Augustus a confirmation of his title to reign over that part of 
Judea which had been left him by his father, Herod the Great. The Jews 
knowing his character, sent an embassy of fifty men to Rome to prevail on 
Augustus not to confer the title on him, but they could not succeed. He 
received the kingdom, and reigned in Judea in the place of his father. As this 
fact was fresh in the memory of the Jews, it makes this .parable much more 
striking. — Note, in loco. 




< 






LUKE XIX. 767 

Luke xix : 29. And it came to pass when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, etc. 

See Matt, xxi : 1 . 

CHRIST WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM. 

Luke xix; 41. — And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it. 

Prof. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. — Two vast streams of people met 
on that day. The one poured out from the city, the other streamed forth from 
Bethany. The two streams met mid-way. Gradually the long procession swept 
up and over the ridge, where first begins "the descent of the Mount of Olives 
towards Jerusalem. . . A few moments, and the path mounts again, it climbs a 
rugged ascent, it reaches a ledge of smooth rock, and in an instant the whole 
city bursts into view. As now the dome of the Mosque El-Aksa rises like a 
ghost from the earth before the traveller stands on the ledge, so then must have 
risen the Temple tower ; as now the vast enclosure of the Mussulman sanctuary, 
so then must have spread the Temple courts \ as now the gray town on its 
broken hills, so then the magnificent city, with its background — long since van- 
ished away — of gardens and suburbs on the western plateau behind. Imme- 
diately below was the valley of the Kedron, here seen in its greatest depth as it 
joins the Valley of Hinnom, and thus giving full effect to the great peculiarity 
of Jerusalem, seen only on its eastern side — its situation as of a city rising out of 
a deep abyss. It is hardly possible to doubt that this rise and turn of the road, 
— this rocky ledge — was the exact point where the multitude paused again, and 
" He, when He beheld the city, wept over it." Nowhere else on the Mount of 
Olives is there a view like this ; and this, almost the only spot which the Gospel 
narrative fixes with exact certainty, is almost the only unmarked spot, — undefiled 
or unhallowed by mosque, or church, chapel, or tower — left to speak for itself, 
that here the Lord's feet stood, and here His eyes beheld what is still the most 
impressive view which the neighborhood of Jerusalem furnishes, — and the tears 
rushed forth at the sight. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 187-190. 

Luke xix : 43. — For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about 
thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. 

Josephus. — The Romans having begirt Jerusalem with their forces, and having 
made several assaults without the desired effect, Titus resolved to surround the 
city with a wall ; and by the diligence and emulation of the soldiers, animated 
by the presence, and acting under the continual inspection of the General, this 
work, which was worthy of months, was with incredible speed completed in 
three days. The wall was of the dimensions of thirty furlongs, and was 
strengthened with thirteen forts at proper distances : so that all hope of safety 
was cut off from the Jews, together with all the means of escaping out of the 
city. No provisions could be carried in, and no person could come out 
unknown to the enemy.—; Jewish Wars, lib. v., c. 12, § 1, and 2 and 3. 

Luke xix : 44. — And shall lay thee even with the ground, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv : 2. 



768 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Luke xx : 2. — Tell us by what authority doest thou these things ? 

See Matt, xxi : 23. 

Luke xx : 6. — But if we say, Of men ; all the people will stone us : for they be persuaded that 

John was a prophet. 
See Matt, xiv : 5. 

Luke xx : 9. — A certain man planted a vineyard and let it forth to husbandmen, etc. 
See Matt, xxi : 33. 

Luke xx : 22. — Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? 
See Matt, xxii : 15. 

Luke xx : 27. — Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any 
resurrection ; and they asked him, etc. 

See Matt, xxii : 23—33. 

Luke xxi : 3. — This poor widow hath cast in more than they all. 
See Matt, xii : 43. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE AND CITY FORETOLD. 

Luke xxi: 5-10. — And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones, 

and gifts, he said, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv: 1, etc. 

Luke xxi ; 11. — And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. 
Josephus. — While the Jews, miserable people, allowed themselves to be 
persuaded by deceivers, they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that 
were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation. Thus there 
was a star resembling a sword which stood over the city, and a comet that 
continued a whole year. — The people being assembled to celebrate the Feast of 
Unleavened Bread, at the ninth hour of the night, there shone so great a light 
about the altar and the temple, that it seemed to be bright day, and this con- 
tinued for half an hour. — The eastern gate of the temple which was of solid brass and 
very heavy, and was scarcely shut at evening by twenty men and was fastened 
by strong bars and bolts, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of its 
own accord, and could hardly be shut again. — Before the setting of the sun there 
was seen over all the country chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and 
besieging cities. — At the Feast of Pentecost, as the priests were going into the 
inner temple by night as usual to attend their service, they heard first a motion 
and noise, and then a voice as of a multitude, saying, " Let us depart hence." 
— And what might be reckoned the most terrible of all, one Jesus, an ordinary 
country fellow, four years before the war began, and when the city was in peace 
and plenty, came to the Feast of Tabernacles, and ran up and down the streets 
crying day and night, "A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice 
from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against 
the bridegrooms and the brides, a voice against all the people ! ' ' The magis- 
trates endeavored by stripes and torture, to restrain him ; but he still cried 



LUKE XXI. 769 

with a mournful voice, "Wo, wo, to Jerusalem!" This he continued to do 
for seven years and five months together, and especially at the great Festivals ; 
and he neither grew hoarse, nor was tired : but went about the walls, and cried 
with a loud voice, " Wo, wo to the city, and to the people, and to the temple ! " 
and, just as he added, at last, " Wo, wo also to myself! " a stone hurled from 
an engine struck him and killed him immediately. — -Jewish Wars, lib, vi., c. 

5>§3- 

Tacitus. — Before the taking of Jerusalem by Titus there had been omens, 
and prodigies, things which that nation, so addicted to superstition, but so 
averse to the gods, hold it unlawful to expiate either by vows or victims. 
Hosts were seen to encounter in the air ; refulgent arms appeared ; and by 
a blaze of lightning shooting suddenly from the clouds, all the temple was 
illuminated; the great gates of the temple were suddenly thrown open, and a 
voice more than human was heard to declare that the gods were about to depart. 
— Hist, V., 13. 

Dr. Jortin. — If Christ had not expressly foretold this, many, who give little 
heed to portents, and who know that historians have been too credulous in that 
point, would have suspected that Josephus exaggerated, and that Tacitus was 
misinformed ; but as the testimonies of Josephus and Tacitus confirm the pre- 
dictions of Christ, so the predictions of Christ confirm the wonders recorded by 
these historians. — Remarks on Eccles. Hist., Vol. I., p. 41. 

Bishop Newton. — Allowing all that incredulity can urge — that the light in 
the temple, and the armies in the air were but the play of natural meteors ; that 
other of these prodigies were feigned, and others exaggerated — yet the prediction 
of them is not the less divine on that account. — Disserts., p. 337. 

Luke xxi : 17. — And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. 

See Matt, x: 22. 

Luke xxi : 18. — But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This is a proverbial expression, denoting that they 
should not suffer any essential injury. This was strikingly fulfilled in the fact 
that in the calamities of Jerusalem there is reason to believe that no Christian 
suffered. Before those calamities came on the city (remembering the warning of 
Christ), they had fled to Pella, a city on the east of the Jordan. — Note, in loco. 
Luke xxi : 20. — And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, etc. 

See Matt, xxiv: 15. 

Luke xxi : 21. — Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains. 
See Matt, xxiv : 16. 

Luke xxi : 23. — But woe unto them that are with child, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv: 19. 

Luke xxi : 24. — And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into 
all nations : and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gen- 
tiles be fulfilled. 

Josephus. — The number of those who fell by the edge of the sword was very 



770 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



great. Those who perished during the siege of Jerusalem numbered no less 
than 1,100,000. Many were also slain at other times and in other places. By 
the command of Florus, who was the first author of the war, there were slain at 
Jerusalem 3,600. By the inhabitants of Caesarea, above 20,000. At Scytho- 
polis 13,000. At Ascalon 2,500 ; and at Ptolemais 2,000. At Alexandria, 
under Tiberius Alexander the president, 50,000. At Joppa, when it was taken 
by Cestius Gallus, 8,400. In a mountain called' Asamon near Sepphoris, above 
2,000. At Damascus 10,000. In a battle with the Romans at Ascalon 10,000. 
In an ambuscade near the same place 8,000. At Japha 15,000. Of the" 
Samaritans upon Mount Gerizim 11,600. At Jotapa 40,000. At Joppa, when 
taken by Vespasian, 4,200. At Tarichea 6,500; and after the city was taken 
1,200. At Gamala 4,000 slain, besides 5,000 who threw themselves down a 
precipice. Of those who fled with John from Gischala 6,000. Of the Gada- 
renes 15,000 slain, besides an infinite number drowned. In the villages of 
Idumea above 10,000 slain. At Gerasa 1,000. At Machserus 1,700. In the 
wood of Jardes 3,000. In the castle of Masada 960. In Cyrene by Catullus, the 
governor, 3,000. Besides these, many of every age, sex and condition, were 

slain in this war, who were not 
reckoned, but of those who are 
reckoned the number amounts 
to above 1,357,600. — See, 
Jewish Wars, Books II., III., 
IV., VI. and VII. 

And shall be led away captive into 
all nations. 

Josephus. — The number of 
captives was very great. There 
were taken, particularly at Japha, 2,130; at Jotapa 1,200; at Tarichea 6,000 
chosen young men were sent to Nero; the rest sold to the number of 30,400, 
besides those who were given to Agrippa ; of the Gadarenes 2,200; in Idumea 
above 1,000. Many besides these were taken at Jerusalem, so that the number 
of the captives taken in the whole war amounted to 97,000 : the tall and hand- 
some young men Titus reserved for his triumph ; of the rest, those above seven- 
teen years of age were sent to the works in Egypt, but most were distributed 
through the Roman provinces ; those under seventeen were sold for slaves.— See 
Jewish Wars, Books III., IV. and VI. 
And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 

Bishop Newton.— And accordingly Jerusalem has never since been in the 
possession of the Jews, but hath constantly been in subjection to some other 
nation, as first to the Romans, and afterwards to the Saracens, and then to the 
Franks, and then to the Mamelukes, and now to the Turks.— Disserts, on the 
Prophs., p. 366. 

Luke xxi : 25.— And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, etc. 

See Matt, xxiv : 29. 




COIN OF VESPASIAN — JUDEA CAPTA. 




(771) 



luke xxiii. 773 

Luke xxi : 27. — And then shall they see the Son of man coming, etc. 

See Matt, xxiv : 30. 

Luke xxi : 33. — Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words, etc. 

See Matt, xxiv: 35. 

Luke xxii : 2. — And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they 

feared the people. 
See Matt, xxvi : 3. 

Luke xxii : 19, 20. — And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, etc. 

See Matt, xxvi : 26. 

Luke xxii : 34. — I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, etc. 

See Mark xiv : 30. « 

THE BLOODY SWEAT. 

Luke xxii: 44. — And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly : and his sweat was as it were 
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 

Libr. William Aldis Wright, M. A. — Of this malady, "bloody sweat," 
known in medical science by the term Diapedesis, there have been examples 
recorded both in ancient and modern times. The cause assigned is generally 
violent mental emotion. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3128. 

Aristotle. — It happens to some that they sweat a certain bloody moisture, 
caused by the disordered state of their bodies. — De Part. An., III., 5. 
Lucian.— Blood falls for tears, and o'er his mournful face 
The ruddy drops their tainted passage trace: 
His mouth and gushing nostrils pour a flood, 
And ev'n the pores ooze out the trickling blood. 

— Phars., IX., 810. 
Maldonato. — A man at Paris, in full health and vigor, on hearing the sen- 
tence of death pronounced upon him, became covered with a bloody sweat. — 
Comm. hi Evang. 

Luke xxiii : 1. — And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. 
See Matt, xxvii : 2. 

Luke xxiii : 16. — I will therefore chastise him, and release him. 
See Matt, xxvii : 26. 

Luke xxiii : 26. — And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, etc. 
See Matt, xxvii: 32. 

THE EVILS AND SUFFERINGS OF COMING DAYS. 

Luke xxiii : 29.— For behold the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the 

barren, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv : 19. 

Luke xxiii: 30.— Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, 

Cover us. 



774 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — Many of them, and the majority of their children, 
would live to see such rivers of blood shed, and such complications of agony, 
as the world had never known before — days which would seem to overpass the 
capacity of human suffering, and would make men seek to hide themselves, if it 
might be, under the very roots of the hill on which their city stood. — These 
words of Christ met with a painfully literal illustration when hundreds of the 
unhappy Jews at the siege of Jerusalem hid themselves in the darkest and vilest 
subterranean recesses, and when, besides those who were hunted out, no less 
than 2,000 were killed by being buried under the ruins of their hiding-places 
(B. J., 6, 9, 4).— Life of Christ, II., 397. 

PARTING HIS RAIMENT. 

Luke xxiii : 34. — And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. 
Dr. F. W. Farrar. — The clothes of the victims always fell as perquisites to 
the men who had to perform so weary and disagreeable an office as their cruci- 
fixion. — Life of Christ, II., p. 407. 

Luke xxiii : 38.— And a superscription also was written over him, etc. 

See Matt, xxvii : 37. 

Luke xxiii : 47. — Certainly this was a righteous man. 

See Matt, xxvii : 54. 

Luke xxiv : I. — Now upon the first day of the week, very early, etc. „' 

See Mark xvi : 1. 

CHRIST'S WITNESSES. 

Luke xxiv : 48. — And ye are witnesses of these things. 
Whitby.— Christ's resurrection, being a matter of fact, must be proved by 
the testimony of eye-witnesses, and, if they be honest men, and such as suffer 
the greatest prejudices in fortunes, reputation and life, for this testimony, we 
have the greater reason to believe it : for their honesty must render them un- 
willing to testify a falsehood ; their interest and prudence would not suffer 
them, without any necessity laid upon them, to testify a lie ; much more to 
testify the grossest falsehood, to their utmost damage, and without any prospect 
of advantage. — Note, in loco. 



John. 



Rev. W. T. Bullock, M. A. — No doubt has been entertained at any time in 
the church, either of the canonical authority of this gospel, or of its being writ- 
fen by St. John. Ignatius, the disciple of John, was acquainted with his 
Gospel, for he quotes it more than once. Its phraseology may be clearly traced 
in the Epistle to Diognetus, and in Justin Martyr, about a. d. 150. 
Tatian, a. d. 170, wrote a harmony of the four Gospels, and he quotes St. 
John's Gospel in his only extant work; so do his contemporaries, Apollinaris, 
Athenagoras, and the writer of the Epistle of the churches of Vienne and 
Lyons. Theophilus of Antioch expressly ascribes this Gospel to John. And, 
to close the list of writers of the second century, the numerous and full testi- 
monies of Iren^eus in Gaul, and Tertullian at Carthage, and the Roman 
writer of the Muratonian Fragment, sufficiently show the authority attributed 
in the Western Church to this Gospel. The third century introduces equally 
decisive testimony from the Fathers of the Alexandrian Church, Clement and 
Origen, which it is unnecessary to quote here at length. — Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 1427. 

Prof. George Park Fisher, D. D. — It is an indisputable fact that in the 
last quarter of the second century the Fourth Gospel was received in every part 
of Christendom as the work of the apostle John. The prominent witnesses are 
Tertullian in North Africa, Clement in Alexandria, and Iren^eus in Gaul. 
The testimony of Irenaeus is decisive. He had in his youth known Polycarp, 
the immediate disciple of John, and retained a vivid recollection of his person 
and words. — Smith's Diet., p. 1431. 

THE WORD. 

John i : 3. — All things were made by him. 
Cicero. — All things must necessarily arise from some first cause. — Disp. 
Tusc, lib. i., c. 23. 

GOD INVISIBLE. 

John i: 18. — No man hath seen God at any time. 
Plutarch. — Numa seems to have thought, like Pythagoras, that the first cause 
is not an object of sense, nor liable to passion, but invisible, incorruptible, and 
discernible only by the mind. — Num., c. 8. 

John i; 27. — Whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to unloose. 

See Matt, iii : «n. 

48 (775) 



776 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

CANA. 

John ii : I. — And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother 

of Jesus, etc. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — The traditional site of "Cana" is at Kefr 
Kenna, a small village four and a-half miles northeast of Nazareth. It now 
contains only the ruins of a church, said to stand over the house in which the 
Saviour's first miracle was performed, and the fountain from which the water 
for the miracle was brought. — 'Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 351. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — There is not now a habitable house in Kana. Poor 
little lonely thing ! the proudest cities on earth might envy your lot. Nineveh 
and Babylon, and a thousand other names may be forgotten, but not "Cana of 
Galilee." It may even come to pass that Paris, London and New York will be 
dropped out of mind, and their very sites be lost ; but to the end of time, and to 
the end of the world, whenever and wherever there shall be the voice of the 
bride and the bridegroom, then and there will Cana of Galilee be remembered. 
— The Land and the Book, II., 124. 

THE DESCENT TO CAPERNAUM. 

John ii : 12. — After this he went down to Capernaum, etc. 
Dr. F. W. Farrar. — " He went down " — a touch of accuracy, since the road 
is one long descent. — Life of Christ, I., 174. 

THE TEMPLE IN BUILDING. 

John ii : 20. — Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt 

thou, etc. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Herod finished the main work on the temple, according 
to Josephus, in nine and a half years ; yet some additional buildings or repairs 
were constantly carried on for many years afterwards. He began the work six- 
teen years before the birth of our Lord, and this conversation was in the thir- 
tieth year of our Lord, which make the term exactly forty-six years. — Note, in 
loco. 

THE WIND. 

John iii : 8. — The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

Xenophon. — The winds are not discoverable to our sight, though we plainly 
see their effects, and know when they arise. And if there be anything in man 
partaking of the Divine Nature, it must be the soul which governs and directs 
him; yet no one considers this an object of sight. — Mem., lib. iv., c. 3. 

John iii: 24. — For John was not yet cast into prison. 

See Matt. 14: 3. 

JACOB'S WELL. 

John iv : 5, 6. — Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar. . . . Now Jacob's 

well was there. 

Dean Stanley. — Of all the special localities of our Lord's life in Palestine, 



john iv. 777 

this is almost the only one absolutely undisputed. By the edge of this well, in 
the touching language of the ancient hymn, Qucerens me, sedisti lassus. Here 
on the great road through which "He must needs go," when "He left Judea, 
and departed into Galilee," He halted, as travellers still halt, in the noon or 
evening of the spring day, by the side of the well, amongst the relics of a for- 
mer age. Up that passage through the valley, His disciples "went away into 
the city," which He did not enter. Down the same gorge came the woman to 
draw water, according to the unchanged custom of the East, which still, in the 
lively concourse of veiled figures round the way-side wells, reproduces the image 
of Rebekah, and Rachel, and Zipporah. Above them, as they talk, rose "this 
mountain ' ' of Gerizim, crowned by the Temple, of which the vestiges still re- 
main, where the fathers of the Samaritan sect "said men ought to worship," 
and to which still, after so many centuries, their descendants turn as the only 
sacred spot in the universe. And around them, as He and she thus sate or 
stood by the well, spread far and wide the noble plain of waving corn. It 
was winter or early spring — four months yet to the harvest ; and the bright 
golden ears of those fields had not yet whitened their unbroken expanse of ver- 
dure. — Sinai and Palestine, p. 238. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — We mounted the edge of the old vault, and read to- 
gether John iv., the first unfolding of a spiritual religion for the whole world. 
That chapter read by Jacob's Well brings home the accuracy of the narrator. 
The very ruins are in keeping with the scene. — Land of Israel, p. 147. 

Lieutenant S. Anderson, B.. E. — We lowered a candle down the well, and 
found the air perfectly good, and, after the usual amount of noise and talking 
among the workmen and idlers, I was lashed with a good rope round the waist 
and a loop for my feet, and lowered through the mouth of the Well by some 
trusty Arabs directed by my friend Mr. Fletcher, the Protestant Missionary. 
After having passed through the narrow mouth, I found myself suspended in a 
cylindrical chamber, in shape and proportion not unlike that of the barrel of a 
gun. . . . The Well is 75 feet deep, 7^ feet diameter, and is lined throughout 
with rough masonry, as it is dug in alluvial soil. The bottom of the Well was 
perfectly dry at this time of the year (the month of May), and covered with 
loose stones. There was a little pitcher lying at the bottom unbroken, and this 
was an evidence of there being water in the Well at some seasons, as the pitcher 
would have been broken had it fallen upon the stones. — Recovery of Jerusalem, 
362. 

Dr. J. P. Newman. — Had St. John written the incidents of the Saviour's 
Journey from Jerusalem to Sychar with a previous knowledge that his narrative 
would be subjected to a searching criticism by the enemies of Divine Truth, he 
could not have written with greater accuracy. As the facts of topography on 
which the traveller relies for the credibility of the story are recorded merely as 
incidents of the story itself, the correspondence between the statement and the 
fact is the more wonderful and convincing. — Dan to Beersheba, p. 318. 



778 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

CONVERSATION WITH THE WOMAN. 

John iv : 24. — God is a Spirit : and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Plato. — God the eternal, the chief Ruler of the universe, and its Creator, 
the mind alone beholds, but that which is produced we behold by sight. — Tim. 
Locr., c. 5. 

Pliny. — I consider it an indication of human weakness to inquire into the 
figure and form of God. For, whatever God be, and wherever he exists, he is 
all sense, all sight, all hearing, all life, all mind, and all within himself. — Hist. 
Nat., lib. ii., c. 5. 

John iv : 27. — And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman. 

Pharisaism. — To talk with a woman in public was one of the six things which 
a Rabbi might not do. — See Berachbth, fol. 43, b. 

John iv : 44. — For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. 
See Matt, xiii: 57. 

DESCENT FROM CAN A TO CAPERNAUM. 

John iv : 49. — Sir, come down ere my child die. 

Dr. E. Clarke. — The expression " Come down," applied to Capernaum, is 
singularly illustrated by the features of the country : for, in fact, the whole 
route from Cana, according to the position of the place now so called, is a con- 
tinued descent towards Capernaum. — Travels. 

BETHESDA. 

John v : 2, 3. — Now there is at Jerusalem ... a pool #alled Bethesda, having five porches. In 
these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving 
of the water. 

Dr. Henry J. Van-Lennep. — Mineral springs are abundant in Western Asia, 
and most of them formerly had protecting structures built over them, some of 
whose remains are yet standing. The Pool of Bethesda was probably supplied 
with water from an intermittent spring, which also possessed mineral qualities* 
This characteristic in springs of ebbing and flowing, is not at all uncommon. 
Bethesda is now dry, but the Pool of Siloam, which is of the same nature, and 
was probably supplied from the same source, has an intermittent ebb and flow 
recurring every few minutes. — Bible La?ids, p. 46. 

John v : 8. — Rise, take up thy bed and walk. 
See Matt, ix : 6. 

John vi : 5-14. — When Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he 
saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? etc. 

See Matt, xiv : 15. 

John vi : 18.— And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 
See Matt, xiv : 24. 




SYCHAR — John iv : 5. 




^n l M 




TIBERIAS, CITY AND LAKE— John VI : 23. 



%: 




BETHANY — John xii : I. 



john vi. 779 

TIBERIAS. 

John vi : 23. — rlowbeit there came other boats from Tiberias, etc. 

Josephus. — And now Herod the tetrarch, who was in great favor with 
Tiberius, built a city of the same name with him, and called it Tiberias. He 
built it in the best part of Galilee, at the lake of Gennesareth. There were 
warm baths at a little distance from it, in a village called Emmaus.~^%., 
18, 2, 3. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — The ancient name of Tiberias has 
survived in that of the modern Tubarieh, which occupies unquestionably the 
original site, except that it is confined to narrower limits than those of the 
original city. About a mile south along the shore are the warm baths which 
Pliny reckoned among the greatest known curiosities of the world. Tubarieh 
is four and a half hours distant from Nazareth, and one hour from Mejdel, 
(ancient Magdala). — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3243. 

Captain Wilson, R. E. — The modern town of Tabariyeh occupies only a 
small portion of the ground covered by the ancient Tiberias. A small church, 
and a mosque half in ruins, with its courtyard and fountain, are the only 
buildings which attract attention ; but lying about may still be seen some traces 
of the grandeur of the ancient city — here a magnificent block of polished 
granite from Upper Egypt, cut into a basin six feet four inches in diameter — 
there a hunting scene carved on the surface of a hard black lintel of basalt. 
To the south the ruins cover some extent of ground ; there are the remains of a 
sea-wall, and of some portions of a city-wall, twelve feet thick ; many traces of 
old buildings, broken shafts and columns, half-buried in rubbish ; and at one 
place, foundations which appear to belong to a church, perhaps to that which 
was built during the reign of Constantine on the site of Adrian's unfinished 
temple. — Recov. of Jerusl., p. 280. 

THE BREAD OF LIFE. 

John vi : 48, 49, and 59. — I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna, in the wilder- 
ness, and are dead. This is the bread that came down from heaven. . . . These things said he 
in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 

Captain Wilson, R. E. — The White Synagogue at Capernaum, built entirely 
of white limestone, must once have been a conspicuous object, standing out 
from the dark basaltic background ; it is now nearly level with the surface, and 
its capitals and columns have been for the most part carried away or turned into 
lime. The original building is seventy-four feet nine inches long, by fifty-six 
feet nine inches wide ; it is built north and south, and at the southern end has 
three entrances. In the interfbr we found many of the pedestals of the columns 
in their original positions, and several capitals of the Corinthian order buried 
in the rubbish ; there were also blocks of stone which had evidently rested on 
the columns and supported wooden rafters. ... If Tell-Hum be Capernaum, as 
we believe it to be, this is without doubt the synagogue built by the Roman 
centurion (Luke vii: 4, 5), and one of the most sacred places on earth. It was 



780 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

in this building that our Lord gave the well-known discourse in John vi., and 
k was not without a certain strange feeling that on turning over a large 
block we found the pot of i?ianna engraved on its face, and remembered the 
words, "I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilder- t 
ness, and are dead." — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 268-9. 

DOING THE WILL OF GOD. 

John vii: 17. — If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of 

God, etc. 

Aristotle. — That which is best is not apparent except to a good man. 
Depravity distorts the judgment, and produces deception about the practical 
principles. Hence it is evident that it is impossible for any one to be a prudent 
man, unless he is also a good man. — Eth., VI., 12. 

THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 

John vii : 46. — Never man spake like this man. 

St. Augustine. — The teaching of Christ is a great sea whose smiling surface 
breaks into refreshing ripples at the feet of our little ones, but into whose unfath- 
omable depths the wisest may gaze with the shudder of amazement and the thrill 
of love. — Conf, XII., 14. 

Rev. F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S. — And we who can compare Christ's 
teaching — the teaching of One whom some would represent to have been no 
more than the Carpenter of Nazareth — with all that the world has of best and 
greatest in Philosophy, and Eloquence, and Song, must not we too add, with 
yet deeper emphasis, that teaching as one having authority, He spake as never 
7nan spake ? Other teachers have by God's grace uttered words of wisdom, but 
to which of them has it been granted to regenerate mankind ? What would the 
world be now if it had nothing better than the dry aphorisms and cautious hesi- 
tations of Confucius, or the dubious principles and dangerous concessions of 
Plato ? Would humanity have made the vast moral advance which it has made, 
if no great Prophet from on High had furnished it with anything better than 
Sakya Mouni's dreary hope of a nirvdfia, to be won by unnatural asceticism, or 
than Mahomet's cynical sanction of polygamy and despotism? 

No faith — no teaching — has ever been able like Christ's to sway the affections 
and hearts of men. Other religions are demonstrably defective and erroneous ; 
His has never been proved to be otherwise than perfect and entire ; other systems 
were esoteric and exclusive, His simple and universal ; others temporary and for 
the few, His eternal and for the race. Confucius, Sakya Mouni, Mahomet, 
could not even conceive the ideal of a society without falling into miserable 
error; Christ established the reality of an eternal and glorious kingdom — whose 
theory for all, whose history in the world, prove it to be indeed what it was from 
the first proclaimed to be — the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God. 

And yet how exquisitely and freshly simple is the actual language of Christ 



JOHN VIII. 781 

compared with all other teaching that has ever gained the ear of the world ! 
There is no science in it, no art, no pomp of demonstration, no carefulness of 
toil, no trick of rhetoricians, no wisdom of the schools. Straight as an arrow 
to the mark His precepts pierce to the very depths of the soul and spirit. All is 
short, clear, precise, full of holiness, full of the common images of daily life. 
There is scarcely a scene or object familiar to the Galilee of that day, which 
Jesus did not use as a moral illustration of some glorious promise or moral law. 
He spoke of green fields, and springing flowers, and the budding of the vernal 
trees ; of the red or lowering sky; of sunrise and sunset; of wind and rain ; of 
night and storm; of clouds and lightning; of stream and river; of stars and 
lamps ; of honey and salt ; of quivering bulrushes and burning weeds ; of rent 
garments and bursting wine-skins ; of eggs and serpents ; of pearls and pieces 
of money ; of nets and fish. Wine and wheat, corn and oil, stewards and gar- 
deners, laborers and employers, kings and shepherds, travellers and fathers of 
families, courtiers in soft clothing and brides in nuptial robes — all these are 
found in his discourses. He knew all life, and had gazed on it with a kindly 
as well as a kingly glance. He could sympathize with its joys no less than he 
could heal its sorrows, and the eyes that were so often suffused with tears as 
they saw the sufferings of earth's mourners beside the bed of death, had shone 
also with a kindlier glow as they watched the games of earth's happy little ones 
in the green fields and busy streets. — Life of Christ, I., 269-272. 

Rousseau. — I confess to you farther, that the majesty of the Scriptures strikes 
me with admiration, as the purity of the Gospel hath its influence on my heart. 
Peruse the works of our philosophers, with all their pomp of diction ; how mean, 
how contemptible are they compared with the Scriptures ! Is it possible that a 
book at once so simple and sublime, should be merely the work of man? Is it 
possible that the Sacred Personage, whose history it contains, should be himself a 
mere man ? Do we find that he assumed the air of an enthusiast or ambitious 
sectary? What sweetness, what purity in his manners ! what an affecting grace- 
fulness in his delivery ! what sublimity in his maxims ! what profound wisdom in 
his discourses ! what presence of mind, what subtilty, what truth in his replies ! 
how great the command over his passions ! Where is the man, where the 
philosopher, who could so live and so die, without weakness and without 
ostentation? — Emilins, Vol. II., p. 218. 

WHO SHOULD CAST THE FIRST STONE. 

John via : 7. — He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 
Cicero. — All men are required to abstain most especially from those vices 
for which they have reproved others. Everything which you have impeached 
in another must be earnestly avoided by yourself. — In Verr., IV., 2. 

THE BONDAGE OF SIN. 

John viii : 23, 34- — They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to 
any man : how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free ? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. . 



782 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Epictetus. — No wicked man is free. If you were to tell this to a man that 
has been twice Consul he will cry — How ? Am I a slave ? My father was free, 
and my mother was free. It may be so, good sir ; for they perhaps were gen- 
erous, and you are mean ; they brave, and you a coward ; they sober, and you 
dissolute. — Epict., IV., i. 

Idem. — Surely no one who lives in error is free. — Epict., II., i. 

John viii : 36. — If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 

Epictetus. — No man hath power over me ; I am made free by God ; I know 
his commandments, and no man can bring me under bondage. — Epict., IV., 7. 

Plutarch. — The good man only is free, and all bad men are slaves. — Cat. 

Min.y c. 67. 

THE POOL OF SILOAM. 

John ix : 7. — Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. 

Josephus. — Now the valley of the cheesemongers, as it was called, and was 
that which we told you before distinguished the hill of the upper city from 
that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam ; for that is the name of a foun- 
tain which hath sweet water in it, and this in great plenty also.— Jewish 
Wars, 5, 4, 1. 

Rev. Henry Bailey, B. D. — Siloam is one of the few undisputed localities 
in the topography of Jerusalem, and which still retains its old name, with Arabic 
modification, Silwdn. Apart from the identity of name, there is an unbroken 
chain of exterior testimony, during eighteen centuries, connecting the present 
Birket Silwan with the " Shiloah " of Isaiah, and the " Siloam" of St. John. 
— Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3036. 

Carne. — The Fountain of Siloam breaks out of a rock on the side of Mount 
Zion, and falls into an open and rock-hewn excavation, to which a flight of 
ancient stone steps descends : it is deep, and clear as crystal. Its waters are as 
sweet, as full, and as beautifully clear now, as in the days of our Lord. It is a 
luxury to sit on the grass that grows above and look down on this celebrated 
water, the most useful, as well as healthful in the whole neighborhood ; and fol- 
low its rapid stream as it gushes down the side of Zion, and thence into the 
valley beneath, that passes into the wilderness. — Illustrations of the Holy Land, 
Vol. III. 

THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP, s 

John x : 3. — And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 

Heartley. — I asked my man if it was usual in Greece to give names to 
sheep. He informed me that it was, and that the sheep obeyed their shepherd 
when he called them by their names. This morning I had an opportunity of 
verifying the truth of this remark. Passing by a flock of sheep, I asked the 
shepherd the same question which I put to my servant, and he gave me the same 
answer. I then bade him to call one of his sheep. He did so, and it instantly 
left its pasturage and companions, and ran up to the hand of the shepherd with 
signs of pleasure, and with a prompt obedience which I had never before 





POOL OF SI LOAM. 



JENON, NEAR SALIM. 





WAILING PLACE OF THE JEWS. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



John xin. 783 

observed in any other animal. The shepherd told me that many of his sheep 
are still wild : that they had not yet learned their names, but that by teaching 
they would all learn them. — Researches in Greece and the Levant, p. 321. 

John x : 5. — And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him ; for they know not the 

voice of strangers. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — What our Saviour says of the good shepherd is true 
to the letter. . He leads them forth from the fold, just where he pleases. It is 
necessary that they should be taught to follow, and not to stray, when they are 
sure to get into trouble. The shepherd calls sharply from time to time to 
remind them of his presence. They know his voice and follow on ; but, if a 
stranger call, they stop short, lift up their heads in alarm, and, if it is repeated, 
they turn and flee, because they know not the voice of a stranger. This is not 
the fanciful costume of a parable ; it is simple fact. — The Land a?id the Book, 
I., 301. 

BETHANY. 

John xi: I, 18. — Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus, of Bethany . . . Now Bethany 
was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — There never appears to have been any 
doubt as to the site of Bethany, which is now known by a name derived from 
Lazarus — el'Azariyeh. It lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, a 
mile beyond the summit, and not very far from the point at which the road to 
Jericho begins its more sudden descent towards the Jordan Valley. The place 
is now but a ruinous village of some twenty families. In it are shown the tradi- 
tional sites of the house and tomb of Lazarus, and of the house of Simon the 
leper. As to the real age and character of these remains there is at present no 
information to guide us — they are first heard of in the fourth century. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 285. 

John xi : 43.— And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 
Dr. F. W. Farrar. — The village of Bethany is to this day called El-Azari- 
yeh, a corruption of Lazarus, and a continuous memorial of the miracle. — Life 
of Christ, II., 170. 

John xii : 2. — Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, etc. 
See Matt, xxvi : 7. 

John xii : 12-15. — On l ^ e next day mucn people that were come to the feast, when they heard 
that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet 
him, etc. 
See Matt, xxi: 8, and Luke xix: 41. 

KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE. 

John xiii : 17. — If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. 
Aristotle. — The end of ethical doctrines is not knowledge but action.— 
Eth., lib. i., c. 3. 




CHRIST RAISING LAZARUS. 



(784) 



john xix. 785 

Cicero. — It is not enough to treasure these things in the memory; they must 
be called forth into action. He is not the happy man who knows these things, 
but he who does them. — Epist., 75. 

ONE LEANING ON JESUS BOSOM. 

John xiii : 23. — There was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 
Pliny. — Nerva was at supper with a few guests; next to him was Veienio, 
who even leaned on his bosom. — Epist., TV., 22. 

THE BADGE OF LOVE. 

John xiii : 35. — By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one anothsr. 
Tertullian. — See, said the heathen, how they love one another; and are 
ready to lay down their lives for each other. — Apology. 

LOVE UNTO DEATH. 

John xv : 13. — Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 
Euripides. — Alas ! alas ! what shall I say hearing this noble speech of the 
maiden who is willing to die on behalf of her brothers? who can utter more 
noble words than these? who of men can do a greater deed? — Herac, v. 535. 

John xv : 27. — And ye also shall bear witness, etc. 

See Luke xxiv : 48. 

John xviii : 1. — When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the 
brook Cedron, where was a garden, etc. 

See Matt, xxvi : 36. 

John xviii : 13. — And led him away to Annas first, etc. 
See Matt, xxvi : 57. 

THE NIGHT COLD. 

John xviii : 18.— And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it 
was cold ; and they warmed themselves : and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D.— The incident of Peter's warming 
himself at such a fire on the night of the crucifixion, tallies both with the cli- 
mate of the country at the end of March or the beginning of April, and with 
the present customs-of the people. The nights at Jerusalem, at that season of 
the year, are cool, though the days may be warm; The air after sun-down 
becomes chilly, and, under the open sky, a person needs to increase his raiment 
or have recourse to a fire. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 473. 

John xix: 1.— Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 

See Matt, xxvii : 26. 

PILATE THE MORE AFRAID. 

John xix: 7, 8. — The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, be- 
cause he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the 
more afraid. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — Pilate was guilty, and guilt is cowardice, and cowardice 



786 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

is weakness. His own past cruelties, recoiling in kind on his own head, forced 
him now to crush the impulse of pity, and to add to his many cruelties another 
more heinous still. He knew that serious complaints hung over his head. Those 
Samaritans whom he had insulted and oppressed — those Jews whom he had 
stabbed promiscuously in the crowd by the hands of his disguised and secret 
emissaries — those Galileans whose blood he had mingled with their sacrifices — 
was not their blood crying for vengeance ? Was not an embassy of complaint 
against him imminent even now ? Would it not be dangerously precipitated if, 
in so dubious a matter as a charge of claiming a kingdom, he raised a tumult 
among a people in whose case it was the best interest of the Romans that they 
should hug their chains ? Dare he stand the chance of stirring up a new and 
apparently terrible rebellion rather than condescend to a simple concession, 
and even necessary compromise? — His tortuous policy recoiled on his own 
head, and rendered impossible his own wishes. The Nemesis of his past wrong- 
doing was that he could no longer do right. — Life of Christ, II., 376. 

THE TERROR OF CESAR'S NAME. 

John xix: 12. — If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself 

a king speaketh against Csesar. 

Dr. F. W. Farrar. — At that dark and terrible name of Csesar, Pilate 
trembled. It was a name to conjure with. It mastered him. He thought of 
that terrible implement of tyranny, the accusation of icesa mafestas, into which 
all other charges merged, which had made confiscation and torture so common, 
and had caused blood to flow like water in the streets of Rome. He thought 
of Tiberius, the aged gloomy Emperor, then hiding at Capreae his ulcerous 
features, his poisonous suspicions, his sick infamies, his desperate revenge. At 
this very time he had been maddened into a yet more sanguinary and misan- 
thropic ferocity by the detected falsity and treason of his only friend and 
minister, Sejanus, and it was to Sejanus himself that Pilate is said to have owed 
his position. There might be secret delators in that very mob. Panic-stricken, 
the unjust judge, in obedience to his own terrors, consciously betrayed the in- 
nocent victim to the anguish of death. — Life of Christ, II., 386. 

John xix : 17. — And he bearing his cross went forth into a place, etc. 

See Matt, xxvii : 31. 

John xix: 19. — And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. 

See Matt, xxvii : 37. 

John xix : 23. — Then the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made 

four parts, etc. 
See Luke xxiii : 34. 

THE THIRST OF CRUCIFIXION. 

John xix ; 28. — After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scrip- 
ture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 



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PKACE BK WITH YOU. 



(7S7) 



788 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Dr. Nicholson. — As-Sujuti, an Arabic writer, describing the crucifixion of a 
young Turk, in 1247, says that he complained of intense thirst on the first day, 
and his sufferings were increased by seeing constantly before him the waters of 
the Barada, on the banks of which he was crucified. — In Kitto, L, 595. 

John xix: 39. — And there came also Nicodemus, . . . and brought a mixture of myrrh and 
aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 

See Matt, xxvi : 12, and Mark xvi : 1. 

THOMAS CONVINCED. 

John xx • 28. — And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 
Westcott. — If Christ did not rise, we have not only to explain how the 
belief in His resurrection came to be received without any previous hopes 
which could lead to its reception, but also how it came to be received with that 
intensity of personal conviction which could invest the life and person of Christ 
with attributes never before assigned to any one, and that by Jews who had been 
reared in the strictest monotheism. — Gospel of the Resurrection, p. 112. 

THE NAKED FISHERMAN. 

John xxi : 7. — Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto 
him (for he was naked), and did cast himself into the sea. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — In this hot climate it is common to fish with nothing 
but a sort of shawl or napkin tied round the waist. This they doff or don in a 
moment. — The Land and the Book, II., 81. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram. — These fishermen with the casting-net at the present 
day work stark naked, with the exception of a thick woollen skull cap. On the 
Egyptian monuments, all persons catching fish and waterfowl with nets are de- 
picted naked. The custom, therefore, appears to have been ancient and wide- 
spread. — Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 290. 



Acts. 



PREFACE. 

Acts i: I. — The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do 

and to teach. 

Rev. Henry Alford, D. D. — The book of Acts was written about a. d. 6$. 
Its genuineness has ever been recognized in the church. It is mentioned by 
Eusebius (H. E., III., 25) among the accepted and inspired writings. It is 
first directly quoted in the Epistle of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne to those 
of Asia and Phrygia, a. d. 177; then repeatedly and expressly by Iren^eus, 
Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and so onwards. — Smith's Diet, of the 
Bible, p. 23. 

See Gospel of Luke i : 1-4. 

Prof. Hug. — The Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of Luke constitute a 
whole, of which the latter is the first and the former the last part. In 'the 
Gospel he presents to us the history of Jesus, until his ascension \ in the Acts 
he again resumes the thread of the narrative, where he had dropped it in the 
first history. If we connect the beginning of Acts with the end of the Gospel, 
we evidently perceive that, in the latter, he postpones the circumstantial treat- 
ment of the ascension, to preserve it for the following work; and that he 
had already resolved upon the plan of its continuation in the Acts of the 
Apostles when he was finishing the Gospel. — Introd. to Acts, sect. 72. 

CHRIST'S WITNESSES. 

Acts i : 8. — And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 

See under Matt, xxiv : 14. 

HIS OWN PLACE. 

Acts i : 25.— Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. 
Plato. — The impure soul is carried by necessity to a place suited to it ; but 
the soul that has passed through life with purity and moderation, having the 
gods for its fellow-travellers and guides, settles each in the place suited to it. — 
Phcedo., c. 57. 

JEWS DWELLING IN ALL COUNTRIES. 

Acts ii : 5. — And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation 

under heaven. 

Philo JuDjEUS. — To Caius Caesar. . . . The holy city of Jerusalem, not merely 
as the metropolis of Judaea, but of many other regions., because of the colonies 

(789) 



790 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

led out at different times from Judea ; not only into neighboring countries, such 
as Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, and Ccelosyria ; but also into those that are remote, 
such as Pamphilia, Cilicia, and the chief parts of Asia as far as Bithynia, and 
the innermost parts of Pontus : also into the regions of Europe, Thessaly, 
Boeotia, Macedonia, '^Etolia, Attica, Argos, Corinth, and the principal parts of 
Peloponnesus. Not only the continents and provinces are full of Jewish 
colonies, but the most celebrated isles also, Eubcea, Cyprus, and Crete, not to 
mention the countries beyond the Euphrates. All these are inhabited by Jews. 
Not only my native city entreats thy clemency, but other cities also, situated in 
different parts of the world, Asia, Europe, Africa ; both islands, sea-coasts, and 
inland countries. — Philonis Opera (Mongey Edit.), Vol. II., p. 587. 

PROPHETIC SIGNS. 

Acts ii : 20. — The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon, etc. 
See under Matt, xxiv: 29. 

THE GATE BEAUTIFUL. 

Acts iii : 2. — And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid 
daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them who entered 
into the temple. 

Josephus. — Now, nine of the Temple gates were covered over with gold and 
silver, as were the jambs of their doors and their lintels : but there was one 
gate that was without the inward court of the holy house, which was of 
Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those that were only covered over with 
silver and gold. The magnitudes of the other gates were equal one to another ; 
but that of the Corinthian gate, which opened on the East over against the gate 
of the holy house itself, was much larger, for its height was fifty cubits, and its 
doors were forty cubits ; and it was adorned after the most costly manner, as 
having much richer and thicker plates of silver and gold upon them than the 
other. — -Jewish Wars. 5, 5, 3. 

ANNAS AND CAIAPHAS. 

Acts iv : 6. — And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, etc. 

See Luke iii: 2. 

OBEDIENCE TO GOD BEFORE MEN. 

Acts iv : 20. — For wc cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. 

Socrates. — I honor and love you, O Athenians ; but I shall obey God rather 
than you; and as long as I breathe and am able, I shall not cease studying 
philosophy, and exhorting you, and warning every man I may meet. — Plat. 
Apol. Socr., c. 17. 

ALL THINGS COMMON. 

Acts iv: 32. — And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: 
neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they 
had all things common. 



ACTS VII. 791 

Aristotle. — The proverb that the property of friends is common, is right; 
for friendship consists in community : and to brothers and companions all things 
are common. — Eth., lib. viii., c. 9. 

Seneca. — True friends have all things in common. — Epist., 48. 

THE SADDUCEES. 

Acts v : 17. — Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him (which is the sect 

of the Sadducees). 
See Matt, xxii : 23. 

JUDAS OF GALILEE. 

Acts v : 37. — After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away 

much people after him. 

Josephus. — Yet was there one Judas, a Gaulonite, of a city whose name was 
Gamala, who taking with him Saddouk, a Pharisee, became zealous to draw them 
to a revolt, who both said that this taxation was no better than an introduction 
to slavery, and exhorted the nation to assert their liberty. — Antq., 18, 1, 1. 

CIRCUMCISION. 

Acts vii : 8. — And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. 

See Gen. xvii : 10. 

THE DEARTH. 

Acts vii: n. — Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great 

affliction. 

See Gen. xli : 56, and xlvii : 13. 

THE KING WHO KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 

Acts vii: 18. — Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. 

See Exod. i : 8. 

THE WISDOM OF EGYPT. 

Acts vii : 22. — And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in 

words and in deeds. 

Rev. T. S. Milltngton. — All ancient profane writers suppose Egypt to have 
been the seat of learning in the earliest ages. — Testimony of the Heathen, p. 535. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Many wise and learned men among the Grecians 
journeyed into Egypt in ancient times to study the laws and sciences of that 
country. The Egyptian priests relate that Orpheus, Musseus, Melampus, 
Dsedalus, Homer, Lycurgus, Solon, Plato, Pythagoras, and others, all came to 
Egypt: and they give proofs of their having been there. — Diod. Sic, lib. 
i., c. 96. 

Strabo. — Heliopolis was anciently the principal residence of the priests, who 
studied philosophy and astronomy. — Strab., lib. xvii., c. 1. 

Acts vii : 28, 29. — Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at 

this saying, etc. 
See Exod. ii : 15. 
49 



792 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

THE BURNING BUSH. 

Acts vii: 33. — Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet; for the place where 

thou standest is holy ground. 

See Exod. iii : 5. 

THE GOLDEN CALF. 

Acts vii : 41. — And they made a calf in those days, and offered, etc. 
See Exod. xxxii : 4. 

THE DYING PRAYER. 

Acts vii : 60. — And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their 

charge. 

Plutarch.— When Phocion was about to suffer death, one of his friends 
asked him whether he had any commands for his son. " Yes," said he; "by 
all means tell him from me, to forget the ill-treatment I have had from the 
Athenians." — Phoc, c. 36. 

And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 

Callimachus. — Beneath this tomb, in sacred sleep, 
The virtuous Saon lies ; 
Ye passengers forbear to weep, 

A good man never dies. — Epigr., 10. 

ROMAN ROAD TO GAZA. 

Acts viii : 26. — And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the 
south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 

Prof. H. B. Tristram, LL. D., F. R. S. — The Romans, that national genius 
for road-making which has left its traces in the remotest parts of Europe, greatly 
increased the facilities for communication among the most rugged hills of Pales- 
tine. There was a chariot-road to Egypt, originally constructed, as is prob- 
able, by Solomon, and paved by the Romans, of which traces remain. — Nat. 

Hist, of Bible, p. 106. 

Gaza, which is desert. 

Arrian. — Gaza is a large and populous city situated on a high hill, and sur- 
rounded by a strong wall. It is the last inhabited place which travellers meet 
on their way from Phoenicia to Egypt, and borders upon avast desert. — Exped. 
Alex., lib. ii., c. 26. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Gaza is remarkable for its continuous existence 
and importance from the very earliest times. It is still a place of very consid- 
erable size. The secret of this unbroken history is to be found in its situation. 
It lay on the road which must always have been the line of communication 
between the valley of the Nile and the whole region of Syria. "Those travel- 
ling towards Egypt naturally lay in here a stock of provisions and necessaries 
for the desert ; while those coming from Egypt arrive at Gaza exhausted, and 
must of course supply themselves anew." — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 874. 



acts ix. 793 

CANDACE. 

Acts viii : 27. — Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. 
Pliny. — A female, whose name was Candace, was said to rule over Meroe, in 
Ethiopia, that name having passed from queen to queen for many years. — Hist. 
Nat.* lib. vi., c. 35. 

CITIES OF PHILISTIA. 

Acts viii : 40. — But Philip was found at Azotus. 

Rev. W. L. Bevan, M. A. — Azotus (anciently named Ashdod) was one of the 
five confederate cities of the Philistines, situated about thirty miles from the 
southern frontier of Palestine, three from the Mediterranean Sea, and nearly mid- 
way between Gaza and Joppa. It stood on an elevation overlooking the plain, 
and the natural advantages of its position were improved by fortifications of great 
strength. It is now an insignificant village, with no memorials of its ancient 
importance, but is still called Esdud. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 171. 
And passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Csesarea. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — These cities through which Philip passed were Joppa, 
Lydda, Askalon, Arimathea, etc., all lying along the coast of the Mediterranean. 
— Note, in loco. 

Josephus. — Now upon his observation of a place near the sea, which was very 
proper for containing a city, and was before called Strato's Tower, Herod set 
about getting a plan for a magnificent city there, and erected many edifices with 
great diligence all over it ; and this of white stone. He also adorned it with 
most sumptuous palaces, and large edifices for containing the people; and, what 
was the greatest and most laborious work of all, he adorned it with a haven, 
that was always free from the waves of the sea. Its largeness was not less than 
the Pyraeum at Athens, and had towards the city a double station for the ships, 
etc. This city he named Ccesarea, in honor of Caesar. It was 600 stadia (or 
about seventy miles) from Jerusalem. — Aniq., 15, 9, 6. 

DAMASCUS. 

Acts ix: I, 2. — And Saul . . . went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damas- 
cus to the synagogues. 

Prof. George Rawlinson, M. A. — Damascus is one of the most ancient, 
and has at all times been one of the most important of the cities of Syria. It 
is situated (120 miles northeast of Jerusalem, and 190 southeast of Antioch) in 
a plain of vast size and of extreme fertility which lies east of the great chain of 
Anti-Libanus, on the edge of the desert. This plain is watered by the Barada, 
the "Abana" of Scripture. It is still a city of 150,000 inhabitants. — Smith's 
Diet, of the Bible, p. 530. 

SAULS CONVERSION. 

Actsix: 3. — And as he journeyed he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round 

about him a light from heaven. 

Dr. Hogg. — We turned into a wide, open road, and passing through a large 
unenclosed Christian cemetery, soon reached the place, still highly venerated, 



794 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

of the apostle's miraculous conversion. The present track deviates from the 
straight line, leaving, a few yards to the right, the precise spot believed to be 
that where he " fell to the earth." This is evidently a portion of an ancient 
road, consisting entirely of firm embedded pebbles, which, having never been 
broken up, stands alone like the fragment of an elevated causeway. The sides 
have been gradually lowered by numerous pilgrims, who, in all ages, have sought 
the pebbles to preserve as relics. — Visit to Alex., Damasc. and Jerus., 1835. 
Acts ix: 5. — It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 

Euripides. — Kick not against the pricks, or you will suffer for it. — Agam., v. 
1524. 

Plautus. — If you thump a goad with your fists, your own hands are hurt the 
most. — True, act I., sc. 2. 

HOUSE OF ANANIAS. 

Acts ix : 10. — And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias ; and to him said the 

Lord in a vision, etc. 

Dr. Richardson. — The spot on which the house of Ananias stood is still 
pointed out to the traveller ; it is situated among poor houses, near the Catholic 
Convent, and seems to be held in equal veneration by Turks and Christians, and 
is equally a place of prayer for both. — In Pict. Bible. 

THE STREET CALLED STRAIGHT. 

Acts ix: ii. — And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, 

and inquire, etc. 

Maundrell. — This morning we went to see the street called " Straight." 
It is about half a mile in length, running from east to west through the city. 
It being narrow, and the houses jutting out in several places on both sides, you 
cannot have a clear prospect of its length and straightness. In this street is 
shown the house of Judas with whom Paul lodged. — -Journey, p. 133. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — The old city — the nucleus of Damascus — is 
oval in shape, and surrounded by a wall, the foundations of which are Roman, 
if not earlier, and the upper part a patchwork of all subsequent ages. Its 
greatest diameter is marked by the Straight Street, which is an English mile in 
length. At its east end is Bab Shurky, the " East Gate," a fine Roman portal, 
having a central and two side arches. This is the street along which Paul was 
led by the hand, and in which was " the house of Judas," where he lodged. — 
Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 355. 

TARSUS. 

Acts ix : 11. — And inquire for one called Saul, of Tarsus. 
Prof. Charles Anthon, LL. D. — Tarsus was a celebrated city of Cilicia, on 
the river Cydnus, not far from its mouth. According to Strabo, it was founded 
by Triptolemus and his Argive followers. It continued a flourishing city for a 
long period, and was celebrated as the seat of refinement and learning. It still 
survives, but only as the shadow of its former self. It is now called Tarsous, and 
is in subjection to Adana, an adjacent city. — Classical Dictionary. 



ACTS IX. 795 

ESCAPE IN A BASKET. 

Acts ix : 25. — Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. 
Dr. John Kitto. — The method of drawing up or letting down persons in 
baskets is still very much resorted to in the East, when danger is apprehended 
from the ordinary mode of ingress or egress. The Christians of Damascus fail 
not to point out the exact spot where the Apostle was let down. — Pict. Bib., in 
loco. 

LYDDA AND SARON. 

Acts ix : 32-35. — And it came to pass as Peter passed through all quarters, he came down also 
to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Eneas, which 
had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Eneas, 
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole : arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And 
all that dwelt at Lydcla and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. 

Mr. George Grove, Cryst. Pal. — Quite in accordance with these and other 
scattered indications of Scripture is the situation of the modern town, which 
exactly retains its name, and probably its position. Lidel, or Ludd, stands in 
the Merj, part of the great maritime plain, which anciently bore the name of 
"Sharon." It is nine miles from Joppa, and is the first town on the northern- 
most of the two roads between that place and Jerusalem. In a. d. 66, the city 
was burnt by Cestius Gallus, on his way from Caesarea to Jerusalem. — Smith's 
Diet, of Bible, p. 1701. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — Even now, though its glory is gone, Lydda 
has an imposing look. It is embowered in verdure. The village stands on a 
gentle eminence. We climbed to the top of the crumbling wall, and there sat 
down to read the story of Peter's visit to this place. The whole village was in 
full view, and the great plain around it. Peter was away on one of his mission- 
ary tours in the hill country of Samaria, "and 1 e came down also to the saints 
which dwelt at Lydda." He came down through the denies of those mountains, 
and across that broad rich plain of Sharon, or Saron, to this old town. The 
saints met him as he entered, and told him of the sufferings of poor paralytic 
Eneas ; and the scene then enacted at his bedside was such as the people had 
never before witnessed. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 192. 

JOPPA. 

Acts ix : 38. — And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh Joppa, and the disciples had heard that 
Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come 

to them. 

Prof. J. Leslie Porter, M. A. — The joyful news of the healing of Eneas 
soon found its way to Joppa, only ten miles distant ; and then the mourning 
friends of the charitable Tabitha despatched quick messengers to tell Peter of 
her death, half hoping that even she might not be beyond the reach of his 
power. Peter delayed not, but set out across that western plain on another jour- 
ney of mercy. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 193. 



796 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ITALIAN BAND. 

Acts x: I. — There was a certain man in Csesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band 

called the Italian band. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — It is no longer questioned that the 
Roman cohorts were distinguished from each other as well as the legions, not 
by numbers only but by names. Five legions are known to have been called 
" Italian," and at least one cohort. One of Gruter's inscriptions speaks of a 
" Cohors militum Italiconim voluntaria, quae est in Syria." There was a class 
of soldiers in the Roman army who enlisted of their own accord, and were 
known as voluntarii in distinction from conscripts. It is supposed, therefore, 
with good reason, that there was such a cohort at Csesarea, at the time to which 
Luke's narrative refers, and that it was called Italian because it consisted of 
native Italians; whereas the other cohorts in Palestine were levied, for the most 
part, from the country itself. And as Caesarea was the residence of the Roman 
procurator, it was important that he should have there a body of troops on whose 
fidelity he could rely. We may add that, if the soldiers who composed this 
legion were Italians, no doubt Cornelius himself who commanded them was an 
Italian. — Smith's Did. of Bible, p. 1181. 

HOUSE OF SIMON THE TANNER. 

Acts x : 5, 6. — And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: 
he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea-side. 

Edward Salusbury Ffoulkes, M. A. — Joppa (now Yaffa) is a town on the 
southwest coast of Palestine, the port of Jerusalem in the days of Solomon, as 
it has been ever since. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1453. 

Prof. A. P. Stanley, D. D. — One of the few localities which can claim to 
represent an historical scene of the New Testament is the site of the house of 
Simon the tanner, at Jaffa or Joppa. The house itself is a comparatively modern 
building, occupied by Mussulmans, and regarded by them as sacred. Its claims 
are remarkably confirmed by the circumstances of the situation. The house is 
close " on tne sea-shore; " the waves beat against the low wall of its court-yard. 
In the court-yard is a spring of fresh water, such as must always have been 
needed for the purposes of tanning, and which, though now no longer so used, 
is authentically reported to have been so used, in a tradition, which describes 
the premises to have been long employed as a tannery. — Sinai and Palestine, 
p. 269. 

Prof. J. L. Porter, M. A. — I landed at Joppa, a bustling town of 5,000 
inhabitants, beautifully situated on the western slope of a hill, looking down 
into the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Guided by a young Jew I went at 
once to "the house of Simon the tanner." The house is modern, but it 
probably occupies the old site. It stands by "the sea-side;" and from its 
roof — flat now as in ancient times — I looked out on the same boundless sea on 
which the apostle must have looked when " he went up upon the housetop to 



acts xi. 797 

pray." The hour too was the same — ''the sixth hour," or noon. There was 
something deeply impressive in being thus brought as it. were into immediate 
connection with that wondrous vision which the Lord employed as a key to 
open the Gentile world to Christ's Gospel. — Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 229. 

ANTIOCH IN SYRIA. 

Acts xi : 25, 26. — Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: and when he had found 
him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass tnat a whole year they assembled 
themselves with the church, and taught much people. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Antioch in Syria was the capital of the Greek 
kings of Syria, and afterwards the residence of the Roman governors of the 
province which bore the same name. This metropolis was situated west of the 
chain of Lebanon, where the Orontes breaks through the mountains. It stood 
at a bend of the river, partly on an island, partly on the level which forms the 
left bank, and partly on the steep and craggy ascent of Mount Silpius. Antioch 
was founded in the year 300 b. c. by Seleucus Nicator. It grew under the suc- 
cessive Seleucid kings, till it became a city of great extent and remarkable 
beauty. The early Roman emperors raised there some large and important 
structures, such as aqueducts, amphitheatres, and baths. Herod the Great con- 
tributed a road and a colonnade. Jews were settled there from the first in large 
numbers, and were allowed to have the same political privileges with the Greeks. 
The modern name of the place is Antakia, and which is a shrunken and miser- 
able place. Some of the walls have been shattered by earthquakes ; a gateway 
remains which still bears the name of St. Paul. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, 
p. 113. 

And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. 

Dr. J. S. Howson. — "Christians" was the name which naturally found its 
place in the reproachful language of their enemies. In the first instance, we 
have every reason to believe that it was a term of ridicule and derision. And 
it is remarkable that the people of Antioch were notorious for inventing names 
of derision, and for turning their wit into the channels of ridicule. Apollonius 
of Tyana was driven out of the city by their insults, and sailed away (like St. 
Paul) from Seleucia to Cyprus. — Con. and How's. Life of Paul, Vol. I., p. 119. 

FAMINE IN THE DAYS OF CLAUDIUS. 

Acts xi : 2S. — And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that 
there should be great dearth throughout all the world : which came to pass in the days of 
Claudius Caesar. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Claudius Csesar began his reign a. d. forty-one, and 
reigned thirteen years. During his reign no less than four different famines are 
mentioned by ancient writers. The first happened at Rome, and occurred in 
the first or second year of the reign of Claudius. It is mentioned by Dio, 
whose words are these: "There being a great famine, Claudius not only took 
care for a present supply, but provided also for the time to come." (Dio., lib. 



798 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES". 

60.) A second famine is mentioned as having been particularly severe in Greece. 
Of this famine Eusebius speaks in his Chronicon, p. 204: "There was a great 
famine in Greece, in which a modius of wheat (about half a bushel) was sold for 
six drachms." This occurred in the ninth year of Claudius. In the latter part 
of his reign, a. d. 51, there was another famine at Rome, mentioned by Sue- 
tonius (Claud., c. 18), and by Tacitus (Ann. XII. , 43). Of this Tacitus says, 
that it was so severe, that it was deemed to be a divine judgment. A fourth 
famine is mentioned as having occurred particularly in Judea. This is described 
by Josephus (Ant. 20, 2, 5). "A famine," says he, "did oppress them at the 
time (in the time of Claudius) ; and many people died for the want of what was 
necessary to procure food withal. Queen Helena sent some of her servants to 
Alexandria, with money to buy a great quantity of corn, and others of them to 
Cyprus to bring a cargo of dried figs." This famine is described as having 
continued under two procurators of Judea, Tiberias Alexander and Cassius 
Fadus. This famine continued during the fifth, sixth, and seventh years of the 
reign of Claudius, and to this doubtless the sacred writer refers in Acts xi : 28. 
— Note, in loco. 

HEROD 'S PERSECUTION. 

Acts xii: 1. — Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of 

the church. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The king here named was Herod Agrippa, the grand- 
son of Herod the Great ; and the time, about a. d. 47. — Note, i?i loco. 

Acts xii : 2. — And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — "Killing with the sword" was the punishment which, 
according to the Talmud, was inflicted on those who drew away the people to 
any strange worship. (Sanhedr., fol. iii.) James was probably accused of this, 
and hence this punishment. —Note, in loco. 

Acts xii : 3. — And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — That Herod was ambitious, vain, and fawning, and 
sought, as his great principle, popularity, is attested by Josephus : " This king 
was by nature very beneficent, and liberal in his gifts, and very ambitious to 
please the people with such large donations ; and he made himself very illustrious 
by many expensive presents he made them. He took delight in giving, and 
rejoiced in living with good reputation:' (Ant. 19, 8, 3.) — Note, in loco. 

Acts xii : 4. — And delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him. 
Vegetius. — Quaternion is a military term, signifying a guard of four soldiers, 
two of whom were attached to the person of a prisoner,- while the other two 
kept watch outside the door of his ceA.—De Re Mil., III., 8. 

PETER'S DELIVERANCE. 

Acts xii: 5. — Peter therefore was kept in prison : but prayer was made without ceasing of the 

church unto God for him. 



acts xii. 799 

Lucanus. — Perigrinus, who professed Christianity, being in prison, the 
brethren were assiduous in affording him every supply that could conduce to his 
comfort. By the first dawn of day, a number of old women, widows and young 
orphans, were seen hovering about the prison; some of the principal persons 
even bribed the jailer, and passed whole nights with him. Likewise sumptuous 
meals were carried in to him, and they read their sacred books together. — De 
Mort. Per eg., c. 12. 

Acts xii : 6. — Peter was asleep between two soldiers, bound with two chains. 

Lardner.— This was a common mode of securing prisoners among the Ro- 
mans. — Credibility, Part L, c. 10, § 9. 

Acts xii: 10. — When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate 

that leadeth unto the city. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — In the East the gates are often plated over with iron, for 
greater security, to the present day. Pitts speaks of such in Algiers, and 
Pocoke at Antioch. — Note, in loco. 

Acts xii : 19. — And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the 
keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The Roman law condemned jailers, watchmen, etc., to 
suffer the same kind of punishment which should have been inflicted on the 
prisoner whom they allowed to escape. — Note, in loco. 

HEROD'S DEATH. 

Acts xii ; 19-23. — And Herod went down from Judea to Csesarea, and there abode. . . . And 
upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration 
unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 
And immediately the angel of the Lord smote. him, because he gave not God the glory: and 
he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. 

Josephus. — Now when Agrippa had reigned three years, over all Judea, he 
came to the city Caesarea, which was formerly called Strato's Tower; and there 
he exhibited shows in honor of Caesar, upon his being informed that there was 
a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety. At which festival a 
great multitude was gotten together of the principal persons, and such as were 
of dignity through his province. On the second day of which shows, he put on 
a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came 
into the theatre early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment 
being illuminated by the first reflection of the sun's rays upon it, shone out after 
a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those 
that looked intently upon him ; and presently his flatterers cried out, one from 
one place and another from another (though not for his good), that "he was a 
god; " and they added, "Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto 
reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as a superior 
to mortal nature." Upon this the king did neither rebuke them nor reject their 
impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up, he saw an owl sit- 
ting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird 



800 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



was the messenger of ill tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good 
tidings to him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain also arose in 
his belly, and began in a most violent manner. And when he had been quite 




worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in 
the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign. — Antiq., 
19, 8, 2. 



ACTS XIII. 801 

And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 

Homer. — Thoas, who reigned in ^Etolia, was honored by his people as a 
god.— Iliad, XIII., 218. 

Maximus Tyrius. — The city venerates the king, when he approaches, like a 
god. — Diss., 16. 

And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory. 

Tacitus. — Tiberius would not accept the title of Father of his country, and 

sharply rebuked those who styled his doings divine, and himself Lord. — Ann., 

II., 87. 

And he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. 

Herodotus. — Pheretime, having gratified her revenge on the Barceans, re- 
turned from Lybia to Egypt, and there perished miserably. Whilst alive her 
body was the victim of worms : thus it is that the gods punish those who have 
provoked their indignation. — Melpomene, c. 205. 

Prof. Charles Rollin. — Antiochus Epiphanes . . . suffered inexpressible 
torments. Worms crawled from eveiy part of him ; his flesh fell away piece- 
meal; and the stench was so great that it became intolerable to the whole 
army. — Ancient History, b. xix., c. 2, sec. 3. 

THE CHURCH AT ANTIOCH. 

Acts xiii : I. — Now there were in the church that was at Antioch, etc. 

See chap, xi., v. 26. 

SELEUCIA, AND CYPRUS. 

Acts xiii : 4. — So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from 

thence they sailed to Cyprus. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Seleucia was practically the sea-port of Antioch. 
The river Orontes, after flowing past Antioch, entered the sea not far from 
Seleucia. The distance between the two places was about sixteen miles. The 
remains of Seleucia are numerous; but to us the most interesting are the two 
piers of the old harbor, which still bear the names of Paul and Barnabas. The 
masonry continues so good that the idea of clearing out and repairing the har- 
bor has recently been entertained. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2906. 

Idem. — These piers were unbroken when Saul and Barnabas came down to Se- 
leucia, and the large stones fastened by their iron cramps protected the vessels in the 
harbor from the swell of the western sea. Here, in the midst of unsympathizing 
sailors, the two missionary apostles, with their younger companion, stepped on 
board the vessel which was to convey them to Salamis. — Life and Epistles of St. 
Paul, Vol. I., p. 138. 

And from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Cyprus — This is well known as a large and important 
island of the Mediterranean, about one hundred miles from the coast of Syria, 
and sixty miles from that of Cilicia. Once it had many cities, of which the 
principal were Salamis and Paphos, the former situated on the eastern coast, and 



802 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES.. 

the latter at the opposite extremity of the island. At present Cyprus exhibits 
"but the ruin of its former glory and beauty. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

SERGIUS PAULUS, THE DEPUTY. 

Acts xiii : 7. — The deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The word rendered "deputy" is anthypatos, or proconsul. 
This has been objected to by infidels as a mistake, under the impression that 
Cyprus was not such a province as gave the title of Proconsul to its governor. 
Lardner, however, ably vindicated the literal accuracy of the Evangelist, and 
produced a passage from Dion Cassius, in which this very title is given to the 
governor of Cyprus. The accuracy of Luke, even on this obscure and much- 
disputed point, has now been most conclusively established by the discovery of 
a coin belonging to Cyprus, struck in the reign of Claudius Caesar, who was 
emperor when Paul visited the island. Proclus, who was the next governor 
after Sergius Paulus, on this coin is entitled Proconsul. That Cyprus was a Pro- 
consulate is also evident from an ancient inscription of Caligula's reign, in 
which Aquilius Scaura is called the "Proconsul of Cyprus." — Pict. Bible, 
in loco. 

Dr. J. S. Howson. — St. Luke's language is in the strictest sense correct. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible. 

PERGA IN PAMPHILIA. 

Acts xiii: 13. — Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in 

Pamphilia. 

Pliny. — The towns of Pamphilia are Side, Aspendum, Pletenissum, and 
Perga.— Hist. Nat., V., 26. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The province of Pamphilia was opposite the western 
extremity of Cyprus, where Paul embarked, and occupied a central portion of 
the southern coast of Asia Minor, having on the east Paul's native province of 
Cilicia, and the small province ofLycia on the west. Perga was the chief town 
of Pamphilia. The apostle seems to have landed at Perga; and the Cestrus 
was in fact then navigable to the town, although the entrance to the river is now 
impassable, having been long closed by a bar. The site has been established 
by Col. Leak as that where extensive remains of vaulted and ruined buildings 
were observed by General Kohler on the Cestrus west of Stavros. — Pict. Bible, 
in loco. 

ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. 

Acts xiii : 14. — But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The province of Pisidia lay immediately behind Pam- 
philia, inland. Its capital, Antioch, is named as "Antioch in Pisidia," to dis- 
tinguish it from other places of the same name in Syria, particularly that on the 
Orontes. Arundell discovered the site in 1833. Hamilton copied several 
Latin inscriptions from the ruins, in one of which the only words not entirely 
effaced were Antioche^e C^esari, which is an important circumstance, as Pliny 
states that Antioch in Pisidia was also called Caesarea. — Pict. Bible. 



ACTS XIV. 803 

Pliny. — In the country of the Pisidse, is the colony of Caesarea, also called 
Antiochia. — Nat. Hist., V., 24. 

ICONIUM. 

Acts xiv : I. — And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue 

of the Jews, etc. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Iconium was the capital of the province of Lycaonia; 
and must have been a place of some importance from this circumstance, as well 
as from being mentioned by Pliny as the chief of fourteen cities in the Tet- 
rarchy of Lycaonia. It was situated upon the lake Trogolis, 120 miles inland 
from the Mediterranean ; and it still exists under the name of Konieh, as one 
of the very first inland cities of Asiatic Turkey. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

And so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., IX. D. — This statement accords with the 
extent and variety of the ruins still found on the spot. It accords also with the 
geographical position of the place so well situated for trade and intercourse with 
other regions. The Greeks and Jews were the commercial factors of that 
period, as they are so largely at the present time ; and hence the narrative men- 
tions them as very numerous precisely here. The bulk of the population 
belonged to a different stock. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 1117. 

LYCAONIA. 

Acts xiv : 6. — And they fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia. 

Pliny. — Lycaonia belongs to the jurisdiction of the Province of Asia. To 
this jurisdiction is also added a tetrarchy of Lycaonia in that part which joins 
Galatia.— Hist. Nat., V., 25. 

Dr. J. S. Howson. — Lystra was in the heart of the country. Further to the 
east was Derbe ; at the western limit was Iconium, in the direction of Antioch 
in Pisidia. A good Roman road intersected the district along the line thus 
indicated. Lycaonia is for the most part a dreary plain, bare of trees, destitute 
of fresh water, and with several salt lakes. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1701. 

THE GODS AMONG MEN. 

Acts xiv: II, 12. — And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, 
saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And 
they called Barnabas Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. 

Rev. John Saul Howson, D. D. — It was a common belief among the 
ancients that the gods occasionally visited the earth in the form of men. The 
expeditions of Jupiter were usually represented as attended by Mercury. He 
was the companion, the messenger, the servant of the gods. Thus the notion 
of these two Divinities appearing together in Lycaonia is quite in conformity 
with what we know of the popular belief. But their appearance in that partic- 
ular district would be welcomed with more than usual credulity. Those who 
are acquainted with the literature of the Roman poets are familiar with a beau- 
tiful tradition of Jupiter and Mercury visiting in human form these very regions 



804 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



in the interior of Asia Minor. And it is not without a singular interest that we 
find one of Ovid's stories reappearing in the sacred pages of the Acts of the 
Apostles. In this instance, as in so many others, the Scripture in its incidental 
descriptions of the Heathen World, presents "undesigned coincidences" with 




the facts ascertained from Heathen memorials. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul> 
Vol. I., p. 190. 

Ovid.— I myself have seen the place : for Pittheus sent me into the Phrygian 
realms, formerly subject to his father Pelops. Near this is a lake, formerly 
habitable land, but now a collection of waters, the resort of cormorants and 
coots that delight in fens. Hither came Jupiter in human shape. Mercury, 



ACTS XIV. 805 

too, the grandson of Atlas, the bearer of the mystic rod, putting off his wings, 
accompanied his father. They went to thousands of houses, begging admit- 
tance, and shelter, but found all the thousands locked against them. Yet one 
received them, small indeed, and thatched with straw and marshy reeds; yet in 
this homely cottage dwelt pious Baucis and Philemon, both in years. — Mela., 
VIII., 622. 

And they called Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. 
Euripides. — I, Mercury, the messenger of Jove, greatest of the gods, am 
come to this land. — Ion, v. 4. 

Acts xiv : 13. — Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and gar- 
lands unto the gates, and would have done sncrifice with the people. 

Ovid. — Jupiter and his brother, who rules over the wide ocean, together with 
Mercury, were on their travels. Hyrieus caught sight of them. As soon as he 
could recover self-possession, he sacrificed the ox, the tiller of his farm, and 
roasted him on a large fire. — Fast., lib. v., v. 495-514. 

Idem. — The fairest victim must the powers appease; 
A purple fillet his broad brow adorns ; 
With flowery garlands crown 'd, and gilded horns. — Met., lib. xv. 

NATURE WITNESSING FOR GOD. 

Acts xiv: 17. — Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave 
us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. 

Prof. William Whewell, M. A. — The agency of the Divine Being pervades 
every portion of the universe, producing all action and passion, all permanence 
and change. — IV. Bridgewater Treaties, p. 185. 

Dr. William Carpenter. — All our science is but an investigation of the 
mode in which the Creator acts ; its highest laws are but expressions of the 
mode in which He manifests his agency to us. He is the efficient cause alike 
of the simplest and most minute, and of the most complicated and most majestic 
phenomena of the universe. — General and Comparative Physiology, p. 1080. 

John Young, LL. D. — Strictly speaking, there is no agent in Nature but one, 
that is, the Creator. In the flowing river and the restless ocean — in the waving 
plain and the solitary flower — in the gentle and the stormy wind — in the falling 
rain and the noiseless dew — in the beams of light and the diffusion of heat — in 
the activities of inorganic substance and of vegetable and of animal matter, it is 
verily " The Supreme " we behold— "The Supreme" acting. In the spring 
time of the year, when the earth grows green, and sends up its wondrous life, and 
fields and woods and hills are clothed with beauty, it is " The Supreme " acting, 
we behold. When, again, the produce of the earth is cut down, and by-and-by 
is gathered up, a munificent provision for man and beast, — or when the snows of 
winter cover, and its frosts harden, the soil so lately clad with verdure and laden 
with abundance, — or when we think of the changing seasons of the year, produced 
by the revolutions of our Planet around the sun, — or when we turn to the myriads 
of planets, stars/suns and systems that replenish space, and reflect on their mighty 



806 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and complicated movements, and on the vast harmony that reigns throughout, — 
in all, it is " The Supreme " acting, we behold. His will and His power are 
the only real forces in Nature. — Creator and Creation, p. 58. 

ATTALIA. 

Acts xiv: 25. — And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — Revisiting Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, Paul 
and Barnabas descended through the Pisidian mountains to the Plain of 
Pamphilia, in which was the city of Perga, from whence they travelled to 
Attalia. Attalia received its name from Attalus Philadelphus, who built it at 
the mouth of the Cestrus, that he might command the trade of Syria and Egypt. 
Its present name is Satalia. — Life and Epists. of Paul, L, 200. 

Acts xv : 2, 3. — They determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go 
up to Jerusalem .... and on their way they passed through Phenice and Samaria. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — These places were directly on their route to Jerusalem. 
— Note, in loco. 

GOD OMNISCIENT, 

Acts xv : 18. — Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. 
Xenophon. — The gods who are eternal know all things that have been, all 
things that are, and all that shall happen in consequence of everything. — Cyrop., 
lib. i., c. 6. 

INTERDICTED FOOD. 

Acts xv : 20. — But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from 
fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. 

Lucian. — The Christians were everywhere at his service, and let him want 
for nothing ; but afterwards having ruined himself with them, having been seen 
eating some food interdicted by their tenets, they refused to tolerate him any 
longer amongst them. — De Mort. Pereg., c. 16. 

PROVINCES OF ASIA MINOR. 

Acts xvi : 6-9.-— Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and 

were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, 

they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by 

Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night : There stood a man 

of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Phrygia was the name of a very large province of Asia 

Minor. Its boundaries differed greatly in different ages. Its principal cities 

were Apamea, the metropolis ; Laodicea, the seat of one of the " seven churches" 

mentioned in Revelation ; Colosse, the seat of another church to whom Paul 

addressed one of his epistles ; etc. Galatia was another important province 

of Asia Minor, but not more than half as large as Phrygia ; to the Christian 

church founded here Paul addressed the Epistle to the Galatians. Asia, as the 

term is here used, was another small province of this region. Mysia was a 



ACTS XVI. 807 

province at the northwestern extremity of Asia Minor ; it is of great classical 
and historical fame. Troas was a district in Mysia, and in it stood the ancient 
Troy, and the general scene of the Iliad. — Pici. Bible. 

SAMOTHRACIA. 

Acts xvi : II. — Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, 

and the next day to Neapolis. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Samothracia is a small island in the JEgean Sea, on the 
direct course from Troas to Macedonia. It still retains its ancient name in the 
modified form of Samotraki. — Neapolis was a seaport of Edonis, a district of 
Macedonia, bordering on Thrace. It was a place of little note. It is mentioned 
by Pliny.— Pict. Bible. 

MACEDONIAN COLONY. 

Acts xvi : 12. — And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city ot that part of Macedonia, 

and a colony. 

Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, B. D. — This passage, which has greatly 
exercised the ingenuity of critics and commentators, may, more correctly, be 
thus rendered : Philippi a city of the Jirst part of Macedonia, or of Macedonia 
Prima. This is an instance of minute accuracy, which shows that the author 
of the Acts of the Apostles actually lived and wrote at that time. The province 
of Macedonia, it is well known, had undergone various changes, and had been 
divided into various portions, and particularly four, while under the Roman 
government. There are extant many medals of the First Province, or Mace- 
donia Prima, mostly of silver, with the inscription Makedonon protes, cr 
First Part of Macedonia, which confirm the accuracy of Luke, and at the 
same time show his attention to the minutest particulars. It is further worthy 
of remark, that the sacred historian terms Philippi a colony. By using the term 
kolonia (which was originally a Latin word, colo?iid), instead of the correspond- 
ing Greek word apoikia, he plainly intimates that it was a Roman colony, which 
the 21st verse certainly proves it to have been. And though the critics were 
for a long time puzzled to find any express mention of it as such, yet some coins 
have been discovered in which it is recorded under this character, particularly 
one, which explicitly states that Julius Caesar himself bestowed the dignity and 
privileges of a colony on the city of Philippi, which were afterwards confirmed 
and augmented by Augustus. This medal corroborates the character given to 
the city by Luke, and proves that it had been a colony for many years, though 
no author or historian but himself, whose writings have reached us, has men- 
tioned it under that character. — Introduction, Vol. I., p. 90. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D.— Traces of this Colonial rank of Phil- 
ippi appear at the present time among the ruins en the ground. The traveller 
even at Neapolis, the seaport of the ancient city, sees around him Latin inscrip- 
tions on sarcophagi, tablets and fallen columns. Two of the epitaphs there 
contain the name of Claudius, the emperor who was on the throne when Paul 
50 



308 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

passed through Neapolis to the "Colony" where he gathered his first church in 
Europe. — Smith's Diet., p. 477. 

Pliny. — The colony of Philippi is distant from Dyrrha-chirom three hundred 
and twenty miles. — Hist. Nat., lib. iv., c. 18. 

LYDIA. 

Acts xvi : 14. — And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, 
which worshipped God, heard us. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The business which brought Lydia to Philippi 
was connected with the dyeing trade, which had flourished from a very early 
period, as we learn from Homer, in the neighborhood of Thyatira, and is per- 
manently commemorated in inscriptions which relate to the " Guild of Dyers " 
in that city, and incidentally give a singular confirmation of the veracity of St. 
Luke in his casual allusions. — Life mid Epistles of St. Paul, Vol. I., p. 295. 

PYTHONESS. 

Acts xvi: 16. — And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a 
spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. 

Rev. Thomas S. Millington. — The literal rendering is the spirit of a Python, 
which Plutarch says was in his day the name for a ventriloquist. This damsel 
appears to have uttered ambiguous prophecies after the manner of the Pythian 
Apollo ; or of the Sibyls. The ancients were fully persuaded that the Sibyls 
were inspired by the gods. — Test, of the Heathen, p. 541. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Daphne, the daughter of Tiresias the soothsayer, was 
not inferior to her father in the art of divination. Being endowed with a won- 
derful genius, she wrote a great number of oracles in different characters. Being 
often in an enthusiastic state of inspiration, she uttered many things that were 
prophetical, and was therefore called a Sibyl. — Diod. Sic., lib. iv., c. 66. 

Aristotle. — At Cumae, on the coast of Italy, is shown the cave in which the 
Sibyl uttered her prophecies. — Be Mir. Ausc. 

Strabo. — Erythrse was the native place of the Sibyl, an ancient inspired 
prophetess. — Strabo, lib. xiv., c. 1. 

THE ROMAN LAW AND RELIGION. 

Acts xvi: 21. — And teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, 

being Romans. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The letter of the Roman Law, even under the 
Republic, was opposed to the introduction of foreign religions; and though 
exceptions were allowed, as in the case of the Jews themselves, yet the spirit 
of the Law entirely condemned such changes in worship as were likely to un- 
settle the minds of the citizens, or to produce any tumultuous uproar (Liv. 
xxxix., 16). — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, I., 302. 

Cicero. — No person shall have any separate gods, or new ones; nor shall he 



ACTS XVI. 809 

privately worship any strange gods, unless they be publicly allowed. — De 
Legibus, II., 8. 

Servius. — Care was taken among the Athenians and the Romans, that no 
one should introduce new religions. It was on this account that the Jews were 
banished from the city. — On Virgil, JEn. VIII., 187. 

Acts xvi : 22. — And the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 

Livy. — The lictors, being sent to inflict punishment, beat them with rods, 
being naked. — Liv., II., 5. 

Cicero. — He commanded the man to be seized, and to be stripped naked in 
the midst of the forum, and to be bound, and rods to be brought. — Cont. Verres. 

Seneca. — Go, lictors : strip off their garments : let them be scourged. — 
Quoted by Howson. 

THE INNER PRISON. 

Acts xvi : 24. — Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and 
made their feet fast in the stocks. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The "inner prisons" were pestilential cells, 
damp and cold, from which the light was excluded, and where the chains 
rusted on the limbs of the prisoners. One such place may be seen to this day 
on the slope of the capitol at Rome. It is known to the readers of Cicero and 
Sallust by the name Tullianum. This is a type of the dungeons in the 
provinces ; and we find the very name applied, in one instance, to a dungeon 
in the province of Macedonia. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, I., p. 305. 

Aristophanes. — Only as many of them as are fastened to the stocks are 
zealous. — Pax., v. 478. 

Idem. — How I will fasten you in the stocks ! — Equity v. 367. 

Eusebius. — Great were the sufferings which Origen endured under an iron 
collar, and in the deepest recesses of the prison, when, for many days, he was 
extended and stretched to the distance of four holes on the rack. — Hist. Eccl., 

vl, 39. 

THE JAILER'S TERROR. 

Acts xvi : 27. — And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison 
doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners 
had been fled. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Awakened in a moment by the earthquake, his 
first thought was of his prisoners, " they being fled," aware that inevitable death 
awaited him, with the stern and desperate resignation of a Roman official, he 
resolved that suicide was better than disgrace, ''and drew his sword." Philippi 
was famous in the annals of suicide. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, L, 301. 

Biscoe, — By the Roman Law, the jailer was to undergo the same punishment 
which the malefactors who escaped by his negligence were to have suffered. — 
Pise, p. 330. 

THE SERJEANTS. 

Acts xvi : 35. — And when it was day, the magistrates sent the Serjeants, saying, Let those 

men go. 



810 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — "Serjeants," properly rod-bearers. 
They were the official attendants of the higher Roman magistrates, and executed 
their orders, especially for the arrest and punishment of criminals. In the 
provinces the lictors carried staves, not fasces, as at Rome. Luke speaks of the 
presence of rod-bearers only in his account of what took place at Philippi ; and 
it is almost the only place in his narrative where he could rightly introduce 
them. Philippi being a Roman colony, unlike other Grecian cities, was gov- 
erned after the Roman mode; its chief officers assumed the more honorary title 
of prcetors, and in token of the Roman sovereignty, had rod-bearers or lictors 
as at Rome. — Smith's Diet, of Bible,. p. 2927. 

THE MAGISTRATES ALARMED. 

Acts xvi : 37, 38. — But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being 
Romans, and have cast us into prison ; and now do they thrust us out privily ? Nay, verily ; 
but let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the Serjeants told these words unto the 
magistrates; and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. 

Dr. John Kitto. — In this matter the magistrates had violated three important 
laws, the infraction of which was in general treated with so much severity by 
the Roman Government, that these colonial magistrates had ample cause for the 
alarm with which they received the Apostle's message. 1. In punishing them 
without trial they had violated the law, which strictly forbade any citizen to be 
punished unheard. 2. They had also infringed the Valerian law, which forbade 
that any Roman citizen should be bound. 3. They had acted against the Sem- 
pronian or Porcian law, which exempted a citizen from being punished with rods. 
— Pict. Bib. , in loco. 

Quintilian. — To bind a Roman citizen is a misdemeanor; to strike him is a 
crime, to kill him is next to parricide. — Quint., VIII., 4. 

Cicero.— It is a transgression of the law to bind a Roman citizen : it is 
wickedness to scourge him. — In Verrem., Oral., V. 

Idem. — The Porcian Law has removed the rod from the body of every 
Roman citizen. — Or at. pro Rabirio. 

DiONYSius Halicarnassus. — The punishment appointed for those who abro- 
gated or transgressed the Valerian Law was death, and the confiscation of his 
property. — Ant. Rom., II. 

AMPHIPOLIS, AP0LL0NIA AND THESSALONICA. 

Actsxvii: 1.— Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to 
Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett.— Amphipolis was a city of Macedonia, distant thirty 
three Roman miles from Philippi. Its site is now occupied by a village called 
Neokhorio, or " New Town."— Apollonia was another city of Macedonia, distant, 
thirty Roman miles from Amphipolis, and thirty-seven from Thessalonica.— 
Thessalonica was still another city of the province of Macedonia. It received 
its name from Thessalonica, wife of Cassander and sister of Alexander the 



ACTS XVII. 811 

Great. Saloniki (its present name) is still the most important town of European 
Turkey next after Constantinople. — Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

CHIEF MAGISTRATES. 

Acts xvii : 5, 6. — But the Jews . . . took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort. . . . 
They drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, etc. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — We must recur, however, to the narrative in the 
Acts, for the purpose of noticing a singularly accurate illustration which it 
affords of the political constitution of Thessalonica. Not only is the demus 
mentioned {ton de??ion, Acts xvii: 5) in harmony with what has been said of its 
being a "free city," but the peculiar title, politarchs (xvii: 6), of the chief 
magistrates. This term occurs in no other writing ; but it may be read to this 
day conspicuously on an arch of the early imperial times, which spans the main 
street of the city. From this inscription it would appear that the number of 
politarchs was seven. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3232. 

ANOTHER KING. 

Acts xvii : 7, 8. — And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another 
king, one Jesus. And they trouble d the people, and the rulers of the city, when they heard 
these things. 

Grotius. — The Roman people, and after them the emperors, would not permit 
the name of king to be mentioned in any of the vanquished provinces, except 
by permission. — Quoted in Barnes' Notes. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — We obtain a deeper insight into the cause why 
the whole charge against Paul and Silas was brought forward with so much 
vehemence, and why it was so likely to produce an effect on the magis- 
trates, if we bear in mind the fact, that the Jews were under the ban of the 
Roman authorities about this time, for having raised a tumult in the metropolis, 
at the instigation (as was alleged) of one Chrestus, or Christus (Suet. Claud. 
25) ; and that they must have been glad, in the provincial cities, to be able to 
show their loyalty and gratify their malice, by throwing the odium off them- 
selves upon a sect whose very name might be interpreted to imply a rebellion 
against the emperor. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, L, p. 332. 

BEREA. 

Acts xvii : 10. — And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — Berea was on the eastern slope of the Olympian 
range. It had many natural advantages, and is even now considered one of the 
most agreeable towns in Rumili. A few insignificant ruins of the Greek and 
Roman periods may yet be noticed. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, I., 339. 

ATHENS. 

Atts xvii : 15. — And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens. 

Prof. Charles Anthon, LL. D. — Athens, the celebrated capital of Attica, 



312 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

was founded, according to t*he common account, by Cecrops, b. c. 1550. In the 
time of Xenophon it is said to have contained 10,000 houses. From other 
ancient writers we learn that the extent of Athens was nearly equal to that 
of Rome within the walls of Servius. Perhaps not one single city in the world 
can boast, in the same space of time, of so large a number of illustrious 
citizens, as regarded either warlike operations or the walks of civil life. 
The Romans, in the more polished ages of their Republic, sent their 
youths to finish their education at Athens. Modern Athens, a few years ago, 
contained about 12,000 inhabitants. — Classical Dictionary. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — It is no ordinary advantage that we possess a 
description of Athens under the Romans, by a celebrated traveller and anti- 
quarian, Pausanias. Pausanias visited Athens about fifty years after St. Paul, 
when but comparatively few changes had taken place in it. The work of Pau- 
sanias will be our best guide to the discovery of what St. Paul saw. By follow- 
ing his route through the city, we shall be treading in the steps of the Apostle 
himself, and shall behold those very objects which excited his indignation and 
compassion. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, I., 352. 

THE IDOLATRY OF ATHENS. 

Acts xvii : 16. — Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stii-red in him, when 
he saw the city wholly given to idolatry — [in the 7>iargin), full of idols. 

Pausanias. — The Athenians exceed all in their diligence about the gods. — 
Pans., I., 24, § 3. 

Lucian. — At Athens, on every side, there are altars, victims, temples, and 
festivals. — T. I. Prometh., p. 180. 

Livy. — Athens was full of the images of gods and men, adorned with every 
variety of material, and with all the skill of art. — Liv., 45, 27. 

Petronius. — At Athens, it was easier to find a god than a man. — Sal.., 
XVII. 

Josephus. — All men say that the Athenians are the most religious of all the 
Grecians. — Cont. Ap., II., 12. 

Sophocles. — The city of Athens goes beyond all in worshipping and rever- 
encing the gods. — CEdip. Colon., v. 1006. 

THE MARKET. 

Acts xvii : 17. — Therefore disputed he ... in the market daily with them that met with him. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — The Market, Agora, was situated in the valley en- 
closed by the heights of Pnyx, Areopagus, and Acropolis. The Agora must not 
be conceived of as a great "market," like the bare spaces in many modern 
towns, where little attention has been paid to artistic decoration, but is rather 
to be compared to the beautiful squares of such Italian cities as Verona and Flor- 
ence 5 where historical buildings have closed in the space within narrow limits, 
and sculpture has peopled it with impressive figures — the memorials of history. 
In the more palmy days, the Agora was the centre of a glorious public life, 




(8i3) 



ACTS XVII. 815 

where the orators and statesmen, the poets and the artists of Greece, found all 
the incentives of their noblest enthusiasm; and still continued to be the meeting- 
place of philosophy, of idleness, of conversation, and of business, when Athens 
could only be proud of her recollections of the past. — Life and Epists. of St. 

Paul, I., 353, 354- 

EPICUREANS AND STOICS. 

Acts xvii : 18. — Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics encountered 

him. 

Prof. Charles Anthon, LL. D. — Epicureans. — This sect of philosophers 
was so named from Epicurus, who was born 341 b. c. They denied that the 
world was created by God, and that the gods exercised any care or providence 
over human affairs, and also the immortality of the soul. Against these positions 
of the sect, Paul directed his main argument, in proving that the world was 
created, and governed by God. Stoics. — These were a sect of philosophers, so 
named from the Greek Stoa, a porch, or portico, because Zeno, the founder of 
the sect, held his school and taught in a porch, in the city of Athens. Zeno 
was born 360 b. c. The doctrines of the sect were, that the universe was created 
by God; that all things were fixed by fate; that even God was under the 
dominion of fatal necessity ; that the passions and affections were to be sup- 
pressed and restrained. They supposed that matter was eternal, and that God 
was either the animating principle or soul of the world, or that all things were 
a part of God. In their views of a future state they fluctuated much. — See Class- 
ical Dictionary, Arts. "Epicurus" and "Zeno." 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Athens was distinguished among all the cities of 
Greece and the world, for the cultivation of a subtle and refined philosophy. 
This was their boast, and the object of their constant search and study. — Note, 
in loco. 

AREOPAGUS. 

Acts xvii: 19. — And they took him, and brought him to Areopagus, saying, May we know what 
this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is ? 

Dr. John Kitto. — Areopagus. — This name (Areios Pagos) is the same which 
is rendered " Mars Hill " below, from Ares, a name of Mars, and pagos, a hill 
or high station. Areopagus was an insulated precipitous rock, broken towards 
the south, but on the north side sloping gently down to the Temple of Theseus. 
It stood nearly in the centre of Athens. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The place to which they took Paul was the sum- 
mit of the hill of Areopagus, where the most awful court of judicature had sat 
from time immemorial, to pass sentence on the greatest criminals, and to decide 
the most solemn questions connected with religion. The judges sat in the open 
air, upon seats hewn out in the rock, on a platform, which was ascended by a 
flight of stone steps immediately from the Agora. On this spot a long series of 
awful causes, connected with crime and religion, had been determined, begin- 
ning with the legendary trial of Mars, which gave to the place its name of 
" Mars Hill." A Temple of the god was on the brow of the eminence; and an 



816 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

additional solemnity was given to the place by the sanctuary of the Furies, in a 
broken cleft of the rock, immediately below the judges' seat. Even in the 
political decay of Athens, this spot and this court were regarded by the people 
with superstitious reverence. It was a scene with which the dread recollections 
of centuries were associated. It was a place of silent awe in the midst of the 
gay and frivolous city. Those who withdrew to the Areopagus from the Agora, 
came, as it were, into the presence of a higher power. No place in Athens was 
so suitable for a discourse upon the mysteries of religion. . . The Athenians 
took the Apostle from the tumult of public discussion, to the place which was at 
once most convenient and most appropriate. — Life and Episls. of St. Paul, I., 

374- 

Herodotus. — There is a hill opposite the citadel at Athens, which the 
Athenians call the Hill of Mars, or Areopagus. — Urania, c. 52. 

Euripides. — There is at Athens, a certain Hill of Mars, where the gods first 
sate in judgment concerning blood, where savage Mars, in wrath for the impious 
nuptials of his daughter, slew Halirrothius, the son of the ruler of the. ocean, 
where from that time there is a most pious and firm judgment for the gods. — 
Electr., v. 1258. 

Plutarch. — Some of the philosophers held resolutely that there were no 
gods, and Euripides the tragedian signified as much in his writings, though he 
dared not openly proclaim his opinion for fear of the court of Areopagus. — 
De Placit. Philos., lib. i., c. 7. 

Lucian. — Are you not afraid lest he shall commence a suit against you in 
Areopagus? — Vit. And., c. 7. 

Cicero. — When it is said, "The commonwealth of Athens is governed by 
the council," it is meant " of the Areopagus." — De Nat. Deor., II., 29. 

Juvenal. — You must keep my secrets as religiously as the court of Mars at 
Athens. — Sat. IX., v. 101. 

SEEKING AND RETAILING NEWS. 

Acts xvii : 21. — For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing 
else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. 

Kuinoel. — Many of the ancient writers bear witness to the garrulity, and 
curiosity, and intemperate desire of novelty, among the Athenians, by which 
they inquired respecting all things, even those in which they had no interest, 
whether of a public or private nature. — In loco. 

Demosthenes. — Is it your sole ambition to wander through the public places, 
each inquiring of the other, " What new advices ? " — Demosth. Phil., I. 

Theophrastus. — The Athenian lover of the marvelous greets his acquaintance 
with, Whence came you? What say you? Have you any "fresh news? — Truly 
theirs seems to me a most wearisome mode of life, passing entire days, as they 
do, in running from shop to shop, from the portico to the forum, with no other 
business than to promulgate idle tales, by which to afflict the ears* of all they 
meet. — Characl., XXIV. 



ACTS XVII. 



8tf 



Plutarch. — These busy-bodies intrude themselves into the high courts of 
justice, the tribunals, the market-places, and public assemblies ; What news ? 
saith one of them ; How now ? — De Curios., c. 8. 

ALTAR TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. 

Acts xvii : 23. — As I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, 

To the Unknown God. 

Lucian. — I swear by the unknown GoddX Athens. — Philop., c. 13. 

Idem. — We have found out the unknown God at Athens, and worshipped him 
with our hands stretched up to heaven. — Philop., c. 29. 

Philostratus. — And this at Athens, where there are even altars to the 
unknown God. — Vita Apollo, VI., 3. 

Pausanias. — At Athens, there are altars of gods which are called the unknown 
ones. — In Attic, c. 1. 




ANCIENT ALTARS. 

GOD NOT CONFINED TO TEMPLES. 

Acts xvii : 24. — God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven 
and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Close to the spot where Paul stood was the 
Temple ^f Mars. The Sanctuary of the Eumenides was immediately below him. 
The Parthenon of Minerva was facing him above. Their presence seemed to 
challenge the assertion in which he declared here, that " in Temples made with 
hands the Deity does not dwell." — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, I., 376. 

GOD IN NEED OF NOTHING. 

Acts xvii: 25. — Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing 
he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. 

Euripides. — The Deity, if he be truly deity, lacks nothing. — Her. fur., v. 1345. 



818 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Plutarch. — God is absolutely exempt from wants. — Comp. Arist. c. Calon, 
c. 4. 

ALL MADE OF ONE BLOOD. 

Acts xvii : 26. — And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the 

earth. 

Cicero. — Originally, mankind were one harmonious family. But they, 
through their depravity, disagreed and quarrelled, not recollecting that they are 
all consanguineous and akin, and equally subject to the same paternal providence. 
— De Leg., L, 1 fragm. 

A. Von Humboldt. — The different races of men are forms of one sole species; 
they are not different species of a genus. — Cosmos. 

Prof. T. H. Huxley, F. R. S. — I am one of those who believe that, at 
present, there is no evidence whatever for saying, that mankind sprang originally 
from any more than a single pair ; I must say, that I cannot see any good 
ground whatever, or even any tenable sort of evidence, for believing that there 
is more than one species of man. — Origin of Species, p. 113. 

Dr. Charles Darwin. — I have no doubt that all the races of man are 
descended from a single primitive stock. — Desc. of Man, I., 220. 

GOD THE CAUSE AND GROUND OF ALL EXISTENCE. 

Acts xvii : 2S. — For in him we live, and move, and have our being. 

Aristotle. — The principle of life is inherent in the Deity : for the energy or 
active exercise of mind constitutes life, and God constitutes this energy ; and 
essential energy belongs to God as his best and everlasting life. — Metaph. 
XL, 8. 

Dr. John Young. — The Eternal One, alone, is self-existent. The reason, 
the ground of the existence of the universe, of every living being, of every 
single atom, at every moment, is not in itself, but wholly and only in the will 
and power of the Creator. It is nothing, has no meaning, no reality, no being, 
except in Him. Underneath it and in it, sustaining it, entirely causing it, are 
the Almighty Will and the Almighty Power. Let these be withdrawn for a 
moment, let them only not be, that is, let there be no present Divine volition, 
and no present exertion of Divine power, and that moment it is nothing, for the 
sole ground of its being is gone. — Creator and Creation, p. 58. 

MAN THE OFFSPRING OF GOD. 

Acts xvii : 28. — As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are all his offspring. 

Aratus. — Let us begin from Jove. Let every mortal raise 
His grateful voice to tune Jove's endless praise. 
Jove fills the heaven, the earth, the sea, the air: 
We feel his spirit moving here, and everywhere. 
And we his offspring are. — Phcen., v. 1. 



ACTS XVIII. 819 

Cleanthes. — Most glorious of immortals, Thou many-named 
Always almighty, prime Ruler of nature, 
Governing all by law, Jove, hail ! 
For mortals all, Thee to address is meet ; 
For we are thy offspring. — Hymn, injov. 

IDOLS NO SIMILITUDE OF GOD. 

Acts xvii : 29. — Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the 
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art or man's device. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — On Mars Hill, the Apostle was surrounded by 
sculpture as well as by temples. In front of him, towering from its pedestal upon 
the rock of the Acropolis, was the bronze Colossus of Minerva, armed with 
spear and shield and helmet, as the champion of Athens. Standing almost 
beneath its shade, he pronounced that the Deity was not to be likened either to 
that, the work of Phidias, or to other forms in gold, silver, or stone, graven by 
art, or man's device, which peopled the scene before him. — Life of St. Paul, 

I., 376. 

Seneca. — From any obscure corner of the world you may rise to heaven. 
Rise then, and show yourself worthy of the Deity ; a god not made of gold or 
silver; for of such materials it is indeed impossible to form a likeness of 
God. — Epist., 31. 

Acts xvii: 33. — So Paul departed from among them. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — God, in his providence, has preserved to us, in 
fullest profusion, the literature which unfolds to us all the life of the Athenian 
people, in its glory and its shame ; and he has ordained that one conspicuous 
passage in the Holy Volume should be the speech, in which his servant 
addressed that people as ignorant idolaters, called them to repentance, and 
warned them of judgment. And it can hardly be deemed profane if we trace to 
the same Divine Providence the preservation of the very imagery which sur- 
rounded the speaker — not only the sea, and the mountains, and the sky, which 
change not with the decay of nations — but even the very temples, which remain, 
after wars and revolutions, on their ancient pedestals in astonishing perfection. 
We are thus provided with a poetic and yet a truthful commentary on the words 
that were spoken once for all at Athens; and art and nature have been com- 
missioned from above to enframe the portrait of that Apostle, who stands for- 
ever on the Areopagus as the teacher of the Gentiles. — Life and Epists. of St. 
Paul, I., 381. 

CORINTH. 

Acts xviii : 1. — After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Corinth was about forty-six miles east of Athens, situ- 
ated on the isthmus that connects Peloponnesus to Attica ; and was the capital 
of all Achaia. It was most advantageously situated for trade ; for by its two 
ports, the Lecheum and Cenchrea, it commanded the commerce both of the 
Ionian and ^Egean Seas. It was destroyed by the Romans under Mummius, 



820 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

about 146 B.C. ; but was rebuilt by Julius Caesar, and became one of the most 
considerable cities of Greece. — Note, in loco. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Corinth, in the time of Paul, was a large mer- 
cantile city, in immediate connection with Rome and the West of the Mediter- 
ranean, with Thessalonica and Ephesus in the ^Egean, and with Antioch and 
Alexandria in the East. — Life of St. Paul, I., 385. 

Idem. — Corinth still exists, on the old site, and bearing the old name ;' but 
is now shrunk to a wretched village. Two relics of Roman work are still to be 
seen, one a heap of brick-work which may have been part of the baths erected 
by Hadrian ; the other the remains of an amphitheatre with subterranean 
arrangements for gladiators. Far more interesting are the ruins of the ancient 
Greek temple — the old columns which have looked down on the rise, prosperity 
and the desolation of three successive Corinths. The fountain of Peirene, "full 
of sweet and clear water," as it is described by Strabo, is still to be seen in the 
Acrocorinthus. The scene of the Isthmean games also, from which St. Paul 
borrows some of his most striking imagery, may yet be traced ; to the south are 
the remains of the Stadium, where the foot-races were run, and to the east are 
those of the theatre, the arena of the pugilistic contests. — Smith's Diet, of the 
Bible, p. 494. 

THE JEWS BANISHED FROM ROME, 

Acts xviii : 2. — Aquila . . . lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because that Clau- 
dius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. 

Suetonius. — Claudius banished from Rome all the Jews, who were continu- 
ally making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus. — Claud., c. 25. 

TENTMAKERS. 

Acts xviii : 3. — By their occupation they were tentmakers. 
Maimonides. — The wise generally practise some of the arts, lest they should 
be dependent on the charity of others. — Tract Talmud Tora, c. I., § 9. 

GALLIO. 

Acts xviii : 12. — And when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, the Jews, etc. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — After the Romans had conquered Greece, they 
reduced it to two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia, which were each governed 
by a proconsul. Gallio was the brother of the celebrated philosopher Seneca, 
and was made proconsul of Achaia a. d. 53. He is said to have been of a 
remarkably mild and amiable disposition. — Note, in loco. 

Tacitus. — Mella, brother to Gallio and Seneca. — Ann., XVI., 17. 

Pliny. — Annaeus Gallio received great benefit from a sea voyage at the close 
of his consulship. — Hist. Nat., XXXI., 6. 

Seneca. — Of Gallio I may say, no mortal was ever so mild to any one, as he 
was to all ; and in him there was such a natural power of goodness that there 
was no semblance of art or dissimulation. — Prozf. Quest. Natu., 4. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, LL. D. — It is worth observing as a mark of Luke's 



ACTS XIX. 821 

accuracy that he mentions Gallio as Anthypateyontos, "Proconsul," in the reign 
of Claudius; for under the preceding emperors, Tiberius and Caligula, Achaia 
was an imperial province, and the title of the governor would have been Pro- 
praetor. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 863. 

CENCHREA. 

Acts xviii : 18. — Having shorn his head in Cenchrea. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — Cenchrea was the eastern harbor of Corinth, and 
distant from it about nine miles. Pausanias (ii : 3) describes the road as having 
tombs and a grove of cypresses by the wayside. The modern village on the 
site retains the ancient name. Some traces of the moles of the port are still 
visible. A coin has been found which exhibits the port exactly as it is de- 
scribed by Pausanias, with a temple at the extremity of each mole, and a statue 
of Neptune on a rock between them. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 402. 

THE VOYAGE FROM CORINTH TO EPHESUS. 

Acts xviii : 18, 19. — And sailed thence into Syria . . . and he came to Ephesus. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — No voyage across the ^Egean was more frequently 
made than that between Corinth and Ephesus. They were the capitals of two 
flourishing and peaceful provinces of Achaia and Asia, which were to each other 
as Liverpool and New York. Cicero says that, on his eastward passage, he 
spent fifteen days, and on his return thirteen days. With favorable wind, the 
voyage could be accomplished in shorter time. — Life and Epistles of St. Patil, 
L, 423. 

ALEXANDRIA. 

Acts xviii : 2. — And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, etc. 
Prof. B. Foss Westcott, M. A. — Alexandria was a flourishing commercial 
city of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great, b. c. 332. The population was 
mixed from the first. The three regions into which the citv was divided cor- 
responded to the three chief classes of its inhabitants, Jews, Greeks and 
Egyptians. According to Josephus, "the Jews obtained equal privileges with 
the Macedonians." — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 62. 

EPHESUS. 

Acts xix: I. — Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Ephesus was an illustrious city in the district of 
Ionia, at the mouth of the river Cayster. All the cities of Ionia were remark- 
ably well situated for the growth of commercial prosperity, and none more 
so than Ephesus. With a fertile neighborhood and an excellent climate, it was 
also most conveniently placed for traffic with all the neighboring parts of the 
Levant. In the time of Augustus it was the great emporium of all the regions 
of Asia within the Taurus. Its harbor, at the mouth of the Cayster, was elabo- 
rately constructed. Two great roads, in the Roman times, led eastward from 



822 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Ephesus: one through the passes of Trnolus to Sardis, and thence to Galatia 
and the northeast; the other round the extremity of Pactyas to Magnesia, and 
so up the valley of the Maeander to Iconium, whence the communication was 
direct to the Euphrates and to the Syrian Antioch. There were also coast 
roads leading northward to Smyrna, and southward to Miletus. By the latter 
of these it is probable that the Ephesian elders travelled, when summoned to 
meet Paul at the latter city. Part of the pavement of the Sardian road has 
been noticed by travellers under the cliffs of Gallesus. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, 

/• 747- 

EXORCISTS. 

Acts xix : 13. — Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them 
which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you, etc\ 

Dr. John Kitto. — By all ancient testimony, Jewish, Christian and Heathen, 
there were a great number of such vagrant pretenders, who went about and ob- 
tained gainful employment. Among the Jews themselves there was indeed a 
strong partiality for the arts of magic and superstition. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

EPHESIAN BOOKS. 

Acts xixs 19. — Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and 

burned them before all men. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The worship of Diana and the practice of magic 
were closely connected together. Eustathius says, that the mysterious symbols, 
called " Ephesian Letters," were engraved on the crown, the girdle, and the 
feet of the goddess. These Ephesian Letters, or monograms, have been com- 
pared to the Runic characters of the North. ■ When pronounced, they were 
regarded as a charm ; and were directed to be used, especially by those who 
were in the power of evil spirits. When written, they were carried about as 
amulets. Curious stories are told of their influence. Ccesus is related to have 
repeated the mystic syllables when on his funeral pile ; and an Ephesian wrestler 
is said to have always struggled successfully against an antagonist from Miletus 
until he lost the scroll, which before had been like a talisman. The study of 
these symbols was an elaborate science : and books, both numerous and costly, 
were compiled by its professors. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, II. , p. 21. 

Menander. — Such an one walks with the bridegroom and his bride, speaking 
to them the Ephesian Charms.— ~Apud Suid. 

Plutarch. — The magicians compel those who are possessed with a demon to 
recite and pronounce the Ephesian Letters, in a certain order, by themselves. — 
Sympos., 7. 

Clemens Alexandrinus. — Androcydes, a Pythagorean, says that the Letters 
which are called Ephesian are symbols. — Strom., 2. 

SHRINES OF DIANA. 

Acts xix : 24. — For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines 
for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen. 



ACTS XIX. 823 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — One of the idolatrous customs of the ancient world 
was the use of portable images or shrines, which were little models of the more 
celebrated objects of devotion. They were carried in processions, on journeys 
and military expeditions, and sometimes set up as household gods in private 
houses. Pliny says that this was the case with the Temple of the Cnidian Venus; 
and other heathen writers make allusion to the ''shrines" of the Ephesian 
Diana, which are mentioned in the Acts. The material might be wood, or 
gold, or silver. Few of those who came to Ephesus would willingly go away 
without a memorial of the goddess and a model of her temple. We find the 
image of the Ephesian Diana on the coins of a great number of other cities and 
communities, e. g., Hierapolis, Mitylene, Perga, Samos, Marseilles, etc., bear- 
ing testimony to the notoriety of her worship. — Life a?id Epistles of St. Paul, 
II., 77- 

IMAGES NO GODS. 

Acts xix : 26. — This Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no 
gods, which are made with hands. 

Plutarch. — The Greeks were accustomed to speak of the statues of brass and 
stone, or painted figures, not as images made in honor of the gods, but as the 
gods themselves. — Isid. et Osirid., c. 71. 

Livy. — The Ambracians complained that their temples were despoiled of their 
ornaments, and the images of their gods, nay, the gods themselves torn from 
their mansions and carried away. — Liv., lib. xxxviii., c. 43. 

Horace. — The wife and husband are turned out, bearing in their bosoms their 
paternal gods. — If or., lib. ii., carm. 18. 

TEMPLE OF DIANA. 

Acts xix : 27.— So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the 
temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be de- 
stroyed. 

Pliny.— The most wonderful monument of Grecian magnificence, and one 
that merits our genuine admiration, is the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, which 
took one hundred and twenty years in building, a work in which all Asia joined. 
It was 425 feet in length, and 220 in breadth, and the columns were sixty feet 
high. The number of columns was 127, each of them the gift of a king; and 
thirty-six of them were enriched with ornament and color. The folding-doors 
were of cypress-wood ; the part which was not open to the sky was roofed over 
with cedar; and the staircase was formed of the wood of one single vine 
from the island of Cyprus. The value and fame of the temple were enhanced 
by its being the treasury, in which a large portion of the wealth of Western 
Asia was stored up.— See Hist. Nat, lib. xxxvi., 21; xxxiv., 7; xvi., 79; 
xiv., 2. 

Livy. — The Temple of Diana was universally celebrated. — Liv., lib i., c. 45. 



824 



Acts xix : 29. 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



THE THEATRE. 



•And the whole city was filled with confusion . . . and they rushed with one 
accord into the theatre. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The site of Ephesus has been visited and examined 
by many travellers during the last 200 years. The whole place is now utterly 
desolate, with the exception of the small Turkish village at Ayasaluk. It is sat- 
isfactory, however, that the position of the Theatre on Mount Prion is absolutely 
certain. It must have been one of the largest in the world. — Smith's Diet, 
of Bible, p. 750. 

Fellows. — Of the site of the theatre, the scene of the tumult raised by 
Demetrius, there can be no doubt, its ruins being a wreck of immense grandeur. 
I think it must have been larger than the one at Miletus, and that exceeds any 
I have elsewhere seen in scale, although not in ornament. Its form alone can 




THEATRE OF EPHESUS — ITS REMAINS. 

now be spoken of, for every seat is removed, and the proscenium is a hill of 
ruins. — Asia Minor, p. 274. 

CHIEF OF ASIA. 

Acts xix : 31. — And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring 
him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — "Chief of Asia," in the original, Asiarchs. 
These were officers appointed to preside over the games had in connection with 
the festivals of Diana. We find similar titles in use in the neighboring 
provinces, .and read, in books or on inscriptions, and coins, of Bithyniarchs, 
Galatarchs, Lyeiarehs, and Syriarchs. Those who held this office at the famous 
games of Asia and Ephesus were men of high distinction and great wealth, and 
might literally be called " the chief of Asia." — Life and Episls. of St. Paul, II., 
p. 83. 



acts xix\ 825 

Strabo. — Tralles is as well peopled as any of the cities of Asia, and its 
inhabitants are wealthy : some of them constantly occupy chief stations in the 
province, and are called Asiarchs. — Strabo, XIV., i. 

THE TOWN-CLERK. 

Acts xix : 35. — And when the town-clerk had appeased the people, etc. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Like other free cities, Ephesus had its magistrates : 
one of these was that officer who is described as " town-clerk ' ' in the authorized 
version of the Bible. From the parallel case of Athens, and from the Ephesian 
records themselves, it appears that he was a magistrate of great authority, in a 
high and very public position. He had to do with st ite-papers ; he was keeper 
of the archives, etc. No magistrate was more before the public at Ephesus. 
His very aspect was familiar to all the citizens ; and no one was so likely to be 
able to calm and disperse an excited multitude. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, 
II., 81. 

What man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the 

great goddess Diana. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — "A worshipper" — Greek, Neocoros, of which the 
literal signification is Temple-sweeper. This originally was an expression of 
humility, and applied to the lowest menials engaged in the care of the sacred 
edifice ; but afterwards became a title of the highest honor, and was eagerly 
appropriated by the most famous cities. This was the case with Ephesus in 
reference to her national goddess. The city was personified as Diana's devotee. 
The title Neocoros was boastfully exhibited on the current coins. Even the 
free people of Ephesus was sometimes named Neocoros. Thus the " town-clerk " 
could with good reason begin his speech by the question, " What man is there 
that knows not that the city of the Ephesians is neocoros of the great goddess 
Diana," etc. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, II., 79. 

The image which fell down from Jupiter. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — If the Temple of Diana at Ephesus was mag- 
nificent, the image enshrined within the sumptuous enclosure was primitive and 
rude — little more or better than a shapeless block of wood. Yet, rude as the 
image was, it was the object of the utmost veneration. Like the Palladium of 
Troy — like the most ancient Minerva of the Athenian Acropolis — like the 
Paphian Venus or Cybele of Pessinus — like the Ceres in Sicily mentioned by 
Cicero — it was believed to have fallen down from the sky. — Life and Epists. of 
St. Paul, II., 77. 

Euripides. — In the Tauric territory Diana possesses altars, and there is the 
image of the goddess, which, they say, fell down from heaven. — Lph. in Taur., 
v. 86. 

Acts xix : 40. — We are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — One of the Roman Laws made the raising of such com- 
motions a capital offence: — " He who raises a mob shall forfeit his life."— 
Comment., in loco. 

51 



826 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

TROAS. 

Acts xx : 5, 6. — These going before tarried for us at Troas. 

See chap, xvi : v. 8. 

ASSOS. 

Acts xx : 13, 14. — And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take 
in Paul : for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. And when he met with us at 
Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Assos was a town and seaport of the province of 
Asia, in the district anciently called Mysia. It was situated on the northern 
shore of the gulf of Adramyttium, and was only about seven miles from the 
opposite coast of Lesbos. A good Roman road, connecting the towns of the 
central parts of the province with Troas, passed through Assos, the distance 
between the two latter places being about twenty miles. These geographical 
points illustrate St. Paul's rapid passage through the town, as mentioned in Acts 
xx : 13, 14. The ship in which he was to accomplish his voyage from Troas to 
Ptolemais went round Cape Lectum, while he took the much shorter journey by 
land. Thus he was able to join the ship without difficulty, and in sufficient 
time for her to anchor off Mitylene at the close of the day on which Troas had 
been left. — Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 184. 

MITYLENE, CHIOS, ETC. 

Acts xx : 15. — And we sailed from Mitylene, and came the next day over against Chios; and 
the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogillium ; and the next day we came to 

Miletus. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Mitylene was the chief town of the island of Lesbos. Chios 
was a small island to the south of Lesbos ; it was a very rich and beautiful 
island. It is still called Khio. Samos was another island, about eighty miles 
in circumference, and within six miles of the Ionian coast : Pythagoras was a 
native of this isle, and Lycurgus died in it. Trogillium was a promontory 
opposite Samos. Miletus was a seaport of Caria, thirty miles south of Ephesus ; 
it was the birth-place of Thales, one of the seven sages. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

PAUL'S DEVOTION TO CHRIST. 

Acts xx ; 24. — But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so 
that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord 
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 

Gibbon. — The ancient Christians were animated by a contempt for their 
present existence, and by a just confidence of immortality, of which the doubt- 
ful and imperfect faith of modern ages cannot give us any adequate notion.- — 
Decline and Fall, chap. xv. 

MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE. 

Acts xx : 35. — Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give 

than to receive. 



ACTS XXI. 827 

Aristotle. — It is more the province of virtue to benefit than to be benefited. 
— Elk., IV., i. 

THE COURSE OF THE SHIP. 

Acts xxi : I. — And it came to pass that after we were gotten from them and had launched, we 
came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence 
unto Patara. 

Dr. John Saul Howson.— It is quite clear, from St. Luke's mode of expres- 
sion, that the vessel sailed from Miletus on the day of the interview. With a 
fair wind she would easily run down to Coos in the course of the same afternoon. 
The distance is about forty nautical miles ; the direction is due south. Coos is 
an island about twenty-three miles in length, separated by a narrow channel 
from the mainland. On leaving Coos the vessel would have to proceed through 
the channel which lies between the southern shore of the island and that tongue 
of the mainland which terminates in the Point of Cnidus. If the wind con- 
tinued in the northwest, the vessel would be able to hold a straight course from 
Coos to Cape Crio, and after rounding the point she would run clear before the 
wind all the way to Rhodes. No view in the Levant is more celebrated than 
that from Rhodes towards the opposite shore of Asia Minor. Patara was a 
Lycian seaport, ruins of which still remain to show that it was once a place of 
some magnitude and splendor. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, II., p. 219-225. 

FROM PATARA TO TYRE. 

Acts xxi : 2, 3. — And finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth . . . 

and landed at Tyre. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The distance between Patara and Tyre is 340 
geographical miles, which, with the favorable winds of the season, might easily 
have been accomplished in forty-eight hours. So much has been written con- 
cerning the situation, the past history, and the present condition of Tyre, that 
these subjects are familiar to every reader, and it is unnecessary to dwell upon 
them. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, II., p. 227. 

PTOLEMAIS. 

Acts xxi: 7, 8. — And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais . . . 
and the next day came unto Caesarea. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Ptolemais was the intermediate stage between 
Tyre and Caesarea. It had recently been made a Roman colony by the emperor 
Claudius. It shared with Tyre and Sidon, Antioch and Caesarea, the trade of 
the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. With a fair wind, a short day's voyage 
separates it from Tyre. From Ptolemais to Caesarea, the distance was some- 
what over thirty miles, a day's journey by land. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, 
II., p. 231. 

REVIEW OF THE WHOLE JOURNEY. 

Acts xxi : 15. — And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Thus we have accompanied St. Paul on his last 



828 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

recorded journey to Jerusalem. It was a journey full of incident; and it is 
related more minutely than any other portion of his travels. We know all the 
places by which he passed, or at which he stayed ; and we are able to connect 
them all with familiar recollections of history. We know, too, all the aspect 
of the scenery. He sailed along those coasts of western Asia, and among those 
famous islands, the beauty of which is proverbial. The very time of the year is 
known to us. It was when the advancing season was clothing every low shore, 
and the edge of every broken cliff, with a beautiful and refreshing verdure ; when 
the winter storms had ceased to be dangerous, and the small vessels could ply 
safely in shade and sunshine between neighboring ports. Even the state of the 
weather and the direction of the wind are known. We can point to the places 
on the map were the vessel anchored for the night ; and trace across the chart 
the track that was followed, when the moon was full. — Life and Epists. of St. 
Paul, II., 235. 

PAUL READY TO DIE FOR CHRIST. 

Acts xxi : 13. — Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep, and to hreak mine heart? for I 
am ready not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 

Lucian. — These poor people (the Christians) have taken it into their heads 
that they shall, body and soul, be immortal, and live to all eternity ; thence 
it is that they contemn death, and that many of them run violently into his 
clutches. — De Mort. Pcreg., c. 13. 

GENTILES EXCLUDED FROM THE HOLY PLACE. 

Acts xxi : 28. — Men of Israel, help: This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against 
the people, and the law, and this place : and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and 
hath polluted this holy place. 

Josephus.' — When you go through these first cloisters unto the second court 
of the temple, there was a partition made of stone all round, whose height was 
three cubits ; its construction was very elegant : upon it stood pillars, at equal 
distances from one another, declaring the law of purity, some in Greek and some 
in Roman letters, That no Foreigner should go within that sanctuary ; for that 
second court of the temple was called the Sanctuary, and was ascended to by 
fourteen steps from the first court.— Jewish Wars, b. V., c. 5, § 2. 

Exploration of Palestine. --The inscribed stone from king Herod's temple 
is, perhaps, the most interesting, next to the " Moabite Stone, ".of all the dis- 
coveries connected with the name of M. Clermont Ganneau. Close to the 
Via Dolorosa lies a small cemetery. Here is a gateway. While examining the 
wall, step by step, M. Ganneau observed two or three Greek characters on a 
block forming the angle of the wall, on which was built a small arch. The char- 
acters were close to the surface of the ground. M. Ganneau proceeded to 
scrape away the soil, in hopes of finding them continued. More characters ap- 
peared, and when the stone was finally cleared, the discoverer had the gratifi- 
cation of reading the following inscription in Greek : 



acts xxi. 829 

No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the 
Temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible 
to hints elf for his death, which will ensue. 
We may boldly affirm that this Greek inscription is not only the most ancient, 
but also the most interesting, in all its bearings, which Jerusalem has yet pro- 
duced. — Our Work in Palestine, Appendix, p. 340. 

TOWER OF ANTONIA. 

Acts xxi: 31, 32. — And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of 
the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar : who immediately took soldiers and centurions, 
and ran down unto them. 

Josephus. — Now, as to the tower of Antonia, it was situated at the corners 
of two cloisters of the court of the temple, of that on the west and that on the 
north : it was erected upon a rock of fifty cubits in height, and was on a great 
precipice. The entire structure resembled a tower. It contained also four distinct 
towers at its four corners ; whereof the others were but 50' cubits high, whereas 
that which lay upon the southeast corner was 70 cubits high, that from thence 
the whole temple might be viewed : but in the corner where it joined to the 
two cloisters of the temple, it had passages down to them both, through which 
the guards (for there always lay in this tower a Roman legion) went several 
ways among the cloisters, with their arms, on the Jewish festivals in order to 
watch the people, that they might not there attempt to make any innovations ; 
for the temple was a fortress that guarded the city, as was the tower of Antonia 
a guard to the temple ; and in that tower were the guards of those three. — 
fewish Wars, b. V., c. 5, § 8. 

Acts xxi: 34, 35. — He commanded him to be carried into the castle: and when he came upon 

the stairs, etc. 

Josephus. — Where the tower of Antonia joined to the two cloisters of the 
temple, it had passages down to them both, through which the guards went sev- 
eral ways among the cloisters with their arms, on the Jewish festivals. — Ibid. 

EGYPTIAN IMPOSTOR. 

Acts xxi : 38. — Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and 
leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers ? 

Josephus. — These works that were done by the robbers filled the city with all 
sorts of impiety. . . . Moreover, there came out of Egypt about this time to Jeru- 
salem, one that said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common 
people to go along with him to the Mount of Olives : and he would show them 
from thence, how at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would fall down ; and 
he promised them that he would procure them an entrance into the city 
through those walls, when they were fallen down. Now, when Felix was 
informed of these things, he ordered his soldiers to take their weapons, and 
came against them with a great number of horsemen and footmen from Jerusalem, 
and attacked the Egyptian, and the people that were with him. He also slew 



830 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

400 of them, and took 200 alive. But the Egyptian himself escaped out of the 
fight, and appeared no more. — Antq., b. xx., c. 8, § 6. 

TARSUS. 

Acts xxi : 39. — But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen 

of no mean city. 

Xenophon. — Tarsus, a large and rich city of Cilicia. — Anab. I. c. 2. 

Strabo. — The inhabitants of Tarsus apply to the study of philosophy and to 
the whole encyclical compass of learning with so much ardor, that they surpass 
Athens, Alexandria, and every other place which can be named where there are 
schools and lectures of philosophers. In other respects Tarsus is well peopled, 
extremely powerful, and has the character of being the capital. — Strab., lib. 
xiv., c. 5. 

EXAMINATION BY SCOURGING. 

Acts xxii: 24. — Then the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade 
that he should be examined by scourging ; that he might know, etc. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This method of extorting a confession was not unusual 
among the Romans, and was sometimes practised by the Jews themselves. The 
Romans, however, could not thus treat one who enjoyed the privilege of Roman 
freedom ; and examination by torture was therefore limited to slaves and aliens. 
— Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Cicero. — Why has Milo emancipated his slaves? I suppose lest they should 
give information against him ; lest they should be unable to bear pain ; lest they 
should be compelled by torture to confess that Publius Clodius was slain by 
the slaves of Milo. — Pro Mi Ion., c. 21. 

ROMAN CITIZENSHIP. 

Acts xxii : 25. — And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, 
Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned ? 

Cicero. — The Porcian law forbade a rod to be laid on the person of a Roman 
citizen. — Pro Pab., c. IV. 

Quintilian. — To bind a Roman citizen is a misdemeanor ; to strike him is a 
crime. — Quint., lib. viii., c. 4. 

Acts xxii : 27, 29. — Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a 
Roman ? He said, Yea. . . . Then straightway they departed from him which should have 
examined him. 

Cicero. — It is a heinous sin to bind a Roman citizen ; it is wickedness to 
beat him. — Cont. Verres. 

Idem. — How often has this exclamation, / am a Roman citizen ! brought aid 
and safety even among barbarians in the remotest parts of the earth. — Cont. 
Verres., V. 57. 

Acts xxii: 28. — And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. 
And Paul said. But I was free born. 



ACTS XXIII. 831 

Dio Cassius. — The civitas or citizenship of Rome was, in the early part of 
the reign of Claudius, sold at a high rate, and afterwards for a mere trifle. — 
In Con. and Hows. Life of Paul, II., 259. 

And Paul said, But I was free born. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — At the period of the Apostle's birth, the Jews 
were unmolested at Tarsus, where his father lived, and enjoyed the rights of a 
Roman citizen. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, I., 45. 

SMITING UPON THE MOUTH. 

Acts xxiii : 2. — And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him 

on the mouth. 

Morier. — As soon as the ambassador came, he punished the principal of- 
fenders by causing them to be beaten before him ; and those who had spoken 
their minds too freely, he smote upon the mouth with a shoe. — Second Journey 
through Persia, p. 8. 

Acts xxiii : 3. — Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. 

Seneca. — They are sordid, base, and like their walls adorned only externally. 
— De Provid., c. 6. 

Josephus. — This Ananias was slain, about five years after this, during the 
disturbance that occurred in Jerusalem when the Sicarii had taken possession 
of the city. He attempted to conceal himself in an aqueduct, but was drawn 
forth and killed. — See Jewish Wars, 2, 17, 8. 

THE CONSPIRACY. 

Acts xxiii: 12. — Ami when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound them- 
selves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 

Josephus. — This historian relates a similar conspiracy, in which ten Jews 
bound themselves by an oath to destroy the First Herod, because he had vio- 
lated the ancient customs of the nation.— See Antiq., 15, 8, 3. 

CMSAREA. 

Acts xxiii : 23. — And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred sol- 
diers to go to Caesarea, etc. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Caesarea was on the coast, thirty-five miles to the north 
of Joppa, and fifty-five miles northwest from Jerusalem. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 
See chap, viii., v. 40. 

FELIX THE GOVERNOR. 

Acts xxiii : 24. — Bring him safe unto Felix the governor. 

Josephus. — So Claudius sent Felix, the brother of Pallas, to take care of the 
affairs of Judea. — Antiq., b. xx., c. 7, § 1. 

Tacitus. — Felix was appointed procurator of Judea by the Emperor Clau- 
dius, whose freedman he was, on the banishment of Ventidius Cumanus 



832 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

(a. d. 53). He ruled the province in a mean and cruel and profligate manner. 
—Hist., V., 9, and Ann., XII., 54. 

ANTIPATRIS. 

Acts xxiii : 31. — Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by 

night to Antipatris, etc. 

Josephus. — After this solemnity and these festivals were over, Herod erected 
another city called Caphar-saba, where he chose out a fit place, both for plenty 
of water and goodness of soil, where a river encompassed the city itself, and a 
grove of the best trees for magnitude was round about it : this he named Anti- 
patris, from his father Antipater. — Antiq., b. xvi., c. 5, § 2. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The old name, Kefr-Saba, still lingers among the 
present Arabic population ; and extensive patches of Roman pavement along the 
old road may yet be found. — Smith's Diet, if Bible, p. 118. 

DESCENT FROM JERUSALEM TO CJESAREA. 

Acts xxiv. 1. — And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, etc. 
The Compiler. — From Jerusalem to Csesarea there was a literal descent of full 
2,600 feet. 

FELIX'S TERM OF OFFICE. 

Acts xxiv : 10. — Then Paul . . . answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many 
years a judge unto this nation, etc. 

Tacitus. — Felix, for some years, governed Judea. — Ann., XII., 54. 
Dr. John Kitto. — Felix, at this time, had been governor seven years. — 
Pict. Bible, in loco. 

TIME OF TRIAL. 

Acts xxiv : 22, 23. — And when Felix heard these things ... he deferred them and said, When 
Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. And he 
commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — When an accusation was brought against a Ro- 
man citizen, the magistrate, who had criminal jurisdiction in the case, appointed 
the time for hearing the cause, and detained the accused in custody during the 
interval. He was not bound to fix any definite time for the trial, but might 
defer it at his own arbitrary pleasure; and he might also commit the prisoner at 
his discretion to any of the several kinds of custody recognized by the Roman 
Law: these were, first, confinement in the public gaols, which was the most 
severe kind ; second, free custody, which was the mildest kind ; third, military 
custody, in which the accused person was given in charge to a soldier, who was 
responsible with his own life for the safe-keeping of his prisoner (Geib, p. 561-9, 
and Tac, III., 2).— Life of St. Paul, II., 288. 

FELIX AND DRUSILLA. 

Acts xxiv : 24. — And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a 

Jewess, he sent for Paul. 



acts xxiv. 833 

Josephus. — And when Agrippa had received these countries as the gift of 
Caesar, he gave his sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, king of Emesa. . . . 
But as for this marriage, it was in no long time afterward dissolved upon the 
following occasion : while Felix was procurator of Judea, he saw this Drusilla, 
and fell in love with her; for she did indeed exceed all other women in beauty. 
And through one Simon, a magician, she was prevailed upon to transgress the 
law of her forefathers, and to marry Felix. — Antiq., XX., 7, 1 and 2. 

Tacitus. — Claudius, when the Jewish kings were all deceased, or at least ex- 
tremely reduced in power, gave Judea to be ruled as a province by the Roman 
Knights, or by his own freedmen. Antonius Felix was one of these, one who, 
rioting in the excesses of licentiousness and cruelty, exercised the authority of a 
king, with the spirit and baseness of a slave. He had received in wedlock 
Drusilla, granddaughter to Antony and Cleopatra ; insomuch that while the 
emperor was Mark Antony's grandson, Felix, his manumised slave, was married 
to the granddaughter of that ve;y Mark Antony. — Tac. Hist., lib. v., c. 9. 

FELIX TREMBLING. 

Acts xxiv: 25. — And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, 

Felix trembled. 

Cicero. — The power of conscience is very great, O Judges, and is of great 
weight on both sides : so that they fear nothing who have done no wrong, and 
they, on the other hand, who have done wrong think that punishment is always 
hanging over them. — Pro Milon., c. 23. 

FELIX LOOKING FOR A BRIBE. 

Acts xxiv : 26. — He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might 

loose him. 

Dr. John Kitto. — This stroke finishes the character of Felix, in exact keep- 
ing with other parts of his character. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Tacitus.— In the practice of all kinds of lust and cruelty he exercised the 
power of a king with the temper of a slave. — Hist., V., 9. 

FESTUS APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 

Acts xxiv : 27. — But after two years, Porcius Festus came into Felix's room. 

Josephus. — Now when Porcius Festus was sent as successor to Felix, by Nero, 
the principal of the Jewish inhabitants of Caesarea went up to Rome to accuse 
Felix. — Antiq., XX., 8, 9. 

Idem. — Now it was that Festus succeeded Felix, as procurator, and made it 
his business to correct those that made disturbances in the country. —Jewish 
Wars, II., 14, 1. 

Herodian. — Porcius Festus also was a freedman. — Herod., IV., 8, 11. 



834 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

CESAR'S TRIBUNAL. 

Acts xxv : 10. — Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — Every procurator represented the person of the Emperor 
in the province over which he presided ; and as the seat of government was at 
Caesarea, and Paul was now before the tribunal on which the Emperor's repre- 
sentative sat, he could say with the strictest propriety, that he stood before 
Caesar's judgment seat, where as a freeman of Rome, he should be tried. — Com., 
in loco. 

APPEAL TO CJESAR. 

Acts xxv: II. — I appeal unto Caesar. 

Geib. — This was the regular technical phrase for lodging an appeal (Plut. 
Cses., c. 4), The Roman Law did not require any written appeal to be lodged 
in the hands of the court ; pronunciation of the single word Appello was suffi- 
cient to suspend all further proceedings. — Gesch. d. rom. Crim.,p. 686. 

Dr. Doddridge. — It is well known, that the Roman Law allowed such an 
appeal to every citizen, before sentence was passed, and made it highly penal 
for any governor, after that, to proceed to any extremities against the person 
making it. — Note, in loco. 

Tacitus. — Nero exalted the dignity of the fathers by ordaining that whoever 
should appeal from the judges to the senate, should be exposed to the hazard of 
forfeiting the same sum of money as did those who appealed to the Emperor. — 
Ann., XV., 28. 

Acts xxv: 12. — Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou 
appealed unto Caesar ? unto Caesar shalt thou go. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The Roman governors of provinces had a certain number 
of persons with them, whom they were bound to consult and advise with in every 
important matter, and particularly in matters of judicature. This has been 
proved by numerous citations from Cicero, Josephus, Dio, and Philo Judaeus. — 
Pict. Bib. , in loco. 

Idem. — The appeal being once made, the inferior magistrate or distant gov- 
ernor had no further power in the case ; and it became .highly penal for him to 
take any further measures in the matter, save that of sending to Rome, with all 
convenient speed, the person who had appealed to the tribunal of the Emperor. 
— Pict. Bib., in loco. 

AGRIPPA AND BERNICE. 

Acts xxv : 13. — And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute 

Festus. 

Prof. Brooke Foss Westcott, M. A. — This Agrippa was the son of Herod 
Agrippa I. (mentioned in Acts xii.) At the time of the death of his father, a. d. 
44, he was at Rome, and his youth (he was seventeen years old) prevented Clau- 
dius from carrying out his first intention of appointing him his father's successor 
(Jos., Ant., 19, 9, 1 and 2). Not long afterwards, however, the Emperor gave 
him (a. d. 50) the kingdom of Chalcis, which had belonged to his uncle ; and 



acts xxv. 835 

then transferred him, A. D. 52, to the tetrarchies formerly held by Philip and 
Lysanias (Jos. Ant., 20, 6, 1), with the title of king. The relation in which 
he stood to his sister Bernice was the cause of grave suspicion (Jos. Ant., 20, 
6, 3), which was noticed by Juvenal. In the last Roman War Agrippa took 
part with the Romans, and after the fall of Jerusalem retired with Bernice to 
Rome, where he died. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1053. 

Tacitus. — Queen Bernice, then in her full bloom of youth and beauty, was 
a great favorite even with Vespasian, old as he was, for her liberality and mag- 
nificent gifts. — Hist., II., 81. 

Suetonius. — Queen Bernice received from Titus, as was supposed, an offer of 
marriage, but when the people publicly expressed an unfavorable opinion of 
him and said that he would prove another Nero, he sent away Bernice from the 
city, much against the inclinations of both of them. — Tit., c. 7. 

Juvenal. — That far-famed gem which Bernice wore, 

The hire of incest, and thence valued more ; 

A brother's present in that barbarous state 

Where kings the Sabbath barefoot celebrate. — Sat., VI., v. 156. 

NO MAN CONDEMNED UNHEARD. 

Acts xxv; 16. — It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he 
which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer ior himself con- 
cerning the crime laid against him. 

Philo. — The Roman Prefects yielded themselves to be the common judges, 
hearing equally the accusers and defendants, condemning no man unheard, 
prejudging no man ; but judging without favor or enmity, according to the 
nature of the case. — De Preesid. Rom. 

Appian. — It is not their custom to condemn men before they have been heard. 
— Hist. Roman. 

Tacitus. — A defendant is not to be prohibited from adducing all things, by 
which -is innocence may be established. — Ann. II. 

Luctan. — It would be furnishing our calumniator with a pretext for reviling 
us if we should condemn a man without having previously heard him in his own 
vindication. — Piscat., c. 10. 

THE CHARGE SENT TO CJSSAR. 

Acts xxv : 26. — Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. 

President T. D. Woolsey, D. D., LL. D. — An appeal from a decision in a 
province, when allowed, was authenticated by apostoli or literce dimissorice, which 
contained a notice of the appeal to the higher court, and were accompanied by 
the necessary documents, evidence, etc. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 129. 

Idem. — Could Festus, in the reign of Nero, call the Emperor his lord in 
accordance with the Roman usage ? A free Roman under the republic never 
called any one his "lord," kurios or dominus. That the term was applied to 
the emperor at this period we have clear evidence. Augustus rebuked the use 
of the title, but could not repress it, nor could Tiberius prevent its application 



836 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

to himself. Herod Agrippa addressed the emperor under this name. After- 
wards the use of it became much more frequent. The letters of Pliny to 
Trajan, and those of Fronto to Marcus Aurelius, begin with Domino meo. And 
Nero was so called. These remarks serve to show the wonderful accuracy of 
Luke in the Acts, of which accuracy all new study is constantly furnishing 
additional proof. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 818. 

PAUL DELIVERED TO A CENTURION. 

Acts xxvii : i. — And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul 
and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The sending of state prisoners to Rome from 
various parts of the empire was an event of frequent occurrence. Thus we are 
told by Josephus (Vita, c. 3), that Felix, "for some slight offence, bound and 
sent to Rome several priests of his acquaintance, honorable and good men, to 
answer for themselves to Caesar." Such groups must often have left Csesarea, 
and other Eastern ports, in merchant vessels bound for the West. — Life of St. 
Paul, II., 309. 

A centurion of Augustus' band. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Lipsius has found the name of this cohort on an ancient 
marble ; see Lips., in Tacit. Hist., lib. ii. The same cohort is mentioned by 
SuoLoiiius, in his Life of Nero, 20. — Com. in loeo. 

THE COASTS OF ASIA. 

Acts xxvii: 2. — And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the 

coasts of Asia. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Adramyttium was a seaport in the province of 
Asia, or, as it was sometimes called, Mysia. It gave, and still gives its name 
to a deep gulf on this coast, opposite to the opening of which is the island of 
Lesbos. Ships of Adramyttium must have been frequent on this coast, for it 
was a place of considerable traffic. It lay on the great Roman road between 
Assos, Troas, and the Hellespont on one side, and Pergamos, Ephesus and 
Miletus on the other, and was connected by similar roads with the interior of 
the country. In the time of St. Paul Pliny mentions it as a Roman assize-, 
town. The modern Adramyti is a poor village ; but it is still a place of some 
trade and ship-building. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 35. 

Meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia. 
Dr. John Kitto. — This is to be accounted for, perhaps, by the reflection 
that the Mariner's Compass was unknown at that day; whence all voyages were, 
as far as possible, performed by creeping along the coasts ; and that it was 
considered a matter of great peril and enterprise, whenever accident compelled 
or circumstances rendered it requisite to put forth to sea. — Piet. Bible, in loco. 

SIDON. 

Acts xxvii : 3. — And the next day we touched at Sidon. 



acts xxvii. 837 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The passage from Csesarea to Sidon is 67 miles, 
a distance easily accomplished, under favorable circumstances, in less than 
twenty-four hours. — Life of St. Paul, II., 312. 

COURSE OF THE VOYAGE. 

Acts xxvii : 4.— And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the 

winds were contrary. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — On going to sea from Sidon, the wind was 
unfavorable— blowing from the westward. The direct course from Sidon to 
"the coasts of Asia" would have been to the southward of Cyprus; but, as 
Luke relates, "they sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were 
contrary "—that is, they sailed to the northeast and north of the island. The 
reason why this course was taken will be easily understood by those who have 




ANCIENT PORT OF SIDON. 



navigated those seas in modern times. By standing to the north, the 
vessel would fall in with the current which sets in a northwesterly direction 
past the eastern extremity of Cyprus, and then westerly along the southern coast 
of A da Minor, till it is lost at the opening of the Archipelago. And besides 
this, as the land was neared, the wind would draw off the shore, and the water 
would be smoother ; and both these advantages would aid the progress of the 
vessel. — Life of Paul, II., 313. 

Captain Beaufort. — From Syria to the Archipelago there is a constant 
current to the westward, slightly felt at sea, but very perceptible near the shore, 
along this part of which it runs with considerable but irregular velocity : between 
Adratchan Cape and the small adjacent island we found it one day almost three 
miles an hour. — Karamania, p. 41. 



838 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

MYRA. 

Acts xxvii : 5. — And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to 

Myra, a city of Lycia. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The situation of Myra was at the opening of a 
long and wonderful gorge, which conducts the traveller from the interior of the 
mountain-region of Lycia to the sea. A wide space of plain intervened between 
the city and the port. — Life of St. Paul, II., 315. 

Idem. — Myra is remarkable still for its remains of various periods of history. 
The tombs, enriched with ornaments, and many of them having inscriptions 
in the ancient Lycian characters, show that it must have been wealthy in ancient 
times. Its enormous theatre attests its considerable population in what may be 
called its Greek age. In the deep gorge which leads into the mountains is a 
large Byzantine church, a relic of the Christianity which may have begun with 
St. Paul's visit. — Smith's Bible Diet., p. 2044. 

Acts xxvii : 6. — And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria, sailing into Italy : and he 

put us therein. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The port of Myra was one of the many excellent 
harbors which abound in the southwestern part of Asia Minor. From this cir- 
cumstance, and from the fact that the coast is high and visible to a great dis- 
tance, — in addition to the local advantages mentioned before, the westerly 
current and the off-shore wind, — it was common for ships bound from Egypt to 
the westward to be found in this neighborhood when the winds were contrary. 
It was therefore a natural occurrence, and one which could have caused no sur- 
prise, when the centurion met in the harbor at Myra with an Alexandrian 
corn-ship on her voyage to Italy. — Life of St. Paul, II., 316. 

SAILING SLOWLY BY CNIDUS, CRETE, ETC. 

Acts xxvii : 7. — And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against 
Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Since the distance from Myra to Cnidus is 
only 130 miles, it is certain that they must have sailed "slowly." The delay 
was occasioned by contrary winds. At this point they lost the advantages of a 
favoring current, a weather shore, and smooth water, and were met by all the 
force of the sea from the westward : and it was judged the most prudent course, 
instead of contending with a head sea and contrary winds, to run down to the 
southward, and, after rounding % Cape Salmone, the easternmost point of Crete, 
to pursue the voyage under the lee of that island. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, 
II., 317. 

Sir C. Penrose. — "Sailed slowly many days" — from the light and baffling 
winds, usual 'in those seas and at that season. — MS. 

Dr. John Kitto. — " Cnidus." — This city was situated on a peninsula of the 
same name, opposite Rhodes. The peninsula consists of high mountains, slop- 
ing steeply upwards from the port, but to the west presenting a perpendicular 
face of rock from 100 to 300 feet high, utterly inaccessible to friend or 



acts xxvii. 839 

enemy. The town of Cnidus stood at the extremity of this peninsula, and was 
spread over the ascent of a high mountain rising gradually from the sea. It had 
three fine ports, sheltered by a peninsula and divided by an isthmus. — Pict. Bib. 
in loco. 

Beaufort. — Few places bear more incontestable proofs of former magnifi- 
cence and fewer still of the ruffian industry of their destroyers, than Cnidus. 
The whole area of the city is one promiscuous mass of ruins ; among which may 
be traced streets and gateways, porticos and theatres. The smallest harbor 
has a narrow entrance between high piers, and was evidently the closed basin 
for triremes, which Strabo mentions. The southern harbor is formed by two 
transverse moles; these noble works were carried into the sea to the depth of 
nearly a hundred feet ; one of them is almost perfect ; the other, which is more 
exposed to the southwest swell, can only be seen under water. — Karamania, p. 
81, etc. 

Dr. John Kitto. — " Crete," now called Candia, is a large island fronting 
the JEgezn Sea. It is a hundred and sixty miles long, and in its widest parts 
thirty-five miles broad. The soil is rich and exceedingly fruitful. It was very 
populous, and anciently had a hundred cities, from which it received the name 
of Hecatompolis. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

DIRECTION OF THE WIND. 

Acts xxvii : 8.— And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called the Fair Havens : nigh 
whereunto was the city of Lasea. 

Dr. John Saul Howson.— The statements at this particular point of St. 
Luke's narrative enable us to ascertain, with singular minuteness, the direction 
of the wind (viz., from the northwest) : and it is deeply interesting to observe, 
how this direction, once ascertained, harmonizes all the inferences which we 
should naturally draw from other parts of the context. — Life and Epists. of St. 
Paul, II., 319. 

Idem.— The position of Fair Havens is known. Though not mentioned by 
classical writers, it is still known by its old Greek name. Lasea, too, has 
recently been most explicitly discovered. In fact Fair Havens appears to have 
been practically its harbor. These places are situated four or five miles to the 
east of Cape Matala, which is the most conspicuous headland on the south coast 
of Crete, and immediately to the west of which the coast trends suddenly to the 
north. This last circumstance explains why the ship which conveyed St. Paul 
was brought to anchor in Fair Havens — beyond, its course would have been in 
the teeth of the wind. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 808. 

SAILING BECOME DANGEROUS. 

Acts xxvii : 9.— Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because 
the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them. 

Dr. John Saul Howson.— The fast of Expiation was on the tenth of Tisri, 
and corresponded to the close of September or the beginning of October; and 



840 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

is exactly the time when seafaring is pronounced to be dangerous by Greek and 
Roman writers. See Philo De Viert. App. II. ; Hesiod, Op. et Di. 671 ; Aris- 
toph. Av. 709; etc. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, II., 321. 

PHENICE. 

Acts xxvii: 12. — And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part ad- 
vised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Phenice is mentioned both by Ptolemy and Strabo as a 
port on the southern coast of the island of Crete. It was opposite the small 
island of Clauda or Gaudos, and about fifty-two nautical miles to the northwest 
of Fair Havens. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

EUROCLYDON. 

Acts xxvii: 14, 15. — But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euro- 
clydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let 
her drive. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The change in the fortunes of these mariners came 
without a moment's warning. Soon after weathering Cape Matala, and. while 
they were pursuing their course in full confidence, close by the coast of Crete, 
a violent wind came down from the mountains, and struck the ship (seizing her, 
according to the Greek expression, and whirling her round), so that it was im- 
possible for the helmsman to make her keep her course. The character of the 
wind is described in terms expressive of the utmost violence. It came with all 
the appearance of a hurricane : and the name Euroclydon, which was given to 
it by the sailors, indicates the commotion in the sea which presently resulted. 
— Life and Epistles of St. Paul, II., 325. 

Dr. John Kitto. — " Euroclydon " — by this we may understand one of those 
whirlwinds or hurricanes so common in those seas at this time of the year, and 
which is so well known to our seamen by the name of a Levanter, and which the 
ancients called Typhon. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

Pliny". — The squall which is called Typhon carries along a portion of the 
cloud which it has broken off, rolling and turning it round, aggravating its own 
destruction by the weight of it, and whirling it from place to place. This is 
very much dreaded by sailors, and it not only breaks their sail-yards, but the 
vessels themselves, bending them about in various ways. — Hist. Nat., II. , 49, 

CLAUDA. 

Acts xxvii : 16. — And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much 

work to come by the boat. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Clauda is an island about twenty miles to the 
southwest of Cape Matala, on the southern coast of Crete. . . . Running under 
the lee of this isle, they hoisted the boat on board, a work, in a gale, always 
accomplished with "difficulty." — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, II., 326-7. 



ACTS XXVII. 841 

UNDERGIRDING THE SHIP. 

Acts xxvii: 17.— They used helps, undergirding the ship. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — In consequence of the extreme danger to which 
they were exposed from leaking, it was customary to take to sea, as part of their 
ordinary gear, "undergirders," which were simply ropes for passing round the 
hull of the ship, and thus preventing the planks from starting. One of the most 
remarkable proofs of the truth of this statement is to be found in the inscribed 
marbles dug up, in the year 1834, at the Piraeus, which give us an inventory 
of the Attic fleet in its flourishing period. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 
II., 302. 

Plato.— This light was the belt of heaven, like the undergirding of a ship, 
by which the whole circumference is bound together. — De Rep., X., 14. 

Horace. — The wounded mast 

And sail-yards groan beneath the southern blast, 

Nor without ropes the keel can longer brave 

The rushing fury of th' imperious wave. — Hor., 1. i., car. 14. 

THE QUICKSANDS. 

Acts xxvii: 17. — And fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were 

driven. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — "Quicksands" — the original for this word is 
The Syrtis — the broad and deep bight on the North African coast, between 
Carthage and Cyrene. This region was an object of peculiar dread to the 
ancient navigators of the Mediterranean, both on account of the drifting sands 
and the heat along the shore itself, and of the shallows and uncertain currents 
of water in the bay. Josephus relates that he was himself once wrecked in this 
part. Apollonius Rhodius, who was familiar with all the notions of the Alex- 
andrian sailors, in his Argonaut, supplies illustrations of this passage in Paul's 
history, in more respects than one — in the sudden violence of the terrible north 
wind, in its long duration, and in the terror which the sailors felt of being 
driven into the Syrtis. There were properly two Syrtes, the eastern or larger, 
now called the Gulf of Sidra, and the western or smaller, now the Gulf of 
Cabes. It is the former to which our attention is directed in this passage of the 
Acts. The ship was caught by a northeasterly gale on the south coast of Crete, 
near Mount Ida, and was driven to the island of Clauda. This line of drift, 
continued, would strike the greater Syrtis : whence the natural apprehension 
of the sailors. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2652. 

THE WRECK FORETOLD. 

Acts xxvii : 26. — Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island. 

Rev. William Jay, D. D. — " We must be cast on a certain island " — not a 
continent, but an island, and a certain island — and we must be cast upon it, 
52 



842 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

that is, wrecked there ; the vessel will be destroyed, though the passengers will 
be preserved. And so it came to pass. — Evening Exercises, Octr. 23. 

NEARING LAND. 

Acts xxvii : 27. — But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in 
Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — A gale of such duration, though not very frequent, 
is by no means unprecedented in that part of the Mediterranean, especially 
towards winter. The writer has heard of easterly and northeasterly gales lasting 
for a still longer period, both in the neighborhood of Gibraltar and to the east- 
ward of Malta. A captain in the merchant service mentions a fruit vessel near 
Smyrna hindered for a fortnight from loading by a gale from the northeast. She 
was two days in beating up a little bay a mile deep. He adds, that such gales 
are prevalent there towards winter. Another case is that of a vessel bound for 
Odessa, which was kept three weeks at Milo with an easterly gale. This also 
was late in the year (October). A naval officer writes thus: "About the same 
time of the year, in 1839, I left Malta for the Levant in the ' Hydra,' a power- 
ful steam frigate, and encountered Euroclydon (or, as we called it, a Levanter) 
in full force. I think we were four days without being able to sit down at table 
to a meal; during which time we saw 'neither sun nor stars.' Happily she was 
a powerful vessel, and we forced her through it, being charged with dispatches, 
though with much injury to the vessel. Had we been a mere log on the water, 
like St. Paul's ship, we should have drifted many days." — Life and Epistles of 

St. Paul, II., 334. 

Driven up and down in Adria. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — In the apostolic age, Adria denoted that natural 
division of the Mediterranean which Humboldt names the Syrtic Basin, and 
which had the coasts of Sicily, Italy, Greece and Africa for its boundaries. 
This definition is explicitly given by almost a contemporary of St. Paul, the 
geographer of Ptolemy, who also says that Crete is bounded on the west by 
Adrias. Later writers state that Malta divides the Adriatic Sea from the 
Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Isthmus of Corinth the ^Egean from the Adriatic. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 35. 

The shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — There is little doubt as to what were the indica- 
tions of land. The roar of breakers is a peculiar sound, which can be de- 
tected by a practised ear, though not distinguishable from the other sounds of 
a storm by those who have not " their senses exercised " by experience of the 
sea. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, II., 334. 

SOUNDING. 

Acts xxvii : 27-29. — The shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; and sounded, 
and found it twenty fathoms : and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, 
and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast 
four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. 



acts xxvi r. 843 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — We have seen that when under the lee of Clauda, 
the direction in which the vessel was drifting was west by north, which is the 
exact bearing of the northern part of Malta from the south of Clauda. And we 
find that every succeeding indication in the narrative, not only tends to bring 
us to the shore of Malta, but to the very Bay (the Cala di San Paolo) which has 
always been the traditionary scene of the wreck. In the first place we are told 
that they became aware of land by the presence of breakers, and yet without 
striking. Now an inspection of the chart will show us that a ship drifting west 
by north might approach Koura point, the eastern boundary of St. Paul's Bay, 
without having fallen in previously with any other part of the coast : for, 
towards the neighborhood of Valetta, the shore trends rapidly to the southward. 
Again, the character of this point, as described in the Sailing Directions, is such 
that there must infallibly have been violent breakers upon it that night. Yet a 
vessel drifting west by north might pass it, within a quarter of a mile, without 
striking on the rocks. But what are the soundings at this point ? They are 
now twenty fathoms. If we proceed a little further we find fifteen fathoms. It 
may be said that this, in itself, is nothing remarkable. But if we add, that the 
fifteen fathom depth is in. the direction of the vessel's drift (west by north) from 
the twenty fathom depth, the coincidence is startling ! But at this point we 
observe, on looking at the chart, that now there would be breakers ahead — and 
yet at such a distance ahead, that there would be time for the vessel to a?ichor, 
before actually striking on the rocks. 

They cast four a?ichors out of the stern. — If they had anchored by the bow, 
there was good ground for apprehending that the vessel would have swung 
round and gone upon the rocks. They therefore let go four anchors by the 
stem. By this method her way would be more easily arrested, and she would 
be in a better position for being run ashore next day. Modern Greek vessels 
may still be seen anchoring by the stern in the Golden Horn at Constantinople, 
or on the coast of Patmos. But the best illustration is afforded by one of the 
paintings of Herculaneum, which represents "a ship so strictly contempora- 
neous with that of St. Paul, that there is nothing impossible in the supposition, 
that the artist had taken his subject from that very ship, on loosing from the 
pier at Puteoli." — Life and Episls. of St. Paul, II. , 341-2 and 335-6. 

THE ANCHORAGE. 

Acts xxvii : 39-41. — And when it was day they knew not the land : but they discovered a cer- 
tain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the 
ship. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and 
loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made towards shore. 
And falling into a place where two seas met, they run the ship aground. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The character of the coast on the further side of 
the bay is such, that though the greater part of it is fronted with mural preci- 
pices, there are one or two indentations, which exhibit the appearance of a 
creek with a {sandy or pebbly) shore. And again we observe that the small 



844 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

island of Salmonetta is so placed, that the sailors, looking from the deck when 
the vessel was at anchor, could not possibly be aware that it was not a contin- 
uous part of the mainland ; whereas, while they were running her aground, they 
could not help observing the opening of the channel, which would thus appear 
a place between two seas, and would be more likely to attract their attention, if 
some current resulting from this juxtaposition of the island and the coast inter- 
fered with the accuracy of their steering. And finally, to revert to the fact of 
the anchors holding through the night (a result which could not confidently be 
predicted), we find it stated in our English " Sailing Directions," that the ground 
in St. Paul's Bay is so good, that, while the cables hold, there is no danger, as the 
anchors will never start. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, II., 343. 

THE SHIP RUN ASHORE. 

Acts xxvii : 41. — They ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained 
unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. 

Sir Charles Penrose. — The mainsail being hoisted, it would press the ship 
further on upon the land. — MS. 

James Smith, Esq. — A careful examination of the beach revealed the fact, 
that the ship would strike a bottom of mud, graduating into tenacious clay, into 
which the fore part would fix itself, and be held fast, whilst the stern was 
exposed to the force of the waves. — Voyage a?id Shipwreck of St. Paul, p. 104. 

MELITA. 

Acts xxviii: I. — And when they were escaped they knew that the island was called Melita. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Melita, as is well known, was the ancient name of Malta. 
This island, situated very nearly mid-way between Europe and Africa, has been 
reckoned sometimes as belonging to the one and sometimes to the other. It is 
about twenty miles long and twelve miles broad. Its ancient capital stood upon 
elevated ground about the centre of the island. There are in this city numerous 
alleged memorials of St. Paul's sojourn here. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Diodorus Siculus. — There are over against that part of Sicily which lies to the 
south, three islands at a distance in the sea, each of which has a town and safe 
ports for ships overtaken by tempests. The first, called Melita, is about 800 
stadia from Syracuse, and has several excellent harbors. The inhabitants are 
very rich, inasmuch as they exercise many trades, and in particular, manufacture 
cloths remarkable for their softness and fineness. Their houses are large, and 
splendidly ornamented with projections and stucco. The island is a colony of 
Phoenicians, who, trading to the Western Ocean, use it as a place of refuge, 
because it has excellent ports, and lies in the midst of the sea. — Diod. Sic, lib. 
v., c. 12. 

BARBARIANS. 

Acts xxviii: 2. — And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness. 
Rev. T. S. Millington. — The inhabitants of this island are called "bar- 
barians" in accordance with the custom of the Greeks and Romans, who 



ACTS XXVIII. 845 

called all people by that name who spoke a language different from their own.-— 
Test of Heath., p. 555. 

Ovid. — Here, I am a barbarian, for no person understands me. — Tristia, 
v. 10. 

Herodotus. — The Egyptians call all those barbarians who have not the same 
language with themselves. — Euterpe, c. 158. 

Strabo. — Of the barbarians, the Persians were the best known to the Greeks, 
for none of the other barbarians who governed Asia ruled Greece. — Strab., 
XV., 3. 

Paul. — If I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that 
speaketh a barbarian ; and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. — 1 
Cor. xiv: n. 

THE VIPER. 

Acts xxviii : 3. — There came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand. 
Bloomfield. — The poisonous vipers of Italy and Africa do not, like some 
species of harmless snakes with us, wind around a person's hand, but dart upon 
and bite them at once, and keep fast hold. — In loco. 

Acts xxviii : 4. — And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said 
among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea, 
yet vengeance suffereth not to live. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The ancients held that no murderer, however he might 
evade human justice, ever finally escaped the avenging justice of heaven. That 
serpents were often the agents of this justice was believed both by Jews and 
heathen. The Talmud mentions the story of a man who slew his friend, but 
was immediately after bitten by a serpent, and died. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 

Acts xxviii: 5. — And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. 
Jesus Christ. — Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scor- 
pions, and over all the power of the enemy ; and nothing shall by any means 
hurt you. — Luke x: 19. 

PUBLIUS. 

Acts xxviii : 7. — In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose 

name was Publius. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The term Protos, chief, used here by St. Luke, was the 
ancient title of the governor of this island, as is evident from an inscription 
found in Malta, which reads thus : 

Lucius Caius, son of Quirinus, a Roman knight, Chief of the Melitese. 

This title is another proof of the accuracy of St. Luke, who uses the very 
epithet by which the Roman Governor of that island was distinguished. — Note, 
in loco. 

ALEXANDRIA. 

Acts xxviii: n. — And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had win- 
tered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. 

Prof. B. F. Westcott, M. A. — Alexandria was the Roman capital- of Egypt. 



846 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

It was founded by Alexander the Great b. c. 332. Its beauty became proverbial. 
The climate and site are singularly healthy. The harbors formed by the island 
of Pharos and the headland Lochias, were safe and commodious, alike for com- 
merce and for war, and the lake Mareotis was an inland haven for the merchan- 
dise of Egypt and India. Its importance as one of the chief corn-ports of Rome 
secured for it the general favor of the first emperors. The Alexandrine corn- 
vessels were large and handsome ; and, as Josephus informs us, even Vespasian 
made a voyage in one of them. They generally sailed direct to Puteoli ; but 
under stress of weather often sailed under the Asiatic coast. — Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 62. 

CASTOR AND POLLUX, 

Acts xxviii : II. — We departed in a ship . . . whose sign was Castor and Pollux. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, the twin-sons of 
Jupiter and Leda. They were regarded as the tutelary divinities of sailors. 
Hence the frequent allusions of Roman poets to these divinities in connection 
with navigation (see Hor., carm. I., 3, 2). Castor and Pollux were especially 
honored at Alexandria and the neighboring districts. In Catullus, IV., 27, we 
have distinct mention of a boat dedicated to them. Herodotus says (III., 37) 
that the Phoenicians used to place the figures of deities at the bow of their 
vessels. Virgil (^n. X., 209) and Ovid (Trist. I., 10, 2) supply us with illus- 
trations of the practice ; and Cyril says that such was always the Alexandrian 
method of ornamenting each side of the prow. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 395. 
Catullus. — As when through storms the sailor long has pray'd 
To Pollux now, and now for Castor's aid, 
Soft breathes the favoring air and calms the sea ; 
Such Manlius was, such help and bliss to me. — Catul., carm. 68. 

SYRACUSE. 

Acts xxviii : 12. — And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Syracuse was in their track. — Life of P., II., 347. 

Can. J. W. Blakesley, B. D. — Syracuse was a very celebrated city on the 
eastern coast of Sicily. The magnificence which Cicero describes as still 
remaining in his time, was then no doubt greatly impaired. ' The situation of 
this city rendered it a convenient place for the African corn-ships to touch at, 
for the harbor was an excellent one, and the fountain of Arethusa in the island 
furnished an unfailing supply of excellent water. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3140. 

RHEGIUM AND PUTEOLI. 

Acts xxviii : 13. — And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium. 
Prof. Charles Anthony, LL. D. — Rhegium was a celebrated and flourishing 
city at the southern extremity of Italy, opposite the coast of Sicily. It was 
founded about 700 b. c. The modern name of the place is Reggio. — Classical 
Dictionary. 



acts xxvni. 847 

Lewin. — " We fetched a compass " — as the wind was westerly, and they were 
under shelter of the high mountainous range of ^Etna on their left, they were 
obliged to stand out to sea in order to fill their sails, and so come to Rhegium 
by a circuitous course. I was informed by a friend that when he made the 
voyage from Syracuse to Rhegium, the vessel in which he sailed took a similar 
circuit for a similar reason. — Quoted by Dr. Howson. 

And after one day, the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The south wind would be favorable not only for 
carrying the ship through the Straits, but for all the remainder of the voyage. 
Puteoli lies nearly due north from Rhegium. The distance is about 182 miles. 
If we assume (in accordance with what has been proved above) that the vessel 
sailed at the rate of seven knots an hour, the passage would be accomplished in 
about twenty-six hours, which agrees perfectly with the account of St. Luke, who 
says that, after leaving Rhegium, they came " the next day" to Puteoli. — Life 
of St. Paul, II. , 349. 

Idem. — Puteoli, under the early Roman emperors, w r as the great landing-place 
of travellers to Italy from the Levant, and the harbor to which the Alexandrian 
corn-ships brought their cargoes. It- was at that period a place of very great 
importance. It was situated on the "Bay of Curaae," now called the Bay of 
Naples. Close to it was Baiae, one of the most fashionable of the Roman 
watering places. Its associations with historical personages are very numerous. 
Scipio sailed from hence to Spain. Cicero had a villa in the neighborhood. 
Here Nero planned the murder of his mother. Vespasian gave to this city 
peculiar privileges. And here Hadrian was buried. — The remains of Puteoli are 
considerable. The aqueduct, the reservoirs, portions (probably) of baths, the 
great amphitheatre, the Temple of Serapis which affords very curious indications 
of changes of level in the soil, are all well worthy of notice. But our chief 
interest here is concentrated on the ruins of the ancient mole, which is formed 
of the concrete called Pozzolana, and sixteen of the piers of which still remain. 
No Roman harbor has left so solid a memorial of itself as this one at which 
St. Paul landed in Italy. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2647. 

Acts xxviii: 14. — Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days : 

and so we went toward Rome. 

Dr. J. S. Howson. — From its trade with Alexandria and the East, Puteoli 
must necessarily have contained a colony of Jews, and they must have had a close 
connection with the Jews of Rome. 

And so we went toward Pome. — We are now about to trace the Apostle's 
footsteps along that road which was at once the oldest and most frequented in 
Italy, and which was called, in comparison with all others, the " Queen of 
Roads." This was the Appian Way, the most crowded approach to the 
metropolis of the world. The distance from Puteoli to Rome is about 125 
miles. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, II., 353-6. 



848 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

APPII FORUM, AND THE THREE TAVERNS. 

Acts xxviii : 15. — And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far 
as Appii Forum, and the Three Taverns. 

Antoninus. — The Three Taverns was a place 33 miles distant from Rome, 
and Appii Forum 51 miles, both on the Appian Way. — Itinerary. 

Cicero. — This epistle was dated from Appii Forum at four o'clock; I had 
written another, a short time before from the Three Taverns. — Ad Att., lib. ii., 
ep. 10. 

CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. 

Acts xxviii: 16. — And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the 

captain of the guard. 

Dr. Adam Clarke — " Captain of the guard," stratopedarkes, literally and 
properly, Commander of the Camp. Tacitus (Ann., IV., 2) informs us, that 
in the reign of Tiberius, Sejanus, who was then Praefect of these troops, did, in 
order to accomplish his ambitious designs, cause them to be assembled from 
their quarters in the city, and stationed in a fortified Camp near it ; so that their 
commander is with peculiar propriety styled by St. Luke, the Commander of 
the Cai?ip. For, the arrival of St. Paul at Rome was in the seventh year of 
Nero (a. d. 62); and it is certain, from Suetonius (Tibr., c. 37), that the custom 
of keeping the praetorian soldiers in a camp near the city was retained by the 
emperors succeeding Tiberius. It was customary for prisoners who were brought 
to Rome, to be delivered to the Commander of this Camp, who had the charge 
of the state prisoners (Plin., lib. x., ep. 65). The person who now had that 
office was the noted Afranius Burrhus, who was a principal instrument in raising 
Nero to the throne. He is praised by the historians for his moderation and love 
of justice; and his treatment of St. Paul — " suffering him to dwell by himself" 
— is no mean proof of this. — Com. in loco. 

PAUL IN HIS HIRED HOUSE. 

Acts xxviii : 30. — And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that 

came in unto him. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The Roman courts required the personal presence 
of the prosecutor. It would seem that, at this time, an accused person might 
be thus kept in prison for an indefinite period, merely by the delay of the prose- 
cutor to proceed with his accusation. And even when the prosecutors were 
present, and no ground alleged for the delay of the trial, a corrupt judge might 
postpone it, as Felix did, for months and years, to gratify the enemies of the 
prisoner. And if a provincial governor, though responsible for such abuse of 
power to his master, might venture to act in this arbitrary manner, much more 
might the emperor himself, who was responsible to no man. Thus we find that 
Tiberius was in the habit of delaying the hearing of causes, and retaining the 
accused in prison unheard, merely out of procrastination (Joseph. Ant., 18, 6, 5). 
So that even after St. Paul's prosecutors had arrived, and though we were to 
suppose them anxious for the progress of the trial, it might still have been long 



ROMANS I. 849 

delayed by the emperor's caprice. We read (Tac. Ann., XIII. , 43) of an in- 
terval of twelve months permitted during Nero's reign, in the case of an accu- 
sation against Suilius, for misdemeanors committed during his government of 
Proconsular Asia. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, II., 375. 



Romans. 



Prof. Joseph B. Lightfoot, D. D. — The date of the Epistle to the Romans 
is fixed with more absolute certainty, and within narrower limits, than that of 
any other of St. Paul's epistles — which was in a. d. 58. The internal evidence 
is so strongly in favor of the genuineness of this Epistle that it has never been 
seriously questioned. This is confirmed by external testimony, from various 
sources. Passages from the Romans are found embedded in the Epistles of 
Clement and Polycarp (Clem. Cor., c. 35; Poly. Phil., c. 6). It is also 
quoted in Iren^eus, "ideo Paulum dixisse." It is alluded to by the writer of 
the Epistle to Diognetus, and by Justin Martyr. It has a place, moreover, 
in the Muratorian Canon, and in the Syriac and Old Latin Versions. Nor 
have we the testimony of orthodox writers alone. The Epistle was commonly 
quoted as an authority by the Heretics of the sub-apostolic age. In the latter 
part of the second century the evidence in its favor is still fuller. It is obviously 
alluded to in the letter of the churches of Vienne and Lyons, by Athenagoras, 
and Theophilus of Antioch ; and is quoted frequently and by name by Iren^eus, 
Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2748. 

THE CITY OF ROME. 

Romans i : 7. — To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, etc. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The site and character of the city of Rome, as the 
metropolis of the world, are too well known to require description. Its popu- 
lation was colossal. Within a circuit of little more than twelve miles, more 
than two millions of inhabitants were crowded. In this prodigious collection 
of human beings there were of course all the contrasts which are seen in a 
modern city — all the painful lines of separation between luxury and squalor, 
wealth and want. But in Rome all these differences were on an exaggerated 
scale, and the institution of slavery modified further all social relations. The 
f ee citizens were more than a million; the senators were about a thousand; the 
knights, who filled a great proportion of the public offices, were more than ten 
thousand ; the troops quartered in the city may be reckoned at fifteen thousand ; 
the rest were the Plebs urbana, a vast number of whom were poor, and lived on 
public or private charity. Yet were these pauper citizens proud of their citi- 



850 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

zenship, though many of them had no better sleeping-place for the night than 
the public porticos or the vestibules of temples. They cared for nothing beyond 
bread for the day, the games of the circus, and the savage delight of gladiatorial 
shows. Every kind of nationality and religion had its representative in the 
great capital. In short, Rome was like London, with all its miseries, vices and 
follies exaggerated, and without Christianity. Beyond the river was a district 
named "Trastevere; " this was the residence of a low rabble, and the place of 
the meanest merchandise; and here was the ordinary residence of the Jews. A 
great part of this district was doubtless squalid and miserable, like the Ghetto 
of modern Rome, though the- Jews were often less oppressed under the Caesars 
than under the Popes. Here, then, on the level ground, between the windings 
of the muddy river and the base of the Janiculum hill, was the home of those 
Israelitish families among whom the Gospel bore its first-fruits in the metropolis 
of the world. The Jewish community thus established in Rome had its first 
beginnings in the captives brought by Pompey after his eastern campaign. 
Many of them were manumitted ; and thus a great proportion of the Jews in 
Rome were freedmen. Frequent accessions to their numbers were made as 
years went on — chiefly from the mercantile relations which subsisted between 
Rome and the East. Many of them wefe wealthy, and large sums were sent 
annually for religious purposes from Italy to the mother country. Even the 
proselytes contributed to these sacred funds. In the early years of Nero, which 
were distinguished for a mild and lenient government of the empire, the Jews 
in Rome seem to have enjoyed complete toleration, and to have been a numer- 
ous, wealthy and influential community. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, II., 
367-369. 

UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCE. 

Rom. i: 13. — Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come 
unto you (but was let hitherto), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among 
other Gentiles. 

Dr. William Paley. — The purpose of visiting Rome expressed in the Acts, 
and thus in the epistle, has been shown by this able author, to be one of those 
undesigned coincidences which strongly shows that both books are genuine. 
Comp. Rom. xv: 23 with Acts xix: 21. A forger of these books would not 
have thought of such a contrivance as to feign such a purpose of going to Rome 
at that time, and have mentioned it in that manner. Such coincidences are 
among the best proofs that could be demanded, that the writers did not 
intend to impose upon the world. — See Horoz. Polinee., p. 16, etc. 

DEBT OF BENEVOLENCE. 

Rom. i : 14. — I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians ;" both to the wise and to 

the unwise. 

Epictetus. — The philosopher will make it his business to debate with all man- 
kind ; with the Athenians, Corinthians, and Romans equally ; not about taxes 
and revenues, or peace and war, but about happiness and misery, prosperity and 
adversity, slavery and freedom. — Epicl., III., 22. 



ROMANS I. 853 

THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL 

Rom. i : 16. — I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salva- 
tion to every one that believeth. 

Dr. William Fraser. — The doctrines of the Gospel create a new motive to 
action, and sustain an ennobling aim. Love and holiness are their natural 
fruits. This motive to action and this elevating aim were absent from the 
world. The sublime moral maxims of Oriental nations — the early learning of 
Egypt — the philosophic and aesthetic culture of Greece — and the jurisprudence 
of Rome, rising from the midst of an all-embracing idolatry — never produced 
any results approaching those which the preaching of the Gospel has diffused 
through every generation. In the doctrines of the cross, revealing the love of 
God in Christ Jesus, there is the supernatural introduction of a new motive 
" power " — there is that which is changing the intellectual and moral aspects 
of the whole world. The triumphs of the Gospel in Asia, Europe and Africa, 
during the earlier centuries, have arrested the thought of even the most indif- 
ferent, and have taxed the philosophy of the sceptic to account for their com- 
pleteness. In comparatively recent times, the most ferocious and debased can- 
nibal tribes have been subdued by the influence of the Gospel — the most sunken 
tribes in the world — men of all races, of all grades in society, and of all stages 
in culture, have rejoiced in the blessing of which, through faith in Jesus Christ, 
they have become partakers. No tribe has ever yet been found so sunken as to 
be beyond the power of Divine truth, when presented in the Gospel message. 
In every part of the habitable globe where the voice of the missionary has been 
heard, most notable changes have been effected, and the sufficiency of divine 
grace has been most distinctly manifested. — Blending Lights, chap. xvi. 

Dr. Thomas Chalmers. — The beauty of that holiness which is enshrined in 
the four brief biographies of the Man of Nazareth, has done more, and will do 
more to regenerate the world, and bring in an everlasting righteousness, than 
all other agencies put together. — In A. T. S. Al. for 1850. 

GOD SEEN IN HIS WORKS. 

Rom. i : 20.— For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, 
being understood by the things that are made, even his external power and Godhead ; so that 
they are without excuse. 

Cicero.— Though you see not the Deity, yet by the contemplation of his 
works, you are led to acknowledge a God. — Disp. Tusc., I., 28. 

Xenophon.— The supreme God holds himself invisible, and it is only in his 
works that we are capable of admiring him. — Mem., IV., 3. 

Plato. — God the eternal, the chief ruler of the universe and its creator, the 
mind alone beholds; but that which is produced we behold by sight. — Tim. 
Loc., c. 5. 

Bishop George Berkeley, D. D. — Though I cannot with eyes of flesh 
behold the invisible God ; yet I do in the strictest sense behold and perceive 



854 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

by all my senses such signs and tokens, such effects and operations as suggest, 
indicate, and demonstrate an invisible God. — Min. Phil., Dial. IV., c. 5. 

Sir Isaac Newton. — This beautiful system of sun, planets, and comets, could 
have its origin in no other way than by the purpose and command of an intel- 
ligent and powerful Being. He governs all things, not as the soul of the world, 
but as the Lord of the universe. He is not only God, but Lord or Governor. 
We know him only by his properties and attributes, by the wise and admirable 
structure of things around us, and by their final causes ; we admire him on 
account of his perfections, we venerate and worship him on account of his gov- 
ernment. — Principia, concluding Note. 

Dr. William Buckland. — The whole course of the Geological inquiry which 
we have now conducted to its close, has shown that the physical history of our 
globe, in which some have seen only waste, disorder, and confusion, teems with 
endless examples of Economy, and Order, and Design ; and the result of all our 
researches, carried back through the unwritten records of past time, has been to 
fix more steadily our assurance of the Existence of One Supreme Creator of all 
things, to exalt more highly our conviction of the immensity of his perfections, 
of his Might and Majesty, his W r isdom and Goodness, and all-sustaining Provi- 
dence. The Earth from her deep foundations unites with the celestial orbs that 
roll through boundless space, to declare the glory and show forth the praise of 
their common Author and Preserver. — Bridgewater Treatise, p. 443. 

Robert Hunt, Esq. — The task of wielding the wand of science — of standing 
a scientific evocator within the charmed circle of its powers, is one which leads 
the mind through nature up to nature's God. — Poetry of Science, p. 317. 

GOD KNOWN TO THE HEATHEN. 

Rom. i : 21. — When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — That many of the philosophers of Greece and Rome 
had a knowledge of one God, there can be no doubt. This was undoubtedly the 
case with Pythagoras, who had travelled extensively in Egypt, and even in Pal- 
estine; and also with Plato and his disciples. This point is clearly shown by 
Cudworth in his Intellectual System, and by Bishop Warburton in the Divine 
Legation of Moses. — Note, in loco. 

Maximus Tyrius. — The barbarians, all of them, acknowledge the existence 
of a deity. — Diss., 38. 

Cicero. — All allow that there is a certain Divine Nature and Energy. — Tusc, 

''. I3 ' THE FOLLY AND IDOLATRY OF WE WISE. 

Rom. i: 22. — Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This is most strikingly true of all the ancient philoso- 
phers, whether Greeks or Romans, as their works which remain, sufficiently tes- 
tify, not excepting Socrates, Plato, or Seneca. I might crowd my page with 
proofs of this; but this is unnecessary. — In loco. 

Rom. i; 23. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to 

corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things. 



ROMANS I. 855 

Dr. John Kitto. — Most of the idols of the classical ancients were in the like- 
ness of men and women; and many of them were in fact intended to represent 
heroes, benefactors, and inventors who had been deified, and to whom temples, 
altars, and statues were erected. The worship of men thus deified, constituted 
no small part of the ancient idolatry. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — Instead of worshipping the living and immortal God, 
they deified a host of dead men, called heroes, distinguished for nothing so 
much, as for murder, adultery, sodomy, rapine, cruelty, drunkenness, and all 
kinds of debauchery. To such contemptible divinities, splendid temples were 
erected, adorations addressed, costly offerings presented, and rites and ceremo- 
nies performed, subversive of every principle of decency and morality, and de- 
griding to the reason and character of man. — Philosophy of Religion, Chap. III. 
Lucian. — If you go into Egypt, you will see Jupiter with the face of a ram, 
Mercury as a fine dog, Pan is become a goat; another god is Ibis, another the 
crocodile, and another the ape. There, many shaven priests gravely tell us, that 
the gods being afraid of the rebellion of the giants, assumed these shapes. — - 
Quoted in Christ. Phil., p. 86. 

Anaxandrides.— I cannot agree with you (Egyptians) ; our customs and laws 
differ so widely. You adore the ox ; I sacrifice it to the gods. You think the 
eel a great deity; we look upon it as the most delicious dainty. You ab- 
stain from the flesh of swine ; I delight in it beyond all things. You adore 
the dog ; I give him a good beating whenever I catch him stealing my meat. 
If you see a cat indisposed, you weep ; I am delighted to kill it and take its 
skin. The mygale with you has great influence ; with us none whatever. — 
Play of the Cities. 

Juvenal. — Who knows not, Bithynian Volusius, what monsters 

Mad Egypt can worship? This place adores a crocodile ; 

That fears an ibis saturated with serpents. 

A golden image of a sacred Cercopithecus shines 

Where the magic chords resound from the half Memnon, 

And ancient Thebes lies overthrown with its hundred gates. 

There a sea-fish, there a river-fish, there 

Whole towns worship a dog, nobody Diana. 

It is a sin to violate a leek or an onion, or to break them with abite. 

O holy nation ! for whom are born in gardens 

These deities ! Every table abstains from animals bearing 

Wool ; it is there unlawful to kill the off-spring of a she-goat, 

But lawful to be fed with human flesh. — Satire, XV. 

WORSHIPPING THE CREATURE. 

Rom. i : 25. — Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature 
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. 

Gibbon. — The religion of the nations was not merely a speculative doctrine 
professed in the schools or preached in the temples. The innumerable deities 



856 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and rites of polytheism were closely interwoven with every circumstance of 
business or pleasure, of public or of private life. The important transactions 
of peace and war were prepared or concluded by solemn sacrifices, in which 
the magistrate, the senator and the soldier, were obliged to preside or to partici- 
pate. The public spectacles were an essential part of the cheerful devotion of 
the Pagans, and the gods were supposed to accept, as the most grateful offering, 
the games that the prince and people celebrated in honor of their peculiar festi- 
vals. The Christian, who with pious honor avoided the abomination of the cir- 
cus or the theatre, found himself encompassed with infernal snares in every con- 
vivial entertainment, as often as his friends, invoking the hospitable deities, 
poured out libations to each other's happiness. When the bride, struggling 
with well-affected reluctance, was forced in hymeneal pomp over the threshold 
of her new habitation, or when the sad procession of the dead slowly moved 
toward the funeral pile ; the Christian, on these interesting occasions, was com- 
pelled to desert the persons who were the dearest to him, rather than contract 
the guilt inherent in those impious ceremonies. Every art and every trade 
that was in the least concerned in the framing or adorning of idols was polluted 
with the stain of idolatry. If we cast our eyes over the numerous remains of 
antiquity, we shall perceive, that besides the immediate representations of the 
gods, and the holy instruments of their worship, the elegant forms and agree- 
able fictions consecrated by the imagination of the Greeks, were introduced as 
the richest ornaments of the houses, the dress, and the furniture, of the Pagans. 
Even the arts of music and painting, of eloquence and poetry, flowed from the 
same impure origin. — Decline and Fall of R. E., Chap. XV. 

VILE AFFECTIONS. 

Rom. i: 26, 27. — For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their 

women, etc. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Their system of idolatry necessarily produced all kinds 
of impurity. How could it be otherwise, when the highest objects of their 
worship were adulterers, fornicators, and prostitutes of the most infamous kind ; 
such as Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Venus, etc. Of the abominable evils with 
which the Apostle charges the Gentiles in these verses, I could produce a multi- 
tude of proofs from their own writings; but it is needless to make the subject 
plainer than the Apostle has left it. — In loco. 

Seneca. — No other effect could possibly be produced, but that all shame on 
account of sin must be taken away from men, if they believed in such gods. — 
De Vita Beata, c. 26. 

See Martial, ep. I., 90 : Cicero, Tusc, Ques. IV., 20, 33,-34 ; Arist., Pol. II., 

10. 

Rom. i : 27. — Receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Premature old age, disease, decay, and an early death 
— the certain effects of such vices, as proved by the history of man. God has 
marked the indulgence of licentious passions with his frown. Since the time of 



ROMANS II. 857 

the Romans and the Greeks, as if there had not been sufficient restraints before, 
he has originated a new disease, which is one of the most loathsome and distress- 
ing which has ever afflicted man, and which has swept off millions of victims / — 
Note, in loco. 

MURDER. 

Rom. i : 29. — Full of envy, murder, etc. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Murder was particularly prevalent in Rome. In 
proof it is necessary only to refer to the common events in the Roman history of 
a fascinations, deaths by poison, and the destruction of slaves. But in a special 
manner the charge was properly alleged against them, on account of the 
inhuman contests of the gladiators in the amphitheatres. " Several hundreds, 
perhaps several thousands," says Gibbon, ''were annually slaughtered in the 
great cities of the empire." — Note, in loco. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The paintings of the gladiatorial combats on the walls of 
Herculaneum and Pompeii are replete with details of the most sickening bar- 
barity. — Pict. Bib. 

INFANTICIDE. 

Rom. i: 31. — Without natural affection. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The Apostle doubtless refers here to the practice so 
common among heathens of exposing their children, or putting them to death. 
This crime, so abhorrent to all the feelings of humanity, was common among 
the heathen. The Canaanites, we are told, sacrificed their sons and their 
daughters. Among the ancient Persians it was a common custom to bury chil- 
dren alive. In most of the Grecian states, infanticide was not merely permitted, 
but actually enforced by law. But among all the nations of antiquity, the 
Romans were the most unrelenting in their treatment of infants. Minutius 
Felix thus describes their barbarity: "I see you exposing your infants to wild 
beasts and birds, or strangling them after the most miserable manner." (c. 30.) 
Pliny the Elder defends the right of parents to destroy their children, upon the 
ground of its being necessary in order to preserve the population within proper 
bounds. The Phenicians and Carthagenians, likewise, were in the habit of 
sacrificing infants to their gods. — Note, in loco. 

A LAW UNTO THEMSELVES. 

Rom. ii : 14. — For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained 
in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves. 

Major Jervis. — There are those who always speak the truth ; the Santals are 
the most truthful men I ever met. — In Blend. Lights, p. 176. 

Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace. — A number of prisoners, taken during the 
Santal insurrection, were allowed to go free on parole, to work at a certain spot 
for wages. After some time cholera attacked them, and they were obliged to 
leave ; but every man of them returned and gave up his earnings to the guard. 
Two hundred savages, with money in their girdles, walked thirty miles back to 
prison rather than break their word. — Natural Selection, p. 352. 



858 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Epictetus. — Who ever came into the world without an idea of good and 
evil, fair and base, becoming and unbecoming, happiness and misery, proper 
improper, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. — Epict., 
II., ii. 

CONSCIENCE. 

Rom. ii: 15. — Their conscience also bearing witness. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Conscience is the judgment which the mind passes 
on the morality or immorality, the right or wrong, of its own actions, when it 
instantly approves or condemns them. Its design is to answer the purpose of 
an ever attendant witness of a man's conduct; to compel him to pronounce 
on his own doings, and thus to excite him to virtuous deeds, to give 
comfort and peace when he does right, and to deter from evil actions by 
making him, whether he will or no, his own executioner. By nature every 
man thus approves or condemns his own acts ; and there is not a profounder 
principle of the Divine administration, than thus compelling every man to pro- 
nounce on the moral character of his own conduct. — Note, i7i loco. 

Ovid. — As the mind of each man is conscious of good or evil, so does he 
conceive within his breast hope or fear according to his actions. — Fast., I., 485. 

TEE TEACHER SHOULD BE A DOER. 

Rom. ii : 21. — Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that 
preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal ? 

Maximus Tyrius. — He is not to plead against adulterers who has himself 
committed adultery, nor to condemn insolent conduct, being himself insolent ; 
but one who is liberated from passions, that he may become a true accuser of 
injustice. — Diss., 15. 

THE TRUE JEW. 

Rom. ii: 28, 29. — For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, 
which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is 
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 

Epictetus. — Why do you call yourself a Stoic ? Why do you act a Jew when 
you are a Greek ? Do you not see on what terms each is a Jew, a Syrian, an 
Egyptian ? And when we see one wavering we say this is not a Jew, but acts 
one. But when he assumes the sentiments of one who has been baptized and 
circumcised, then he both really is, and is called a Jew. Thus, we falsify our 
profession, are Jews in name, but in reality something else. — Epict., II., 9. 

ONE DYING FOR ANOTHER. 

Rom. v : 7. — For scarcely for a righteous man will one die ; yet peradventure for a good man 

some would even dare to die. 

Euripides. — The Fates permit that Admetus should escape impending death 
if he can furnish in his place another dead for the powers below; but he 



ROMANS VI. 859 

found no one, save his wife, who was willing to die for him, and she is now 
within the house breathing her last. — Ale, v. 12. 

Aristotle. — That which is asserted of the worthy man is true, that for the 
sake of his friends and his country he will even die, if requisite. — Eth., IX., 8. 

Valerius Maximus. — Dionysius the tyrant condemned Pythias to death for 
conspiring against him. Pythias begged leave to go ior a short period to a 
neighboring place, in order to arrange some family affairs, and offered to leave 
one of his friends in the hands of Dionysius as a pledge for his return by an 
appointed time, and who would be willing, in case Pythias broke his word, to 
die in his stead. Dionysius, quite sceptical as to the existence of such a friend- 
ship, and prompted by strong curiosity, assented to the arrangement, and 
Damon took the place of Pythias. The day appointed for the return of the 
latter arrived, and public expectation was highly excited as to the probable issue 
of this singular affair. The day drew to a close, no Pythias came, and Damon 
was in the act of being led to execution, when, on a sudden, the absent friend, 
who had been detained by unforeseen and unavoidable obstacles, presented him- 
self to the eyes of the admiring crowd, and saved the life of Damon. Diony- 
sius was so much struck by this instance of true attachment, that he pardoned 
Pythias, and entreated the two to allow him to share their friendship. — Val. 
Max., 4, 7. 

DEAD UNTO SIN. 

Rom. vi ; 11, 12. — Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive 
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, 
that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 

Plato. — As many as rightly apply themselves to philosophy aim at nothing 
else than to die and be dead. . . . The true philosopher is occupied not about 
the body, but separated from it as much as possible and occupied about his soul. 
— Phcedo., c. 9. 

Cicero. — The whole life of philosophers is a preparation for death. — Tusc, 
lib. i., c. 31. 

SERVANTS OF SIN. 

Rom. yi : 16. — Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye 
are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 

Xenophon. — Is it your opinion, said Socrates, that liberty is a fair and valu- 
able possession ? So valuable, replied Euthydemus, that I know of nothing 
more precious. But he who is so far overcome by sensual pleasure that he is 
not able to practise what is the best and consequently the most eligible, do you 
count this man free, Euthydemus? Far from it, replied the other. You think 
then, said Socrates, that freedom consists in being able to do what is right ; and 
slavery, in not being able ; whatever may be the cause that deprives us of the 
power? I do most certainly. The debauchee then you must suppose is in this 
state of slavery? I do, and with good reason. — Memorab., IV., 5. 

Seneca. — Show me the man who is not a slave. One is a slave to lust : 
another to covetousness ; another to ambition ; and all to fear. I can show 
53 



S60 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

you a man of consular dignity a slave to an old woman ; a very rich man a slave 
to his handmaid ; and many a young nobleman the very bond-slave of a player. 
No slavery is more infamous than that which is voluntary. — Epistle, 47. 

PBOHIBITION STIRRING UP THE SPIRIT OF TRANSGRESSION. 

Rom vii : 8. — But sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of con- 
cupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 

Rev. T. S. Millington. — The natural desire which prevails to do tnat which 
is forbidden has been noticed in all ages. — Test, of Heath., p. 560. 

Ovid. — Cease to irritate vices by forbidding them. We always strive after 
that which is forbidden, and desire those things which have been denied. — 
Amor., III., eleg. 4. 

Horace. — The human race, bold to endure all things, rushes on through 
crimes and everything that is forbidden. — Hor., lib. i., carm. 3. 

INWARD CONFLICT. 

Rom. vii : 15. — For that which I do I allow not : for what I would, that I do not : but what I 

hate, that do I. 

Euripides. — I know the ills I am about to dare, but my rage is master of my 
counsels, which is indeed the cause of the greatest calamities to men. — Med., 
v. 1074. 

Xenophon. — Araspes says to Cyrus: I have, plainly, two souls; for a single 
soul cannot be a good one and a bad one at the same time ; nor can it, at the 
same time, affect both noble actions and vile ones. It cannot incline and be 
averse to the same things at the same time ; but it is plain there are two souls, 
and when the good one prevails it does noble things ; when the bad one prevails 
it attempts vile things. — Cyrop., VI., 1. 

Epictetus. — He is an able speaker who can discover to each man the con- 
tradiction by which he errs, and prove clearly to him that what he would, he 
doth not ; and what he would not do, that he doth. — Epict., lib. ii., c. 26. 
Ovid. — I see the right, and I approve it too, 

Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue. — Mett., VII., 20. 

Rom. vii : 21-23. — I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For 
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, 
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is 
in my members. 

Philemon. — Oh ! how corrupt is the nature of man : else there had been no 
need of laws. — Apud Stob., II. 

Propertius. — Nature in every breast implanted vice.— Lib. ii., eleg. 18, 
v. 17. 

Horace. — No man is born without vices. — Lib. i., Sat. 3, v. 68. 

Cicero. — Whilst we are shut up in this prison of the body, we are fulfilling 
as it were the function and painful task of destiny: for the heaven-born soul has 
been degraded from its dwelling place above, and, as it were, buried in the 



ROMANS VIII. 861 

earth, a situation uncongenial to its divine and immortal nature. — De Senec, 
c. 21. 

Seneca. — No one learns virtue before he hath unlearned vice : in this respect 
we are all pre-engaged. — Epist., 50. 

THE BODY OF DEATH. 

Rom. vii : 24. — O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? 
Virgil. — The living and the dead, at his command 

Were coupled, face to face, and hand to hand ; 

Till choked with stench, in loath'd embraces tied, 

The lingering wretches pined away and died. — s£n., VIII., 485. 

CARNAL AND SPIRITUAL MIND. 

Rom. viii : 6. — To be carnally minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 

Aristotle. — As much as possible we should immortalize ourselves, and do 
everything in order to live according to our most excellent part. — Eth., 
X., c. 7. 

Maximus Tyrius. — The body is diseased, disturbed, corrupted ; but if you 
place over it as a ruler a robust and healthy soul, it will pay no attention to the 
disease, and despise the evil. — Diss., 41. 

THE GLORY TO BE REVEALED. 

Rom. viii : 18. — For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be com- 
pared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

Plato. — These are the gifts which a just man receives during life; but these 
things are as nothing, either in number or magnitude, when compared with the 
happiness which awaits good men, or the sufferings which are reserved for the 
wicked after death. — De Rep., X., 13. 

IGNORANCE IN PRAYER. 

Rom. viii : 26. — We know not what we should pray for as we ought. 

Plato. — Does it not seem to you that there is need of much forethought, in 
order that a person may not unconsciously pray for great evils for himself, while 
he thinks he is praying for good ? — Alcib., II., 1. 

Idem. — O Jupiter, give us good things, whether we pray for them or no ; 
but withhold evil things from us, even though we pray for them. — Alcib., II., 5. 

ALL WORKING FOR GOOD. 

Rom. viii : 28. — And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. 
Plato. — To a good man, said Socrates, nothing is evil, neither while living 
nor when dead, nor are his concerns neglected by the gods ; and what has be- 
fallen me is not the effect of chance: but this is clear to me, that now to die, 
and be freed from my cares, is better for me. — Socr. ApoL, c. 33. 



862 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Idem. — We are to think thus of the just man — that if he happen to be in 
poverty, or in disease, or in any other of those seeming evils, these things to 
him issue in something good, either whilst alive or dead. — De Rep., X., 12. 

OLIVE GRAFTING. 

Rom. xi : 17. — And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, 
wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 
boast not against the branches. 

Jahn. — The Cotinus and the Oleaster are both called wild olive trees. They 
are nevertheless of different kinds. The fruit of the Cotinus is used for no 
other purpose than coloring; but the Oleaster is that species of wild olive whose 
branches are graffed into barren olive trees, that are in a state of cultivation, in 
order that their fruitfulness may be produced. — Bible Archceology, sect. 71. 

ALL ONE BODY IN CHRTST. 

Rom. xii: 5. — So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of 

another. 

Seneca. — We are members of one great body: we are all akin by Nature, who 
hath formed us of the same elements, and placed us here together for the same 
end: she hath implanted in us mutual affection, and made us sociable; she hath 
commanded justice and equity: by her appointment it is more wretched to do 
an injury than to suffer one ; and by her command the hand is ever ready to 
assist our brother. — Epist., 95. 

INDIVIDUAL TALENTS. 

Rom. xii : 6. — Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether 
prophecy, let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith: or ministry, let us wait on our 
ministering; or he that teacheth on teaching. 

Epictetus. — First determine with yourself what you should be; and then do 
what you have to do. The particular end relates to the study and choice of 
each individual. A harper is to act as a harper ; a carpenter as a carpenter ; a 
philosopher as a philosopher; and an orator as an orator. — Epicl., III., 2^ 

GIVING WITH SIMPLICITY. 

Rom. xii: 8. — He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. 
Martial. — I hate the crafty and mischievous arts of presents. Gifts are like 
fish-hooks; for who does not know that the greedy fish is deceived by the fly 
which he swallows? When the poor man abstains from making presents to his 
rich friend, Quintilianus, he shows a liberal spirit. — Marl., Mb. v., epig. 18. 

HONORING OTHERS. 

Rom. xii : 8. — In honor preferring one another. 
Martial. — Your regard to friendship is sincere, 

Your own applause than mine you hold less dear. — VIII., 18. 



ROMANS XII. 863 

INDUSTRY. 

Rom. xii: II. — Not slothful in business. 
Xenophon. — The wise governors of the universe have decreed that nothing 
great, nothing excellent, shall be obtained without care and labor. They give 
no real good, no true happiness, on other terms. If then you wish for the fruits 
of the earth, cultivate it : if for the increase of your flocks and herds, let your 
flocks and herds have your attention and care. — Socr. Mem., II., i. 

MUTUAL SYMPATHY. 

Rom. xii: 15. — Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 

Xenophon. — It is a matter of great difficulty always to serve those whom one 
has a desire to serve; but for this very reason we ought to rejoice with them 
when any good fortune happens to them, and to grieve with them under any 
adversity, to appear zealous to assist them in their distresses, and afraid lest any 
should miscarry in anything, and to endeavor to prevent this by care and cir- 
cumspection. — Cyrop., I., 6. 

Cicero. — We rejoice in the joy of our friends as much as we do in our own, 
and are equally grieved at their sorrow. — De Fin., I., 20. 

Seneca. — Rejoice at the success of every one, and be grieved at their mis- 
fortunes. — Epist., 103. 

HUMILITY. 

Rom. xii : 16. — Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. 

Polybius. — I exhort thee not to be high-minded. — Polyb., lib. xv. 

Epictetus. — Let no one ever hear you utter a word about your talents ; nor 
suffer it if any one commends you for them ; but think that you are nobody, 
and that you know nothing. — Epict., II., 1. 

REVENGE FORBIDDEN. 

Rom. xii: 17. — Recompense to no man evil for evil. 
Plutarch.— Lycurgus having an eye struck out by Alexander, without giving 
way to passion or resentment, stopped and showed the people, who were perse- 
cuting him, the injury he had suffered. They were struck with shame and 
sorrow, and delivered up Alexander to him for punishment : but Lycurgus took 
him to his house, and treated him with kindness, showing him no ill-treatment, 
either by word or action, and Alexander, won by the mildness and goodness of 
his heart, confessed to his friends that Lycurgus was not that proud and severe 
man he had been taken for, but above all others gentle and engaging in his 
behavior. — Lycurg., c. ir. 

Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 

Seneca. — How happy are you in giving no room to any one to say a false 
thing of you. — Epist., 46. 



g£4 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Rom. xii : 19. — Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. 

Plutarch. — One of Pythagoras' maxims was, Do not stir the fire with a 
sword, but rather give place to him who is enraged. — De Lib. Educ, c. 17. 

Polybius. — To overcome enemies by kindness and just treatment, affords not 
a less, but a greater benefit than overpowering them by force of arms. — Polyb., 
lib. v. 

M. Antony. — The best way of avenging an injury is not to do the like. — 
M. Ant., lib. vi., c. 6. 

Rom. xii : 21. — Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Isocrates. — Be not overcome by infamous passions, avarice, anger, voluptu- 
ousness, melancholy, despair. You will overcome covetousness if you think 
equity and justice the noblest treasures. You will overcome anger if you 
dispose yourself to be such towards those who commit faults as you would desire 
others to be towards you in like case. — Ad Demon. 

RULERS APPOINTED OF GOD. 

Rom. xiii : 4. — For he is the minister of God to thee. 

Plutarch.— When the crown was offered to Numa, his father and his friend 
Marcius urged him to accept it : Consider, said they, that a king is the minister 
of God. — Num., c. 6. 

Rom. xiii : 7. — Render therefore to all their dues. 
Aristotle. — To our relations, and tribesmen, and fellow-citizens, and every 
one else, we should always endeavor to give what belongs to them, and to 
compare the claims of each with respect to relationship, or virtue, or 
acquaintance. — Eth., IX., 2. 

TIME TO AWAKE. 

Rom. xiii : II. — It is high time to awake out of sleep. 

Seneca. — Let us awake therefore, that we may be sensible of our errors 
and correct them. — Epist., 53. 

NONE LIVETH TO HIMSELF. 

Rom. xiv: 7. — None of us liveth to himself. 
Seneca. — No one can live happily who lives to himself alone, and considers 
nothing but his own advantage : you must live for others if you would live 
honorably for yourself. — Epist., 48. 

GOD THE JUDGE OF ALL. 

Rom. xiv: 10. — But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy 
brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 

Epictetus. — Do not give judgment from another tribunal, till you have been 
judged yourself at the tribunal of justice. — Fragm., 55. 

Statius. — With urn in hand the Cretan Judge appears, 
And lives and crimes with his assessors hears : 



ROMANS XVI. 8G5 

The conscious wretch must all his acts reveal, 

Loth to confess, unable to conceal. — Theb., lib. iv., v. 530. 

APPROVING CONSCIENCE. 

Rom. xiv: 22. — Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. 
Cicero. — Those are wise monitors who teach us to do nothing of which we 
are doubtful whether it is honest or just ; for whatever is honest manifests itself 
by its own lustre, but doubt implies the entertainment of injustice. — De Off., 
lib. i., c. 9. 

GOD ONLY WISE. 

Rom. xvi : 27. — To God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. 
Herodotus. — Perfect wisdom is the prerogative of Heaven alone.— 
Polymnia, c. 10. 



First Corinthians. 



Bishop Charles J. Ellicott, D. D. — This Epistle was written in the year 
57 or 58. Of its genuineness and authenticity no doubt has ever been enter- 
tained. The external evidences are extremely distinct. See Clem. Rom. ad 
Cor., c. 47, 49: Polyc. ad Phil., c. 11 : Ignat. ad Eph., c. 2 : Irenseus Hser., 
III., 11 : Athenag. de Resurr., c. 18: Clem. Alex. Paedag., I., $$-. Tertull. de 
Praescr., c. 33. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 494. 

TEE CHURCH AT CORINTH. 

I Corinthians i : 2. — Unto the church of God which is at Corinth. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — This church was planted by the Apostle himself, about 
A. d. 52. — Note, in loco. 
See under Acts xviii : 1. 

THE PREACHING OF CHRIST. 

I Cor. i : 23. — We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the 

Greeks foolishness. 

Trypho, the Jew. — We cannot wonder enough that you should expect any 
good from God, who place all your hope on a man who was crucified. — Dialogue 
of Justin Martyr and Trypho. 

St. Augustin. — The wise men of the world insult over us, and ask, Where is 
your understanding, who worship for a God a man who was crucified? — Quot. 
in Pict. Bible. 

Lucian. — These people have been taught to renounce the Grecian deities, 
and to bow the knee to their crucified sophist, and to live in conformity to 
his laws. — De Mort. Pereg., c. 13. 



866 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

BASE AND DESPISED INSTRUMENTS. 

I Cor. i; 28. — And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, 
yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are. 

Euripides. — I see the work of the gods, how they exalt, tower-like, some 
things that were naught, but destroy others that are in repute. — Troad., v. 608. 

HIDDEN WISDOM. 

I Cor. ii : 6. — Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect : yet not the wisdom of 
this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught. 

Seneca. — As in sacred things none know the mysterious parts but such as 
have been initiated ; so in philosophy, her mysteries are unfolded to none but 
such as have been admitted into her sanctuary. — Epist., 95. 

SAVED AS BY FIRE. 

I Cor. iii : 15. — If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss ; but he himself shall be 

saved ; yet so as by fire. 

Cicero. — This man, scorched indeed though he was by the fire made by our 
allies, yet escaped from those flames and that danger. — In Verr., II., c. 27. 

Livy. — In my former consulate I escaped the flames of popular rage, not with- 
out being scorched. — Liv., XXII., c. 40. 

THE CHRISTIAN A TEMPLE OF GOD. 

I Cor. iii : 16. — Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwell- 
eth in you ? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy ; for the temple of 
God is holy, which temple ye are. 

Epictetus. — You carry a God about with you, and are unconscious of it. Do 
you suppose I mean some god of gold or silver? It is within yourself you carry 
him, and profane him, without being sensible of it, by impure thoughts and un- 
clean actions. — Epic. y II., 8. 

ALL THINGS YOURS. 

I Cor. iii : 21. — All things are yours. 
Cicero. — Everything will be properly said to belong to that man who alone 
knows how to make use of everything. — De Fin., III., 22. 

JUDGMENT OF MEN. 

I Cor. iv: 3. — With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's 
judgment : yea, I judge not mine own self. ■ 

Seneca. — Regard not the opinion of men : it is at best doubtful, and gener- 
ally partial. — Epist, 26. 

GOD THE BESTOWER OF ALL GIFTS. 

I Cor. iv: 7. — For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst 

not receive ? 




(867) 



FIRST CORINTHIANS VI. 869 

Pindar. — For by the ruling powers of heaven 
All virtues are to mortals given. 
Wisdom is theirs — from them are sprung 
The active hand, the fluent tongue. — Pyth., I., 80. 
Cicero. — Curius and Fabricius had never been such men as they were, but 
for the divine assistance. — De Nat. Deor., II., 66. 

THE APOSTLES MADE A SPECTACLE. 

1 Cor. iv : 9. — For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed toy 
death ; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Here, Paul may mean to refer to the custom of 
bringing forth those in the amphitheatre at the conclusion of the spectacles who 
were to fight with other men, and who had no chance of escape. These inhu- 
man games abounded everywhere ; and an allusion to them would be well under- 
stood, and is indeed often made by Paul. This interpretation receives support 
from the words which are used here, "God hath exhibited," "spectacle," or 
theatre, which are all applicable to such an exhibition. The theatre, or am- 
phitheatre of the ancients was composed of an arena, or level floor, on which 
the combatants fought, and which was surrounded by circular seats, rising above 
one another to a great height, and capable of containing many thousand specta- 
tors. — Note, in loco. 

Seneca. — In the morning men are exposed to lions and bears ; but at mid- 
day to their spectators. Those that kill are exposed to one another ; the victor 
is detained for another slaughter ; and the conclusion of the fight is death. — 
De Pre die, c. 14. 

Suetonius. — Caligula, after disfiguring many persons of honorable rank, by 
branding them in the face, condemned them to fight with wild beasts. — Calig., 

UNHEARD-OF CRIME. 

I Cor. v: I. — It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication 
as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. 

Cicero. — This was an incredible and unheard-of crime. — Pro Chien., 5, 6. 
SUFFERING WRONG. 

I Cor. vi : 7. — Why do ye not rather take wrong ? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be 

defrauded ? 

Plato. — To injure in any respect me and mine, is both more disgraceful and 
worse for him who does the injury than for me who am injured. — Gorg., c. 64. 

THINGS EXPEDIENT. 

I Cor. vi : 12. — All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. 
Cicero. — There are things which are not expedient, even if they are lawful. 
But whatever is not lawful is most certainly not expedient. — Pro Balb., c. 3. 



870 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

FORNICATION. 

I Cor. vi: 18. — Flee fornication. 
Dr. John Kitto. — The frequent cautions against lewdness, which the apostle 
gives to the Corinthian converts, are explained and illustrated by the character 
of Corinth — notorious, even among the heathen, for the dissolute conduct of its 
inhabitants, and for their abandonment to every kind of sensuality and volup- 
tuous indulgence. The heathen world in general regarded the indulgence of the 
sensual appetites as a matter in itself indifferent ; but even heathen morality was 
shocked at the proverbial excesses of Corinth. Indeed, what could be expected 
of the state of society in a town which possessed a temple to Venus, in which a 
thousand women were kept in honor of the goddess, and ministered to the grati- 
fication of her adorers ? Such abandoned worship was not only in itself suffi- 
cient to corrupt a city, but secured to it the further corruption which it derived 
from the continual arrival of dissolute strangers, who came from all parts to visit 
this unholy temple. Considering, therefore, the loose principles in which the 
native converts had been brought up, the temptations by which they were sur- 
rounded, and the vague ideas concerning Christian liberty which they enter- 
tained, we can easily understand the deep anxiety which St. Paul experienced, 
and his frequent and earnest representations on this subject. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

UNCIRCUMCISION 

I Cor. vii : 18. — Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. 

Celsus. — The process of restoring a circumcised person to his natural con- 
dition by a surgical operation was sometimes undergone. — De Re Medica, 
VII. , 25. 

Author of Maccabees. — In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, 
who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen 
that are round about us. . . . And they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem 
according to the customs of the heathen : and made themselves uncircumcised, 
and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen. — 1 Mac. 
i: n-15. 

RIGHT USE OF THE WORLD. 

1 Cor. vii : 31. — Use this world, as not abusing it : for the fashion of this world passeth away. 

Seneca. — The world is forever changing, and remains not the same for a 

moment ; for though it may have all things in it that it ever had, it possesseth 

them not in the same manner; the whole order is continually changed. — Epist, 

58. 

IDOLS AND THEIR TEMPLES. 

I Cor. viii : 4. — We know that an idol is nothing in the world. 
Cicero. — The atoms, the vacuum, the appearances, which they call " eidola," 
idols.— De Fin., L, 6. 

I Cor. viii : 5. — For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there 

be gods many, and lords many). 



FIRST CORINTHIANS IX. 871 

Cicero. — Why are we to add many more gods? What a multitude of them 
there is ! — Be Nat. Beor., III., 16. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — We are informed by Hesiod, Varro, and other ancient 
authors, that no less than thirty thousand subordinate divinities were comprised 
within that system of idolatry which prevailed among the Greeks and Romans. 
They had both celestial and terrestrial deities. They assigned peculiar gods to 
the fountains, the rivers, the hills, the mountains, the lawns, the groves, the 
sea, and even to hell itself. To cities, fields, houses, edifices, families, gates, 
nuptial chambers, marriages, births, deaths, sepulchres, trees and gardens, they 
also appropriated distinct and peculiar deities. — Philos. of Religion, Chap. III. 

I Cor. viii : io. — For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, 

shall not the conscience, etc. 

Rev. T. S. Millington. — The feasts which took place among the heathen on 
the occasion of the sacrifices offered to their gods were often held irr their 
temples. — Testim. of Heath., p. 572. 

Herodotus. — Standing before the shrine the mother of Cleobis and Biton 
implored the divinity to grant her sons the greatest blessing man could receive. 
After they had sacrificed and feasted in the temple they retired to rest : but they 
rose no more. — Clio, c. 31. 

THE INSTRUCTOR'S WORK. 

1 Cor. ix : I. — Are not ye my work in the Lord ? 

Aristotle. — Benefactors love, and are fond of those whom they have bene- 
fited ; for he who is benefited is the work of his benefactor. — Eth., IX., 7. 

Seneca. — I claim you to myself; you are my work; when I first saw your 
good disposition, I laid my hand upon you. — Epist., 34. 

MUZZLING THE OX. 

I Cor. ix : 9.— It is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox 

that treadeth out the corn. 

Dr. W. M. Thomson. — The command of Moses not to muzzle the ox that 
treadeth out the corn is literally obeyed to this day by most farmers, and you 
often see the oxen that draw the mowrej eating from the floor as they revolve. 
There are niggardly peasants, however, who do muzzle the ox, enough to show 
the need of the command, and Paul intimates that there were just such in the 
church in his day. — The Land and the Book, II., 316. 

THE RACE. 

I Cor. ix : 24. — Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the 

prize ? 

Rev. T. S. Millington. — Paul draws a lesson from the self-denials practised 
by the competitors in the Isthmian games. "Know ye not?" he begins: this 
was an appropriate form of address to those to whom the practices which he 



872 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

describes were familiar, as they were to all the Corinthians, among whom the 
Isthmian games were celebrated. Plato has the same simile, and the same 
application of it. See De Rep., x., 12. — Testim. of Heathen, p. 572. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — "All run " — who entered the lists; " but one " — the 
victor alone, "received the prize." — Note, in loco. 

So run that ye may obtain. 
Anacharsis. — The prize was conferred on the successful champions on the 
last day of the games, and with great solemnity, pomp, congratulation and 
rejoicing. Every one thronged to see and congratulate them ; their relations, 
friends and countrymen, shedding tears of tenderness and joy, lifted them on 
their shoulders to show them to the crowd, and held them up to the applauses 
of the whole assembly, who strewed handfuls of flowers over them. — Anachar., 
III., 448. 

STRIVING FOR THE MASTERY. 

I Cor. ix : 25. — And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. 
Epictetus. — Would you be a victor in the Olympic games ? So, in good truth, 
would I ; for it is a glorious thing. But pray consider what must go before, 
and what must follow, and so proceed in the attempt. You must then live by 
rule, eat what will be disagreeable, and refrain from delicacies : you must oblige 
yourself to constant exercise, at the appointed hour, in heat and cold ; you must 
abstain from wine and cold liquors : in a word, you must be as submissive to all 
the directions of your master as to those of a physician. — Euchirid., c. 35. 
Horace. — A youth who hopes the Olympic prize to gain, 
All arts must try, and every toil sustain ; 
The extremes of heat and cold must often prove, 
And shun the weakening joys of wine and love. 

— De Arte. Poet., v. 412. 
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. 
Plutarch. — Branches of the Pine Tree formed the ancient coronets of the 
Isthmian games ; the crown of Parsley was then introduced from Numea ; but 
afterwards the Pine Garland flourished again and recovered its ancient 
reputation. — Sympos., lib. v., qu. 3. 

Aristophanes. — At the Olympic games, the victorious athletes were crowned 
with a chaplet of Wild Olive. -^-Plut., v. 586. 

Pliny. — It is with the Laurel that the victors at Delphi are crowned, and 
warriors who enjoy the honors of a triumph at Rome. — Hist. Nat., XV., 30. 

BEATING THE AIR. 

I Cor. ix : 26. — So fight I, not as one that beateth the air. 
Lucian. — If an athlete, in order to put himself in breath, ere he begins the 
contest, should fight with an imaginary antagonist, and deal out lusty fisticuffs 
and kicks in the air, as if he were giving them to his opponent, will the umpire 
immediately by the public crier proclaim him invincible ? — Hermot. , c. 33. 



FIRST CORINTHIANS XL 873 

Virgil. — Thus, glorying in his strength, in open view 
His arms around the towering Dares threw ; 
Stalk' d high, and laid his brawny shoulders bare 
And dealt his whistling blows in empty air. — ALn., V. 375. 

KEEPING UNDER THE BODY. 

1 Cor. ix : 27. — I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection. 

Pythagoras. — Accustom yourself to command the belly, sleep, lust and 
anger. — Aur. Car., v. 9. 

Seneca. — Maintain this sound and salutary way of living; so far only to 
indulge the body, as to preserve it in good health. Despise those superfluities 
which needless labor acquires by way of ornament or credit. Think there is 
nothing admirable in thee but the soul. — Epist., 8. 

Quintilian. — Without moderation nothing can be either glorious or salutary. 
— Quint., XII., 10. 

TEMPTATION AND. A WAY TO ESCAPE. 

I Cor. x; 13. — God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; 
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

Epictetus. — Hast thou overcome thy lust, thine intemperance, thine anger ? 
How much greater cause hast thou then for offering sacrifice, than if thou 
hadst obtained a consulship or a praetorship ! for these things come only from 
thyself and from the gods. — Epict., IV., 4. 

CUP OF DEVILS. 

I Cor. x: 21. — Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be 
partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. 

John Murray, F. S. A. — The worship of demons originated in the wor- 
ship of .the " serpent," the personification of the devil. Paul's allusion to the 
" cup of devils" is easily understood, from the cup of libation we see in bas 
reliefs, on bronzes, and on coins, as presented to serpents. The serpent is 
celebrated in the Orphic Hymns ; and a serpent was the guardian of the 
Acropolis of Athens.— Revel. Dem., 200. 

DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD. 

I Cor. x: 31. — Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory 

of God. 

Epictetus. — How may a man eat acceptably to the gods ? If he eat with 
justice, and with gratitude, and fairly, and temperately, and decently, will not 
this be to eat acceptably to the gods? — Epict., I., 13. 

COVERING AND UNCOVERING THE HEAD. 

I Cor. xi : 4, 5. — Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his 
head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoreth 
her head : for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 



874 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Plutarch. — It was the custom for women to come into the public assembly 
covered, and for men uncovered. — Prob. Pom., c. 14. 

LONG AND SHORT HAIR. 

I Cor. xi : 14, 15. — If a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him. But if a woman have long 

hair, it is a glory to her. 

Phocylides. — To men long hair is unbecoming; but to women it is graceful. 
• — PhocyL, v. 200. 

MANY MEMBERS, BUT ONE BODY. 

I Cor. xii : 20-22. — But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot 
say unto the hand, I have no need of ihee : nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of 
you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are neces- 
sary. 

Maximus Tyrius. — If the Phrygian fabulist should devise a fable to this effect ; 
that the foot, being indignant with the rest of the body, should declare that it 
was incapable through weariness, of bearing any longer, in an upright position, 
so great a burden, and that in future it should continue in rest and quietness ; 
or, if the teeth, enraged at having prepared nourishment for so great a quantity 
of flesh, should refuse to perform their duty ; if these things should take place, 
what else would ensue in the fable than the destruction of the man? The like 
takes place in the political community. — Max. Tyr., Diss. 5. 

Menenius Agrippa delivered a similar apologue; see — Livy, Hist., II., 32. 

CHARITY. 

I Cor. xiii : 1. — Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I 
am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

Dr. Bloomfield. — It would be difficult to find a finer passage than this in 
the writings of Demosthenes himself. — Note, in loco. 

1 Cor. xiii : 4. — Charity suffereth long and is kind. 

Pythagoras. — Do not hate your friend on account of a trifling offence. — 
Aur. Carm., v. 6. 

1 Cor. xiii : 6. — Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. 

Aristotle. — He who is delighted with a falsehood, resembles a depraved 
man. — Eth., IV., 7. 

Idem. — The worthy man, so far as he is worthy, rejoices in th«se actions 
which are conformable to virtue ; but is indignant with those which proceed 
from vice : just as a musician is delighted with beautiful melodies, but is pained 
with those that are bad. — Eth., IX., 9. 

I Cor. xiii : 7. — Beareth all things. 

Theognis. — It is the part of a good man to bear all things. — Theogn.,v. 658. 

CHILDHOOD AND MANHOOD. 

I Cor. xiii : II. — When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as 
a child : but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 



FIRST CORINTHIANS XV. 875 

Seneca. — Number your years, Seneca, and you will be ashamed to desire and 
seek after those things in which you delighted when a child. — Epist. 27. 

SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE IN THE FUTURE STATE. 

I Cor. xiii: 12. — For now we see through a glass, darkly: but then face to face : now I know 
in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. 

Xenophon. — I see that the soul communicates vigor and motion to mortal 
bodies during its continuance in them. Neither can I be persuaded that the soul 
is divested of intelligence in its separation from this gross senseless body ; but 
it is probable that when the soul is separated it becomes pure and entire, and is 
then more intelligent. — Cyrop., VIII., 7. 

Plato. — Being pure and free from the folly of the body, we shall in all like- 
lihood be with others like ourselves, and shall of ourselves know the real es- 
sence, and that probably is truth : for it is not allowable for the impure to 
attain to the pure. — Phced., c. 11. 

Plutarch. — The souls of men, so long as they are here below, and encom- 
passed with bodies and passions, can have no participation of God, except so 
much as they may attain to as in a dark dream by the aid of philosophy; but 
when they shall be set free, and pass into the place which is invisible, immate- 
rial, pure, and impassionable, then the same God is their leader and king, they 
cleave unto him as much as they can, they contemplate him without satiety, 
and desire that beauty which it is not possible to utter or express. — De Isid. et 

sir id., c. 79. 

Cicero. — We shall certainly discover things in a more clear and perfect degree 
when the soul is disengaged from the body, and has arrived at that goal to which 
nature leads her. When we shall be nothing but soul, then nothing will inter- 
fere to prevent our seeing everything in its own true character. — Tusc, L, 20. 

Seneca. — You will then say you lived in darkness before, when you shall be- 
hold the full glories of that light, which now you see but dimly through the 
narrow circles of the eyes. And yet at so great a distance the mind is filled 
with admiration ! How will it then amaze you when, I say, you shall behold 
that divine light in its full spread of glory in heaven. — Epist., 102. 

DYING DAILY. 

I Cor. xv : 31. — I die daily. 

Seneca. — Where will you find a man who sets any value upon time, or seems 
to understand that he dies daily? — Epist., 1. 

Idem. — We must die soon, nay, we die every day; for we daily draw near 
our end. — Epist., 120. 

FIGHTING WITH BEASTS. 

1 Cor. xv : 32. — If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advan- 

tageth it me, if the dead rise not ? 

Lucian. — We took our seats among the rest of the spectators, and saw first 
some wild beasts, which, for the purpose of making them more fierce, had been 



876 



TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 



pierced with darts and then baited by dogs, let loose upon some wretches in 
chains, who, I suppose, had committed atrocious crimes. After this the gladi- 
ators entered, etc. — Toxar., c. 59. 

Josephus. — Herod revolted from the laws of his country, and corrupted their 
ancient constitution by the introduction of foreign practices. In the first place, 




he appointed solemn games to be celebrated every fifth year, in honor of 
Caesar, and built a theatre at Jerusalem, as also a very great amphitheatre in the 
plain. He had also made a great preparation of wild beasts, and of lions them- 
selves in great abundance, and of such other beasts as were of either uncommon 
strength, or of such sort as were rarely seen. These were prepared either to 



FIRST CORINTHIAN XV. 877 

fight with one another, or that men who were condemned to death were to fight 
with them. — Antq., 15, 8, 1. 

Idem.— While Titus was at Caesarea, he solemnized the birthday of Domitian 
after a splendid manner, and inflicted a great deal of the punishment intended 
for the Jews in honor of him ; for the number of those that were now slain in 
fighting with beasts, and were burnt, and fought with one another, exceeded two 
thousand five hundred.— -Jewish Wars, 7, 3, 1. 

A FALSE MAXIM. 

I Cor. xv : 32. — Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. 

Perseus. — O rather cultivate the joy of sense, 

And crop the sweets which youth and health dispense ; 
Give the light hours to banquets, love, and wine : 
These are the zests of life, and these are mine ! 
Dust and a shade are all you soon must be : 
Live then, while yet you may. — Sat., V., v. 151. 

EVIL COMMUNICATIONS. 

I Cor. xv : 33. — Be not deceived : evil communications corrupt good manners. 

Xenophon. — As converse with the good must exercise and improve every 
virtue, so to associate with the bad must prove no less pernicious and baneful. 
— Memorab., I. 2. 

Plautus.— Hold no converse with profligate men. — Trinum., II., 2. 

Diodorus Siculus. — With these evil communications he corrupted the 
morals of men. — Diod. Sic, XVI., 54. 

STARS DIFFER IN GLORY. 

1 Cor. xv : 41. — One star differeth from another star in glory. 
Sir John F. W. Herschel. — Astronomers are in the habit of distinguishing 
the stars into classes, according to their apparent brightness. These are termed 
magnitudes. The brightest stars are said to be of the first magnitude ; those 
which fall so far short of the first degree of brightness as to make a strongly 
marked distinction are classed in the second ; and so on down to the sixth or 
seventh, which comprise the smallest stars visible to the naked eye, in the 
clearest and darkest night. Beyond these, however, telescopes continue the 
range of visibility, and magnitudes from the eighth down to the sixteenth are 
familiar to those who are in the practice of using powerful instruments ; nor 
does there seem the least reason to assign a limit to this progression. — Outlines 
of Astronomy, Art. 778. 

RESURRECTION BODY. 

1 Cor. xv: 49. — And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of 

the heavenly. 

J. P. Cooke, Prof, of Chemistry in Harvard University. — The materials of our 
bodies are being constantly renewed, and the great mass of their structure 
54 



878 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

changes in less than a year. At every motion of your arm, and at every breath 
you draw, a portion of the muscles concerned is actually burnt up in the effort. 
During life, in some utterly mysterious manner, beyond the range of all human 
science, the various gases and vapors of the atmosphere, together with a small 
amount of a few earthy salts, are elaborated into various organized structures. 
They first pass into the organism of the plant, and thence are transferred into the 
body of the animal ; but no sooner are they firmly built into the animal tissues 
than a destructive change begins, by which before long they are restored to the 
air or the soil, only to renew the same cycle of ceaseless change. Life, during 
its whole existence, is an untiring builder ; the oxygen of the atmosphere a fell 
destroyer ; and when at last the builders cease, then the spirit takes its heaven- 
ward flight, and leaves the frail tenement to its appointed end. Dust returns to 
the dust, and these mortal mists and vapors to the air. 

I know that there are some who entertain a vague fear that these well-estab- 
lished facts of chemistry conflict with one of the most cherished doctrines of the 
Christian faith ; but so far from this, I find that they elucidate and confirm it. 
Modern scientific discoveries have shown that our only abiding substance is 
merely the passing shadow of our outward form, that these bones and muscles 
are dying within us every day, that our whole life is an unceasing metempsy- 
chosis, and that the final death is but one phase of the perpetual change. Thus 
the idea of a spiritual body becomes not only a possible conception, but, more 
than this, it harmonizes with the whole order of nature ; and now that we can 
better trace the process of growth in the organic world, and understand more 
of their hidden secrets, the inspired words of Paul have acquired fresh power, 
and convey to us a deeper meaning than they ever gave to the early Fathers of . 
the Church. Chemistry has shown us that it is the form alone (not the sub- 
stance) of our mortal bodies which is permanent, and that we retain our Per- 
sonality under constant change ; and lastly, in organic nature, the sprouting 
of the seed, the breaking of the bird from the egg, the bursting of the butterfly 
from the chrysalis, and ten thousand other transmutations not less wonderful, 
which we are daily witnessing around us, all unite their analogy to elucidate and 
confirm the glorious and comforting doctrine of a material resurrection in form. 
— Religion and Chemistry, p. 103-106. 

Seneca. — A day will come after death, which shall raise us again to light. — 

Epist., 36. 

I Cor. xv : 53. — And this mortal must put on immortality. 

Maxtmus Tyrius. — This very thing, which the multitude call death, is the 
beginning of immortality, and the birth of a future life ; bodies being corrupted 
by the very law and time of their existence, but the soul being recalled to her 
proper place and life. — Diss., 25. 

R. Bechai.— When the godly shall arise, their bodies shall be pure and in- 
nocent ; obedient to the instinct of the soul : there shall be no adversary, nor 
any evil disease. — FoL, 14. 

R. Pinchas.— The holy blessed God shall make the bodies of the righteous 
as beautiful as the body of Adam was when he entered into Paradise. 



SECOND CORINTHIANS II. 379 

R. Levi. — When the soul is in heaven, it is clothed with celestial light; when 
it returns to the body, it shall have the same light ; and then the body shall 
shine like the splendor of the firmament of heaven. Then shall men gain the 
knowledge of what is perfect. — Sonar. Gen., fol. 69. 



Second Corinthians. 



GENUINENESS AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 

2 Cor. i: I. — Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all 

Achaia. 

Bishop Charles J. Ellicott, D. D. — The Second Epistle to the Corinthians 
was written a few months after the First, in the same year, viz. : 58. The gen- 
uineness and authenticity of this Epistle are supported by the most decided 
external testimony. See Irense. Haer., III., 7; Athenagoras de Resurr., c. 18; 
Clem. Alex. Strom., III., 94; Tertull. de Pudicit., c. 13. — Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 496. 

For an account of Corinth, see Acts xviii : 1. 

Charles Anthon, LL. D. — Achaia was a province of Greece, and compre- 
hended that part of the country lying between Thessaly and the southern part 
of the Peloponnesus. — Classical Dictionary. 

Bishop Charles J. Ellicott, D. D. — This epistle was written a few months 

subsequently to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, or in the autumn of a. d. 

58.— Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 496. 
1 

SAVOUR OF LIFE AND OF DEATH. 

2 Cor. ii: 14-16. — Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and 
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a 
sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish : to the one we are the 
savour of death unto death, and to the other the savour of life unto life. 

Elsner. — The apostle appears in these words to refer to the sacrifices and to 
the odors arising from the incense and flowers, which accompanied the triumphs 
of the Greeks and Romans ; these might well be called "the savour of death " 
to those captives who, after forming part of the procession, were led away to 
execution, and a "savour of life" to those more fortunate ones who at the close 
were pardoned and set at liberty. — Note, in loco. 

Plutarch. — At the triumph of ^Emilius the temples were set open and 
adorned with garlands, and the streets were filled with the smoke of incense. — 
jE.mil., c. 32. 

Cicero. — Those who have triumphs, and who on that account keep the gen- 
erals of the enemy alive a longer time, in order that, while they are led in 



880 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

triumph, the Roman people may enjoy a noble spectacle and behold the fruits 
of victory; nevertheless, when they begin to turn their chariot from the Forum 
towards the Capitol, order them to be taken back to prison, and the same day 
brings to the conquerors the end of their authority, and to the conquered the 
end of their lives. — In Verr., VI., c. 30. 

Epictetus. — Are all hearers benefited by what they hear? or will you find 
some benefited and some injured ? Both. Then those who hear prudently are 
benefited, and those who hear unskilfully are hurt? It is so. — Eptct., lib. ii., 
c. 24. 

THE EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY HOUSE. 

2 Cor. v : I. — For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have 
a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

Addison. — Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality? 
Or, whence this secret dread and inward horror 
Of falling into nought ? Why shrinks the soul 
Back on herself, and startles at destruction ? 
'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us: 
'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter, 
And intimates eternity to man. 
The soul, secured in her existence, smiles 
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. 
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years: 
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 
Unhurt, amidst the war of elements, 
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. 

THIS TABERNACLE. 

2 Cor. v : 4. — For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened : not for that we 
would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 

Seneca. — Nature hath enchained me with this heavy load of flesh. Must I 
die ? Then I shall be no more sick or bound ; I shall feel the stroke of death 
no more. — Epist., 24. 

Cicero. — When we are emancipated from the bonds of the body, then indeed 
we shall begin to live ; for this present life is really death. — Tusc, I., 31. 

Plutarch. — My soul seemeth to vaticinate and presage its approaching dis- 
mission from its prison. — Sympos., II., 27. 

STRAITENED. 

2 Cor. vi : 12. — Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 
Epictetus. — We squeeze ourselves, we straiten ourselves; that is, our own 
principles straiten us. — Epict., I., 25. 



SECOND CORINTHIANS XI. ggl 

CHRIST AND BELIAL, 

2 Cor. vi : 15. — What concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what part hath "he that believeth with 

an infidel ? 

Quintilian. — Virtue can have no fellowship with wickedness in the same 
breast. — Quint., XII., 1. 

CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY. 

2 Cor. viii : 3. — To their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were wilhng 

of themselves. 

Lucian. — Whenever any cunning impostor applies to them (the Christians), 
who understands the proper trick, he finds it an easy matter to lead these simple 
people by the nose, and very soon to become a rich man at their expense* — 
De Mort. Per eg., c. 13. 

2 Cor. viii : 12. — For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man 
hath, and not according to that he hath not. 

Pliny. — The gods are not dissatisfied when they are worshipped by every one 
to the best of his ability. — Hist. Nat., lib. i., dedicat. 
See Mark xii : 43. 

2 Cor. ix : 7. — Every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give; not grudgingly 
or of necessity : for God loveth a cheerful giver. 

Aristotle. — The liberal man gives freely and without grudging, and from the 
pure love of what is beautiful and virtuous. He will give and spend on things 
on which he ought, and as much as he ought ; and will act thus willingly aad 
with pleasure. — Eth., IV., 1. 

THE PERILS OF PAUL. 

2 Cor. xi : 26. — In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — Perils of rivers and perils of robbers — these words 
express the very dangers which St. Paul would be most likely to encounter on 
his journey from Perga in Pamphylia to Antioch in Pisidia. The lawless and 
marauding habits of the population of those mountains which separate the 
table-land in the interior of Asia Minor from the plains on the south coast, were 
notorious in all parts of ancient history. Strabo uses the same strong language 
both of the Isaurians and of their neighbors the Pisidians, whose native fortresses 
were the barrier between Phrygia and Pamphylia. We have the same character 
of the latter of these robber tribes in Xenophon, who is the first to mention 
them. — " Perils of rivers," — the rivers of Asia Minor, like all the rivers of the 
Levant, are liable to violent and sudden changes. And no district in Asia 
Minor is more singularly characterized by its "water-floods" than the moun- 
tainous tract of Pisidia, where rivers burst out at the bases of huge cliffs, or dash 
down wildly through narrow ravines. And it is an interesting fact, that Paul's 
name is still traditionally connected with one of them, as we learn from the 
information recently given to an English traveller by the Archbishop of Pisidia. 
— Life and Epists. of St. Paul, I., 162-164. 



882 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

CAUGHT UP INTO PARADISE. 

2 Cor. xii ; 2-4. — I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I 
cannot tell ; or whether oat of the body, I cannot tell : God knoweth) . . . how that he was 
caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to 
utter. 

Lucian. — I chanced to meet a certain bald-headed, long-nosed Galilean, who 
had mounted into the third heaven and had learnt most excellent things. He 
renovated me by water, delivered me from the realms of ungodliness, and led 
me into the path of the blessed. — Philop., c. 12. 

PREVALENT LICENTIOUSNESS. 

2 Cor. xii : 21. — And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that L 
shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and 
fornication, and lasciviousness which they have committed. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — We have before mentioned the peculiar licentious- 
ness of manners which prevailed at Corinth. So notorious was this, that it had 
actually passed into the vocabulary of the Greek tongue ; and the very word " to 
Corinthianize, ,, meant "to play the wanton; " nay, the bad reputation of the 
city had become proverbial, even in foreign languages, and is immortalized by 
the Latin poets. Such being the habits in which many of the Corinthian 
converts had been educated, we cannot wonder if it proved most difficult to 
root out immorality from the rising church. The offenders against Christian 
chastity were exceedingly numerous at this period. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, 

11., 27. 

SELF-EX AMIN A TION. 

2 Cor. xiii : 5. — Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. 
Seneca. — Examine well yourself: make different scrutinies and observations; 
but more especially consider this, whether you have made progress in philos- 
ophy, or in life itself — in knowledge or in practice. — Epist., 16. 

NOTHING AGAINST THE TRUTH. 

2 Cor. xiii: 8. — We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 

Aristotle. — It may, perhaps, seem better, and even necessary for the sake of 
the truth, to oppose the opinions even of our friends ; for both being dear to us 
it is right to give the preference to truth. — Eth., L, 6. 

Epictetus. — I cannot, when I see one thing to be the principal and most 
excellent, declare another thing to be so, in order to gain favor. — Epict., 
II., 23. . 



Galatians. 



GENUINENESS AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 

Galatians i : 2. — Uato the churches of Galatia. 

Bishop Charles J. Ellicott, D. D. — The Epistle to the Galatians was 
written in a. d. 57 or 58. With regard to its genuineness and authenticity, nb 
writer of any credit or respectability has expressed any doubts. The testimony 
of the early church is most decided and unanimous. Beside references to the 
Epistle, we have direct citations found as early as the time of the Apostolic 
Fathers. See Polyc. ad Phil., c. 3.— Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 856. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The Roman province of Galatia may be roughly 
described as the central region of the peninsula of Asia Minor, with the prov- 
inces of Asia on the west, Cappadocia on the east, Pamphylia and Cilicia on 
the south, and Bithynia and Pontus on the north. It would be difficult to 
define the exact limits. In fact they were frequently changing. — Smith's Diet, 
of Bible, p. 854. 

Idem.— The " Galatia" of the New Testament was really the " Gaul" of the 
East. The Epistle to the Galatians would more literally and more correctly be 
called the "Epistle to the Gauls." When Livy, in his account of the Roman 
campaigns in Galatia, speaks of its inhabitants, he always calls them "Gauls." 
When the Greek historians speak of the inhabitants of ancient France, the 
word they use is "Galatians." The two terms are merely the Greek and 
Latin forms of the same appellation. — Life and Epistles of St. Paul, I., 244. 

GALATIAN CHARACTER. 

Gal. i : 6. — I marvel that ye are so sooh removed from him that called you into the grace of 

Christ unto another gospel. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The Christians of Galatia were they who received 
the Apostle "as if he had been an angel" — who "if it had been possible, 
would have plucked out their eyes and given them to him" — and then were "so 
soon removed" by new teachers "from him that called them, to another 
gospel," — who began to "run well," and then were "hindered," — who were 
" bewitched " by that zeal which compasseth sea and land to make one "prose- 
lyte," — and who were as ready, in the fervor of their party spirit, to " bite and 
devour one another/' as they were willing to change their teachers and their 
gospels. It is no mere fancy which discovers, in these expressions of St. Paul's 
Epistle, indications of the character of that remarkable race of mankind (the 
Gauls or Fren«h) which all writers, from Caesar to Thierry, have described as 

(883) 



884 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

susceptible of quick impressions and sudden changes, with a fickleness equal to 
their courage and enthusiasm, and a constant liability to that disunion, which is' 
the fruit of excessive vanity. — Life and Epists. of St. Paul, I., 243. 

Prof. Lightfoot. — The main features of the Gaulish or Galatian character 
are traced with great distinctness by the Roman writers. Quickness of 
apprehension, promptitude in action, great impressibility, and eager craving after 
knowledge, this is the brighter aspect of the Celtic character. Inconstant and 
quarrelsome, treacherous in their dealings, incapable of sustained effort, easily 
disheartened by failure, such they appear when viewed on their darker side. 
" Fickleness " is the term used to express their temperament. This instability 
of character was the great difficulty against which Caesar had to contend in his 
dealings with the Gauls. He complains that they all with scarcely an exception 
are impelled by the desire of change. Nor did they show more constancy in 
the discharge of their religious than of their social obligations. The hearty 
zeal with which they embraced the Apostle's teaching, followed by their rapid 
apostacy, is only an instance out of many of the reckless facility with which 
they adopted and discarded one religious system after another. — On Ga/atians, 
p. 1-17. 

PLUCKING OUT THE EYES FOR ANOTHER. 

Gal. iv : 15. — I bear you record, that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your 
own eyes, and have given them to me. 

Lucian. — Dandamis, wishing to ransom his friend Amizoces, and having been 
already despoiled of all his goods, the Sarmates promised to release his friend if 
he would redeem him with his eyes. Dandamis instantly offered his eyes to be 
plucked out. Which being done, and the Sarmates having thus received their 
ransom, he took Amizoces by the arm, went away leaning on him, and thus 
both together swam across the river to their camp. Amizoces, who could not 
bear to see the brave Dandamis wandering about without his eyes, afterwards 
put out his own. — Toxar., c. 39. 

FLESH AND SPIRIT. 

Gal. v: 17. — For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these 
are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

Seneca. — What is it, Lucilius, that when we intend to go one way, still 
drives us another? What is it that thwarts our spirit? — Epistola, 52. 

Plutarch. — The soul consists of two parts, the one being addicted to the 
truth, and loving honesty and reason, — the other brutish, deceitful, and sensuous. 
— De adul. et am., c. 20. 

See Rom. vii : 15. 

RESTORING THE FALLEN. 

Gal. vi : I. — Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a 
one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 

Virgil. — This is a common evil ; at one time or other we have all done wrong. 



GALATIANS VI. 885 

Either we are, or have been, or may be, as bad as he whom we condemn. — 
Ec de hon. amor. 

BEARING ONE ANOTHER'S BURDEN. 

Gal. vi : 2 and 6. — Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Let him that 
is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth, in all good things. 

Lucian. — When Perigrinus was in prison, several came from different cities in 
Asia, as deputies from the Christians in those parts, to offer their assistance, to 
be his advocates on his trial, and to comfort him. For these people, in all such 
cases where the interest of the whole community is concerned, are inconceivably 
alert and active, sparing neither trouble nor expense. — De Mort. Pereg., c. 13. 

SELF-DECEPTION. 

Gal. vi : 3. — For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth 

himself. 

Plato. — If my sons, when they grow up, think themselves to be something 
when they are nothing, reproach them for it. — Apol. Socr., c. 33. 

Epictetus. — Whoever is ignorant what he is, and wherefore he was born, will 
wander up and down, deaf and blind, supposing himself to be somebody, while 
he is, in reality, nobody. — Epict., II., 24. 

AS WE SOW SO SHALL WE REAP. 

Gal. vi : 7. — Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 
Demosthenes. — The sower of the seed is surely the author of the whole 
harvest of mischief. — De Coron. 

Gal. vi : 9. — And let us not be weary in well-doing : for in due season we shall reap, if we faint 

not. 

Aristotle. — As one swallow does not make spring, nor one day ; so neither 
does one day, nor a little time, make a man blessed and happy. — Eth.> I., 7. 



Ephesians. 



AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE. 

Ephesians i: 1. — Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are 

at Ephesus. 

For the city of Ephesus, see Acts xix : 1 . 

Bishop Charles J. Ellicott, D. D. — The Epistle to the Ephesians was 
written by St. Paul during his first captivity at Rome in the early part of a. d. 
62. With regard to its authenticity and genuineness, it is not too much to say 



886 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

that there are no just grounds for doubt. The testimonies of antiquity are 
unusually strong. Even Marcion did not deny that this Epistle was written by 
St. Paul, nor did heretics refuse occasionally to cite it as confessedly due to him 
as its author. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 744. 

GOD SUPREME, AND ORDERS ALL. 

Eph. i : 11. — Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The affirmation here is not merely that God 
accomplishes the designs of salvation according to the counsel of his own will, 
but that he does every thing. His agency is not confined to one thing, or to one 
class of objects. Every object and event is under his control, and is in 
accordance with his eternal plan. — Note, in loco. 

Lord Bacon. — I believe, that notwithstanding God hath rested and ceased 
from creating since the first Sabbath, yet, nevertheless, he doth accomplish and 
fulfil his divine will in all things, great and small, singular and general, as fully 
and exactly by providence, as He could by miracle and new creation, though 
his working be not immediate and direct, but by compass ; not violating Nature, 
which is his own law upon the creature. — Confession of Faith. 

Prof. William Whewell, M. A., F. R. S. — God is the Author and Gov- 
ernor of the universe through the laws which He has given to its parts, the 
properties which He has impressed upon its constituent elements : these laws 
and properties are the instruments with which He works : the institution of such 
laws, the selection of the quantities which they involve, their combination and 
application, are the modes in which He exerts and manifests his power, his wis- 
dom, his goodness : through these attributes, thus exercised, the Creator of all 
shapes, moves, sustains and guides the visible creation. This has been the view 
of the relation of the Deity to the universe entertained by the most sagacious 
and comprehensive minds ever since the true object of natural philosophy has 
been clearly and steadily apprehended. — Astronomy and General Physics, Chap* 
VIII. 

Dr. William Carpenter. — God is the efficient cause alike for the simplest 
and most minute, and of the most complicated and most majestic phenomena 
of the universe. — Gen. and Comp. Phys.,p. 1080. 

THE SOUL ENLIGHTENED. 

Eph. i : 18. — The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. 

Philo. — What the eye is to the body, that the understanding is to the soul. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — One of the first effects of true religion is on the un- 
derstanding. It enlarges its views of truth ; gives it more exalted conceptions 
of God ; corrects its errors ; raises it up towards the great fountain of love. 
And nowhere is the effect of true religion more apparent than in shedding light 
on the intellect of the world, and restoring the weak and perverted mind to a 
just view of the proportion of things, and to the true knowledge of God. — Note, 
in loco. 




(837) 



EPHESIANS IV. 889 

THE DEAD IN SIN QUICKENED. 

Eph. ii : I. — And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. 
Epictetus. — We are all wonderfully afraid of bodily death, and use every 
means in our power to avoid it; but a dead soul gives us no concern. — Epict. f 

I., 5- 

Seneca. — Many things chain us down; many things enfeeble us; we have 
been long dead in sin : it is a difficult matter to wash and be clean ; for we are 
not only stained, but infected. — Epist., 59. 

CHRIST THE TRUE FOUNDATION. 

Eph. ii : 20, 21. — Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
himself being the chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth 
unto a holy temple in the Lord. 

Seneca. — We must consider that we are born for the good of the whole ; 
human society resembles a vaulted roof of stone, which would soon fall unless 
prevented by one stone supporting another. — Epist., 95. 

ONE GOD AND FATHER. 

Eph. iv : 6. — One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

Robert Anchor Thompson, M. A. — As far as observation can carry us, ex- 
ternal nature furnishes abundant evidence of the unity and immensity of the 
Creator. This evidence consists in the immensity of space and of material be- 
ing, and in the continued unity of the globe through the long periods of the 
past. Astronomy discovers the unity and immensity of the Supreme Being in 
space j or beyond it ; Geology, in time, or beyond it. Chemistry, in the reality 
of all present conditioned existence, or beyond it. Astrono7ny has taught us to 
look into the depths of space from star to star, and from system to system, 
through distances all but infinite. Compared with the immense fields of the 
stellar universe, the solar system sinks into an infinitesimal speck. The im- 
mense distances and enormous magnitudes of the stars are beyond question. 
In the interminable range of system upon system, and firmament upon firma- 
ment, of which we catch a glimpse through the astronomer's telescope, the im- 
agination is bewildered and lost. Yet in these immensities of matter and of 
space we have evidences of the same unity in diversity which is everywhere 
manifest in the world. Astronomy bears testimony with the world in which 
we live, that "there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God which 
worketh all in all." The discoveries of Geology terminate in the same con- 
clusion. We pass through long periods of progress, and over sudden changes 
and catastrophies ; but all, after ages of ages, are found to have evolved har- 
monious results. The very convulsions of the earth were among the steps most 
essential in its preparation for man. The inference is confirmed by the remains of 
former animal and vegetable kingdoms. Many varieties are met with, far more 
of extinct than of existing species. But they are all members of one great sys- 
tem of creation. They are bound to one another in similar relations, with the 
different systems now existing in the world, and are always adapted to the con- 



890 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

stitution of the globe at the time of their existence. Chemical science bears a 
similar testimony. On its numerous diversities, and the constant unity in diver- 
sity, it is unnecessary to speak farther. This, then, is the testimony of the 
material world, in whatever direction we may look. In its magnitude, and in 
its minuteness, in the distant causes of the past, and in the deep causes of the 
present, it stretches from the finite toward the Infinite, and everywhere discovers 
itself to have been created and ordered by one and the same Intelligent Agency 
— the Eternal and Self-existent Being. — Christian Theism, Book III., c. 2. 

STABILITY. 

Eph. iv: 14. — That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about 

with every wind of doctrine. 

Lucian. — If you have not acquired that skill and ability which may suffice to 
make you a good Stoic, you will be led about by the nose at everybody's 
pleasure, and no reed will be more easily shaken about by every blast or faint 
breath of wind. — Hermotim., c. 68. 

ALL MEMBERS OF ONE BODY. 

Eph. iv: 16. — Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that 
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, 
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Here the church is compared to the human body, in 
the which the "head" conveys vital influences, vigor, motion, etc., to its every 
part. The human frame is admirably arranged for growth and vigor and ac 
tivity. Every member and joint contributes to its healthful and harmonious 
action. One part lends beauty and vigor to another, so that the whole is finely 
proportioned and admirably sustained. Let any one read Paley's Natural 
Theology, or any work on anatomy, and he will find innumerable instances of 
the truth of this remark ; not only in the proper adjustment and placing of the 
members, but in the manner in which it is united to the other parts of the 
body. All the investigations of anatomists only serve to give increased beauty 
and force to the general terms which the apostle uses here. All that he says 
here of the human frame is strictly accurate, and is such language as may be 
used by an anatomist now. — Note, in loco. 

THE NEW MAN 

Eph. iv : 24.— And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and 

true holiness. 
Plato. — Evil of necessity moves round this mortal nature and this region. 
Wherefore we ought to endeavor to fly hence as quickly as possible. But this 
flight consists in resembling God as much as possible ; and this resemblance, in 
becoming just and holy with wisdom. — Thecetet., c. 25. 

LYING. 

Eph. iv : 25.— Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. 

Dr. Adam Clarke.— Truth was of but small account among many, of even 



EPHESIANS V. 891 

the best heathens; for they taught that, on many occasions, a lie was to be pre- 
ferred to the truth itself; here are examples : "A lie is better than a hurtful 
truth." — Menander. " Good is better than truth." — Proclus. "When telling 
a lie will be profitable, let it be told." — Darius. "He may lie who knows how 
to do it in a suitable time." — Plato. " There is nothing decorous in truth, but 
when it is profitable; yea, sometimes truth is hurtful, and lying is profitable to 
men." — Maximus Tyrius. Having been brought up in such a loose system of 
morality, these converted Gentiles had need of these apostolical directions, Put 
away lying, speak every man truth. — In loco. 

ANGER. 

Eph. iv : 26. — Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. 

Cicero. — To subdue one's inclinations, to master one's angry feelings, to be 
moderate in the hour of victory ; these are actions which raise men into the 
likeness of the gods. — Pro Marcel, c. 3. 

Plutarch. — We are to imitate the Pythagoreans, who, if at any time they 
were so carried away by anger as to reproach and to revile each other, yet before 
the sun went down they would shake hands, embrace each other, and become 
good friends again. — De Prat. Amor., c. 17. 

Eph. iv: 31. — Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put 

away from you. 

Horace. — Away with anger and clamour. — Hor., lib. iii., carm. 8. 
ABOMINATIONS COMMITTED IN SECRET. 

Eph. v : 12. — For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 
Dr. Adam Clarke. — This no doubt refers to the Eleusinian and Bacchanalian 
mysteries, which were performed in the night and darkness, and were known to 
be so impure and abominable, especially the latter, that the Roman Senate ban- 
ished them both from Rome and Italy. How the discovery of these depths of 
Satan was made, and the whole proceedings in that case, may be seen in Ltvy, 
XXXIX., c. 8-19, where the reader will see the force of what the apostle says 
here — the abominations being of the most stupendous kind, and of the deepest 
dye. — Note, in loco. 

REDEEMING THE TIME. 

Eph. v: 16. — Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 

Seneca. — Such hours as have hitherto been stolen from you unawares, or 
have slipped by inadvertently, recollect, and for the future turn to some good 
account. Embrace every hour; the stronger hold you have on to-day, the less 
will be your dependence on to-morrow. Life, however unimproved, still glides 
away. — Epist., 1. 

Suetonius. — Titus, reflecting once at supper that he had done nothing for 
any one that day, broke out into that memorable and justly-admired saying, 
My friends, I have lost a day. — Tit., c. 8. 



892 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

PSALMS AND HYMNS. 

Eph. v: 19. — Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and 
making melody in your heart to the Lord. 

Pliny. — Those who had been Christians — but who had left them — affirmed 
that the whole of their fault or error lay in this : that they were wont to meet 
together, on a stated day, before it was light, and sing among themselves, al- 
ternately, a hymn to Christ as God, etc. — Letter to Trajan. 

Clement of Alexandria composed the following hymn for Christians : 
O king of saints, thou all-subduing Word of the Most High Father, thou 
Lord of Wisdom, thou support in toils ever gracious, of the race of men, Jesus 
the Saviour. Heavenly way, ever-during Word, Light eternal, fountain of 
mercy, in virtue strong, life revered of them who hymn thee God, Christ Jesus. 
Simple praises, sincere hymns, to Christ the king, offerings pure of lively doc- 
trine let us chant together, with simplicity let us praise the Mighty Child ; the 
band of peace, we sons of Christ, people of sober mind, let us together praise 
the God of peace. — Clem. Alex. Peed., lib. iii., c. 12. 

Gregory Nazianzen composed the following for the churches : 
O glorious Word of the eternal Father, uttering his vast mind, more excel- 
lent than any speech; Light of unmingled light; One-Begotten; Image of the 
immortal Father; most certain Seal; shining as bright as that great Spirit; 
filling eternity ; whose praise all celebrate ; Giver of all wealth ; enthroned high 
in heaven ; almighty Source of mind ; Bringer of life ; Ruler of all that are, and 
all that shall be, for by Him all subsist ; by Him were laid the foundations of 
the world, and all things are committed to his care. — Greg. Naz. Carmina 
Varia., carm. 55. 

DUTY OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES. 

Eph. v : 22. — Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 

Plutarch. — The husband ought to rule over the wife, not as a master over 
that which he possesseth, but as the soul governs the body, by a natural and 
sympathetic affection. — Conj. Prcec., c. 33. 

Euripides. — This is her greatest safety. — Med., v. 14. 

Eph. v : 28. — So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife 

loveth himself. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Because she is one with him, and their interests are 
identified. Because by this, he really promotes his own welfare, as much as he 
does when he takes care of his own body. A man's kindness to his wife 
will be more than repaid by the happiness which she imparts ; and all the real 
solicitude which he shows to make her happy, will come to more than it costs. — 

Note, t7i loco. 

Eph. v : 29. — For no man ever yet hated his own flesh. 

Curtius. — We do not hate those things that pertain to our own bodies. — 
Curt., VII. 

Seneca. — I confess that there is in us implanted the love of our own body.— 
Epist., 14. 



EPHESIANS VI. 

DUTY OF CHILDREN. 

Eph. vi : I. — Children, obey your parents in the Lord : for this is right. 

Aristotle. — A father is by nature adapted to ruie over his children ... on 
which account parents are honored. — Eth., VIII., n. 

Idem. — It is not possible to confer adequate honor upon the gods or on 
parents ; for no one can bestow these according to desert ; but he who pays 
homage to them to the utmost of his power, appears to be a worthy man. — Eth , 
VIII. , 14. 

Plautus. — Daughters can never take too much care of their parents : whom 
ought we to esteem more dear to us than these? — Stick., act I., sc. 2. 

Quintilian. — A son never ought to forget the reverence he owes to his 
parents. — Quint., II., 1. 

DUTY OF PARENTS. 

Eph. vi : 4.— And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord. 

Plato. — Children are to be chastised ; but not in an ignominious manner, 
with insults, so as to encourage an angry feeling in them. — De Leg., VII., 4. 

Plutarch. — I would on no account have fathers to be too severe and rigorous 
with their children. — De lib. Educ, c. 18. 

DUTY OF SERVANTS. 

Eph. vi : 5- — Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with 
fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. 

Seneca. — If any one supposes that slavery affects the whole man, he is mis- 
taken ; the better part of the man is exempt from it. The body of a slave is 
subject to his master ; the mind is under a different law : the body is bought 
and sold ; the mind cannot be brought into slavery. As long as a slave yields 
that service which can be exacted from him, it is a duty ; but when he willingly 
offers that which he could not be compelled to do, he confers a benefit upon 
his master. — De Bene/., III., 20. 

DUTY OF MASTERS. 

Eph. vi : 9. — And, ye masters, do the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening : knowing 
that your Master also is in heaven ; neither is there respect of persons with him. 

Seneca. — live so with an inferior as you would have a superior live with you. 
As often as you think on the power you have over a servant, reflect on the 
power your master has over you. Live courteously with your servant ; vouch- 
safe him conference ; admit him to counsel, and even to your table. — Epist., 47. 

FIERY DARTS. 

Eph. vi: 16. — Fiery darts. 
Thucydides. — The Peloponnesians threw darts bearing fire into the trenches. 



894 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

and ignited the fagots ; thereby kindling such a flame under the walls of Plataea, 
as had never been seen before. — Thucyd., II., 75. 

Arrian. — The Tyrians defended themselves with darts, and cast their mis- 
sives, bearing fire at their points, into the very ship of the Macedonians. — 
Exped. Alex., II., 21. 



PHILIPPIANS. 



AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS. 

Philippians i: I. — Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ 
Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. 

For Philippi, see Acts xvi : 12, 35. 

Rev. William T. Bullock, M. A. — The canonical authority, Pauline author- 
ship and integrity of this epistle have been unanimously acknowledged down to 
the present century. Marcion (a. d. 140) in the earliest known Canon held 
common ground with the church touching the authority of this epistle : it 
appears in the Muratorian Fragment ; also among the acknowledged books in 
Eusebius ; in the lists of the Council of Laodicea, a. d. 365 ; and the Synod of 
Hippo, 393 ; and in all subsequent lists, as well as in the Peshito and later 
versions. Even contemporary evidence may be claimed for it. Polycarp in his 
letter to the Philippians, a. d. 107, refers to this Epistle of Paul as a well-known 
distinction belonging to that church. It is quoted by Irenseus and Tertullian. 
A quotation from it is found in the epistle of the churches of Lyons and Vienne, 
a. d. 177. The testimony of later writers are innumerable. — Smith's Diet, of 
the Bible, p. 2492. 

THE ISSUE OF DEATH TO THE CHRISTIAN. 

Phil, i : 21. — To die is gain. 

Dr. Edward Young. — Death is the crown of life : 

Were death denied, poor man would live in vain ; 
Were death denied, to live would not be life ; 
Were death denied, even fools would wish to die. 
Death wounds to cure ; we fall ; we rise ; we reign ! 
Spring from our fetters ; fasten in the skies ; 
Where blooming Eden withers in our sight. 
Death gives us more than was in Eden lost. 
The king of terrors is the prince of peace. 

—Night Thoughts, III. 



PHILIPPIANS II. 895 

THE STRAIT BETWIXT LIFE AND DEATH. 

Phil, i : 22, 23. — But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall choose 
I wot not : for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ; 
which is far better. 

Plato. — The fellowship between soul and body is not, as I earnestly and 
solemnly affirmed, better than the dissolution of it. — De Leg., VIII. , 1. 

Plutarch. — We ought to weep over the new-born infants, upon whom evil is 
to come ; but those dying and ceasing from their labors we should send forth 
from their homes with rejoicings and congratulations. — De aud. Poet., c. 14. 

^Elian. — Cercidas, when he was about to die, said that he hoped to meet in 
a future life Pythagoras the philosopher, Hecataeus the historian, Olympus, and 
the poet Homer ; and when he had said this his spirit fled. — Var. hist., XIII. , 19. 

Phil, i : 24, 25. — Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this 
confidence, I know that I shall abiU*. and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy 
of faith. 

Seneca. — It pertains to a great mind to be willing to come back to life for 
the sake of others; which distinguished men often do. — Epist., 104. 

CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION. 

Phil, i: 27. — Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — If men live as " becometh the gospel," they live 
well. Their lives are honest and honorable ; they are men of truth and 
uprightness. No man on a dying bed ever yet regretted that he had framed his 
life by the rules of the gospel, or felt that his conduct had been conformed too 
much to it. — Note, in loco. 

CONFIRMATION. 

Phil, ii ; 26. — For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard 
that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death. 

Dr. William Paley. — In this passage, no intimation is given that the recovery 
of Epaphroditus was miraculous : it is plainly spoken of as a natural event. 
This instance, together with that in the Second Epistle to Timothy, " Trophimus 
have I left at Miletum sick," affords a proof that the power of performing cures, 
and by parity of reason, of working other miracles, was a power which only 
visited the apostles occasionally ; and did not at all depend upon their own 
will. Paul undoubtedly would have healed Epaphroditus, if he could ; nor 
would he have left Trophimus at Miletum sick, had the power of working 
cures awaited his disposal. Had this epistle been a forgery, forgery on this 
occasion would not have spared a miracle : much less would it have introduced 
St. Paul professing the utmost anxiety for the safety of his friend, yet 
acknowledging himself unable to help him ; which he does almost expressly in 
the case of Trophimus : him have I left sick ; and virtually in the passage 
before us, in which he felicitates himself on the recovery of Epaphroditus in 
terms which almost exclude the supposition of any supernatural means being 
55 



896 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

used to effect it. This is a reserve which nothing but truth would have imposed. 
— Hour a Paulina, p. 160, Carter's Edition. 

CHRIST SUPREMELY EXCELLENT. 

Phil, iii : 8. — I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my 
Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I 
may win Christ. 

Lucian. — These people (the Christians) bow the knee to their crucified 
Sophist, and live in conformity to his laws. All things else they despise in the 
lump, holding them vain and worthless, without having a sufficient reason for 
being attached to these opinions. — De Mort. Peregr., c. 13. 

PRESSING TOWARD THE MARK. 

Phil, iii: 13. — But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those things which are before. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — In the Grecian races, one running to secure the prize 
would not stop to look behind him to see how much ground he had run over, 
or who of his competitors had fallen or lingered in the way. He would keep 
his eye steadily on the prize, and strain every nerve that he might obtain it. 
If his attention was diverted for a moment from that, it would hinder his flight, 
and might be the means of his losing the crown. — In loco. 
Phil, iii: 14. — I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Polybius. — Some men, like bad racers, abandon their designs, when they are 
arrived even almost at the end of their course: while others, on the contrary, 
obtain a victory against their rivals, by exerting in that very moment more 
strenuous efforts than before. — Polyb., XVI., extr. 6. 

Diogenes Laertius. — "Thou art now an old man; rest from thy labors, 
Diogenes." — If I have run long in the race, will it become me to slacken my 
pace when come near the end ? Should I not rather stretch forward ? — Diog. 
Laert., lib. vi., c. 2, sect. 6. 

GLUTTONS. 

Phil, iii : 19. — Whose god is their belly : who mind earthly things. 

Cicero. — That spendthrift and glutton, born for his belly, not for praise and 
glory. — In Pison., c. 17. 

Demosthenes. — Men who measure their happiness by their bellies. — De 
Cor 07i. 

Perseus. — O souls bowed down to earth, and void of aught celestial. — Pers. 
Sat., II., v. 61. 

THE VILE BODY CHANGED INTO THE GLORIOUS. 

Phil, iii : 21.— Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious 

body. 

Dwight — Shall spring the faded world revive ? 

Shall waning moons their light renew ? 



PHILIPPIANS IV. 897 

Again shall setting suns ascend 

And chase the darkness from our view? 
Shall life revisit dying worms 

And spread the joyful insect's wing? 
And, oh, shall man awake no more 

To see thy face, thy name to sing ? 
Faith sees the bright eternal doors 

Unfold to make her children way ; 
They shall be clothed with endless life, 

And shine in everlasting day, 

MODERATION, 

Phil, iv: 5. — Let your moderation be known unto all men. 

Pythagoras. — A mean in everything is best. Moderation is to be observed 
in food, in drink, and in exercise. — Aur. Car., v. 33. 

Horace. — There is a mean in all things : there are certain limits within or 
beyond of which moral rectitude cannot exist. — Hor., lib. i., Sat. 1. 

DWELL UPON WHAT IS GOOD, 

Phil, iv: 8. — Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, what- 
soever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever 
things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these 
things. 

Xenophon. — Socrates was accustomed to inquire and discourse continually 
on these subjects — what was pious, what was impious; what honorable, what 
base ; what just, what unjust ; what wisdom, what folly ; what courage, what 
cowardice ; what a state, or political community, what the character of a states- 
man, a politician j what the government of men, what the character of one 
equal to such government. It was on these and other matters of the same kind 
that he used to dissert ; in which subjects those who were knowing, he esteemed 
men of honor and goodness ; and those who were ignorant, to be no better than 
the basest of slaves. — Soc, Mem., L, 1. 

CONTENTMENT, 

Phil, iv: 11. — I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to oe content. 
Epictetus, — I would be able to say to God — Have I ever accused thee, 
or censured thy dispensations? I have been sick because it was thy pleasure, 
and so have others ; but I willingly. I have been poor, it being thy will ; but 
with joy. I have not been in power, because it was not thy will ; and power I 
have never desired. Hast thou ever seen me out of humor on this account ? 
Have I not always approached thee with a cheerful countenance, prepared to exe- 
cute thy commands? Let death overtake me while I am thinking, while I am 
reading, while I am writing such things as these. — JLficL, III., 5. 



898 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

CESAR'S HOUSEHOLD. 

Phil, iv : 22. — All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. 

St. Jerome. — Paul, being by the emperor cast into prison, became the more 
known to his family ; and he turned the house of Christ's persecutor into a 
church. — In Philem. 

Theodorus Metochita. — Among those converted in Caesar's household were 
Nero's baker and one of his concubines. — As quoted by Dr. Adam Qlarke. 



COLOSSIANS. 



THE CHURCH AT COLOSSE. 

Col. i : I, 2. — Paul and Timotheus to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at 

Colosse. 

Charles Anthon, LL. D. — Colossae was a large and flourishing city of 
Phrygia Pacatiana, situated in an angle formed by the rivers Lycus and Msean- 
der. Strabo speaks of the great profits accruing from its wool trade. One of 
the first Christian churches was established here, and one of St. Paul's epistles 
was addressed to it. In the tenth year of the reign of Nero, or about two years 
after the epistle of St. Paul was sent, this city was nearly destroyed by an 
earthquake. Under the Byzantine emperors, Colossae, being in a ruinous state, 
made way for a more modern town named Chonae, which was built at a short 
distance from it. Some remains of Colossae and its more modern successor are 
to be seen near each other on the site called Khonas, or Kanassi, by the Turks. 
— Classical Dictionary. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Colossae was situated close to the great road which 
led from Ephesus to the Euphrates. Hence our impulse would be to conclude 
that St. Paul passed this way, and founded or confirmed the Colossian Church 
on his third missionary journey. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 481. 

Bishop Charles J. Elltcott, D. D. — With regard to the genuineness and 
authenticity of the Epistle to the Colossians, it is satisfactory to be able to say 
with distinctness that there are no grounds for doubt. The external testimonies 
from Justin Martyr, Theophilact, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Tertullian 
and Origen are explicit; and the internal arguments are unusually strong. — = 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 482. 

Col. i : 6. — The Gospel — which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth 

fruit, etc. 
See Matt, xxiv : 14. 



COLOSSIANS I. 



899 



THE CREATOR AND UPHOLDER OF ALL. 

Col. i : 1 6, 17. — All things were created by him, and for him : and he is before all things, and 

by him all things consist. 

Lord Brougham. — See only in what contemplations the wisest of men end 
their most sublime enquiries ! Mark where it is that a Newton finally reposes 
after piercing the thickest veil that envelopes nature — grasping and arresting in 
their course the most subtle of her elements and the swiftest — traversing the 
regions of boundless space — exploring worlds beyond the solar way — giving out 
the law which binds the universe in eternal order ! He rests, as by an inevitable 
necessity, upon the contemplation of the great First Cause, and holds it his 




COLOSSI. 



highest glory to have made the evidence of his existence and the dispensations 
of his power and of his wisdom better understood by men. — Discourse, Of Natu- 
ral Theology, p. 194. 

Dr. John Young. — The reason, the ground of the existence of the universe, 
of every single atom at every moment, is not in itself, but wholly and only in 
the will and power of the Creator. It is nothing, has no meaning, no reality, 
no being, except in Him. Underneath it and in it, sustaining it, entirely 
causing it, are the Almighty will and the Almighty power. Let these be with- 
drawn for a moment, let them only not be, that is, let there be no present 
Divine volition, and no present exertion of Divine power, and that moment it 
is nothing, for the sole ground of its being is gone. " By Him all things con- 
sist." — Creator and Creation, p. 58. 



900 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

VAIN PHILOSOPHY. 

Col. ii : 8. — Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradi- 
tion of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 

Mosheim. — By none of its adversaries or corrupters was Christianity, from 
almost its first rise, more seriously injured ; by none was the church more 
grievously lacerated, and rendered less attractive to the people, than by those 
who were for making the religion of Christ accommodate itself to the principles 
of the Oriental Philosophy respecting the Deity, the origin of the world, the 
nature of matter, and the human soul. We speak of the Gnostics. We find St. 
Paul, in various parts of his epistles, alluding to these, and exhorting the fol- 
lowers of Christ to maintain the discipline of their blessed Master whole and 
■uncontaminated by any of the fables or inventions of the philosophers of this 
sect. But an insane curiosity, and that itch for penetrating into abstruse or 
hidden things, caused many to turn their backs on the advice and admonition 
of the apostle and his associates, and to give heed to these false teachers. — His- 
torical Commentaries, I., 228. 

Col. ii: 13. — And you, being dead in your sins, etc. 
See Eph. ii: 1. 

ANGEL WORSHIP. 

Col. ii: 18. — Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility, and worshipping 

of angels, etc. 

Hartley. — The modern Greeks have a legend to this effect: "An overwhelm- 
ing inundation threatened to destroy the Christian population of that city. 
They were fleeing before it in the utmost consternation, and imploring superior 
succor for their deliverance. At this critical moment the archangel Michael 
descended from heaven, opened the chasm in the earth to which they still point, 
and at this opening the waters of the inundation were swallowed up, and the 
multitude was saved." A church in honor of the archangel was built at the 
entrance of the chasm. This is mentioned by Nicetas. A council held at the 
neighboring town of Laodicea, in the fourth century, condemned this angel 
worship; and Theodoret speaks of it as existing in the same region. — See Life 
and Epistles of St. Paul, p. 390; and Hartley's Researches in Greece, p. 52. 
Col. ii : 19. — And holding the Head, from which all the body, etc. 

See Eph. iv: 16. 

THE AFFECTIONS SET ON THINGS ABOVE. 

Col. iii: 2. — Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 

Seneca. — Soar aloft ; estranged even from those things which seem most 
necessary and dear to you. Meditate something more noble and sublime ; that 
blessed day, for instance, when the mysteries of nature shall be revealed to you, 
this darkness be dispersed> and the light break in upon you on every side. — 
£pistle f 102. 



COLOSSIANS IV. 901 

Idem. — We are to prepare ourselves for communion with the gods ; and to 
have eternity always in view. — Ibid. 

Col. iii : 8. — But now ye also put off all these ; anger, wrath, malice, etc. 

See Eph. iv : 31. 

Col. iii : 9. — Lie not one to another, etc. 

See Eph. iv: 25. 

Col. iii : 10. — And have put on the new man, etc. 

See Eph. iv : 24. 

PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING. 

Col. iii : 16, 17. — Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and ad- 
monishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your 
hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. 

Epictetus. — If we had any understanding, ought we not both in public and 
in private, constantly to sing hymns, and speak well of the Deity, and rehearse 
his benefits ? Ought we not, whether we are digging, or ploughing, or eating, 
to sing the hymn to God ? Great is God, who has supplied us with these instru- 
ments to till the ground ! Great is God, who has given us hands, a power of 
swallowing, a stomach ; who has given us to grow insensibly, to breathe in sleep. 
— Epict., L, 16. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus — to the letter of 
this precept the Mahommedans adhere most strictly, for they never undertake a 
work, eat meat, or write a book, without prefacing all with " In the name of the 
most merciful and compassionate God." Not only books of devotion, but 
books on all arts and sciences ; books of tales and romances ; books of poetry, 
and those on the elements of reading, etc., begin thus. — Note, in loco. 
Col. iii: 18. — Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, etc. 

See Eph. v: 22. 

Col. iii ; 19. — Husbands, love your wives, etc. 
See Eph. v : 28. 

Col. iii : 20. — Children, obey your parents in all things, etc. 

See Eph. vi : 1. 

Col. iii : 21. — Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, etc. 

See Eph. vi : 4. 

Col. iii : 22. — Servants, obey in all things your masters, etc. 

See Eph. vi : 5. 

Col. iv : I. — Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal. 



See Eph. vi : 9. 
See Eph. v: 16. 



Col. iv: 5. — Redeeming the time. 

SEASONED SPEECH. 



Col. iv : 6. — Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how 

ye ought to answer every man. 



902 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Quintilian. — The salt of a discourse is that natural seasoning which prevents 
its being insipid; and which, upon deeper reflection, leaves, as it were, a relish 
upon the palate, enlivens the attention, and prevents the oration from creating 
a laugh. And as salt, though pretty liberally sprinkled upon meat, if not exces- 
sive, affords a pleasing relish : so, in speaking, this salt has somewhat so pleasing 
that it raises a desire of hearing more. — Quint., VI., 3. 

HIERAPOLIS. 

Col. iv: 13. — For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in 
Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — Hierapolis is mentioned only once in scripture, 
and that incidentally, namely in Col. iv., 13, where its church is associated 
with those of Colossas and Laodicea. Such association is just what we should 
expect, for the three towns were all in the basin of the Maeander, and within a 
few miles of one another. The situation of Hierapolis is extremely beautiful ; 
and its ruins are considerable, the theatre and gymnasium being the most con- 
spicuous. Richter states that Hierapolis and Laodicea lie within view of each 
other on the opposite sides of the Lycus. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1063. 



First Thessalonians. 



AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS. 

I Thessalonians i :i. — Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians. 

For T/iessalom'ea, see Acts xvii : 1. 

Prof. Joseph B. Lightfoot, D. D. — The epistles to the Thessalonians are 
the earliest of St. Paul's writings — perhaps the earliest written records of Chris- 
tianity. Both these epistles were written toward the close of the year 52 or the 
beginning of 53. There is no trace that the genuineness of this epistle was 
ever disputed at any age or in any section of the church, or even by any indi- 
vidual. It was included in the old Latin and Syriac Versions ; it is found in 
the Canon of the Muratorian fragment ; and it was also contained in that of 
Marcion. Towards the close of the second century from Irenaeus downwards, 
we find this epistle directly quoted and ascribed to St. Paul. The evidence 
derived from the character of the epistle itself is so strong that it may fairly be 
called irresistible. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3226. 

THESSALONICA A CENTRE OF COMMUNICATION. 

I Thess. i ; 8. — From you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, 
but also in every place your faith to God- ward is spread abroad. 



FIRST THESSALONIANS II. 903 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The reason of the pre-eminence of Thessalonica 
is to be found in its geographical position. Situated on the inner bend of the 
Thermaic Gulf, — half-way between the Adriatic and the Hellespont, — on the sea- 
margin of a vast plain watered by several rivers, — and at the entrance of the 
pass which commands the approach to the other great Macedonian level, — it was 
evidently destined for a mercantile emporium. Its relation with the inland 
trade of Macedonia was as close as that of Amphipolis ; and its maritime 
advantages were perhaps even greater. Thus, while Amphipolis decayed under 
the Byzantine emperors, Thessalonica continued to prosper. There probably 
never was a time, from the day when it first received its name, that this city, as 
viewed from the sea, has not had the aspect of a busy commercial town. We see 
at once how appropriate a place it was for one of the starting-points of the 
Gospel in Europe ; and we can appreciate the force of the expression used by 
St. Paul within a few months of his departure from the Thessalonians, when he 




THESSALONICA. 

says that " from them the word of the Lord had sounded forth like a trumpet, 
not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place." — Life and Epists. of 
St. Paul, I., 323. 

THE PERVERSENESS OF THE JEWS. 

I Thess. ii : 15. — And they please not God, and are contrary to all men. 

Juvenal. — The Jews .... they would not even point out the way to any 
one except of the same religion, nor, being asked, guide any to a fountain 
except the circumcised. — Satr., XIV., 103. 

Tacitus. — A people cherishing hatred against all others. — Hist., V., 5. 

Apollonius. — Atheists and misanthropes, and the most uncultivated bar- 
barians. — See Josep hus, Cont. Apion, II., 15. 

Diodorus Siculus. — Those alone among all nations who were unwilling to 



904 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

have any intercourse with any other nation, and who regarded all others as 
enemies.— Diod. Sic, XXXIV. 

I Thess. iv : 3. — That ye should abstain from fornication, etc 
See 1 Cor. vi : 18. 

GOD THE JUDGE AND AVENGER. 

I Thess. iv ; 6. — That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter : because the 

Lord is the avenger of all such. 

Cicero. — With respect to the statement that God is not merely a Judge, but 
an Avenger, the sense of religion appears to be strengthened by the fear of 
immediate punishment which awaits the offender. — De Leg., II., 10. 

HOPE CONCERNING THE DEAD IN CHRIST. 

I Thess. iv : 13. — I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are 
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 

Seneca. — Our eyes ought not to be dry on the death of a friend ; neither 
should they stream : it is decent to weep, but useless to bewail. Let us consider 
that we must soon be what he is whom we now bewail ; and perhaps (if the 
opinion of some wise men be true that there is such a place) he whom we fondly 
imagine to have perished, is sent before us to that happy mansion. — Epist,, 6$. 

Tacitus. — If there be any place for the manes of the just; if, as philosophers 
say, great spirits perish not with the body, mayest thou rest in peace, O 
Agricola ! Recall us also from weak regrets and womanly lamentations to the 
contemplation of thy virtues, for which it were wrong to mourn and complain. 
— Agric, c. 46. 

SPIRITUAL ARMOR. 

I Thess. v : 8. — But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and 
love ; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 

Epictetus. — Every one's life is a warfare, and that long and various. — 
Epict. y III., 24. 

Seneca. — Our condition is a warfare, and such a one wherein no rest, no 
leisure time is allowed. Pleasures are in the first place to be subdued. — Epist., 

SI- 
Idem: — The task imposed upon us is hard and laborious ; we must engage, 
therefore, as it were in battle. — Epist., 52. 

MUTUAL EDIFICATION. 

I Thess. v: II. — Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also 

ye do. 

Aristotle. — The friendship of worthy men is worthy, and is mutually 
increased by mutual converse. They also appear to become better by energizing 
with and correcting each other. For they mutually express those things with 
which they are mutually delighted : whence it is said by Theognis, " From good 
men what is good is learned." — Eth.> IX., 12. 



FIRST THESSALONIANS V. 905 

EVIL FOR EVIL. 

I Thess. v: 15. — See that none render evil for evil unto any man. 

Plato. — It is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, 
however much one may have suffered from him. — Crito, c. 10. 

Seneca. — A good man will pardon an injury, provided he can do so without 
breach of piety and fidelity. — Epist., 81. 

Idem. — Nature has commanded justice and equity; and by her appointment it 
is more wretched to do an injury than to suffer one. — Epist., 95. 

PRAYER UNCEASING. 

I Thess. v: 17.- — Pray without ceasing. 

Seneca. — Cease not to pray ; and ask particularly for wisdom, a sound 
mind, and health of body. Fear not to importune a gracious God, as long as 
you ask not for any foreign good, or for what belongs to another person.— 
Epist., 10. 

THANKSGIVING. 

I Thess. v: 18. — In everything give thanks. 
Xenophon. — I shall never be wanting in my acknowledgments to the gods; 
and it even troubleth me that we cannot make a suitable return for the benefits 
they have conferred upon us. — Mem. Soc, IV., 3, 

SANCTIFICATION. 

I Thess. v; 23. — I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Aristotle. — It is the property of a man to have a life consisting of three 
parts. — Topic, V., 4. 

Plutarch. — It is the common opinion that man is a compound nature. . . . 
The understanding is as much better than the soul as the soul is better 
than the body. The conjunction of the soul with the understanding produces 
reason; but with the body, passion. — Defac. in orb. lun., c. 28. 

Virgil. — Hail, ^nrred parent! Hail again paternal ashes and soul, and 
shade J — JEfc, v ., 00. 



Second Thessalonians. 



CANONICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 

2 Thess. i: i. — Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians. 

For Thessalonica, see Acts xvii : i , and i Thess. i : i . 

Prof. J. B. Lightfoot, D. D. — The external evidence in favor of the second 
Epistle to the Thessalonians is even more definite than that in favor of the first 
Epistle. It seems to be referred to in one or two passages of Polycarp, and 
also in Justin Martyr. It is found in the Syriac and old Latin versions ; and in 
those of the Muratorian fragment, and of the heretic Marcion ; it is quoted 
expressly by name by Irenseus and others at the close of the second century, and 
was universally received by the church. The internal character of the epistle 
too, as in the former case, bears the strongest testimony to its Pauline origin. 
Its genuineness has never been questioned. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3228. 

THE COMING OF CHRIST, AND THE MAN OF SIN. 

2 Thess. ii : 1-4. — Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, 
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 
Let no man deceive you by any means ; for that day shall not come, except there come a fall- 
ing away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition : who opposeth and exalt- 
eth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the 
temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — The Thessalonians, from some expressions 
in the former epistle, were alarmed, as if the end of the world was at hand, and 
Christ was coming to judgment. The apostle, to correct their mistakes and 
dissipate their fears, assures them, that the coming of Christ will not be yet 
awhile : there will be first a great " falling away," a great apostaey or defection 
of Christians from the true faith and worship. This apostaey all the concurrent 
marks and characters will justify us in charging upon the Church of Rome. 

If the apostaey be rightly charged upon the church of Rome, it follows of 
consequence that " the man of sin " is the pope, not meaning this or that pope 
in particular, but the pope in general, as the chief head and supporter of this 
apostaey. The apostaey produces him, and he again promotes the apostaey. 
He is properly The man of sin, not only on account of the scandalous lives of 
many popes, but by reason of their more scandalous doctrines and principles, 
dispensing with the most necessary duties, and granting or rather selling par- 
dons and indulgences to the most abominable crimes. Or if by " sin "be 
meant idolatry particularly, as in the Old Testament, it is evident to all how he 
(906) 



SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 907 

hath corrupted the worship of God, and perverted it from spirit and truth to 
superstition and idolatry of the grossest kind. He also, like the false apostle 
Judas, is " the son of perdition," whether actively as being the cause and occa- 
sion of destruction to others, or passively as being destined and devoted to de- 
struction himself. 

"He opposeth; " — he is the great adversary to God and man, excommuni- 
cating and anathematizing, persecuting and destroying by croisadoes and inqui- 
sitions, by massacres and horrid executions, those sincere Christians, who prefer 
the word of God to all the authority of men. The heathen emperor of Rome 
may have slain his thousands of innocent Christians, but the Christian bishop 
of Rome has slain his ten thousands. There is scarce any country, that hath 
not at one time or another been made the stage of these bloody tragedies : 
scarce any age, that hath not in one place or other seen them enacted. 

" He exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; " 
not only above inferior magistrates, but likewise above bishops and primates, ex- 
erting an absolute jurisdiction and uncontrolled supremacy over all ; nor only 
above bishops and primates, but likewise above kings and emperors, deposing 
some and advancing others, obliging them to prostrate themselves before him ; 
to kiss his toe ; to hold his stirrup ; to wait barefooted at his gate, as Hilde- 
brand did to Henry IV. ; treading even upon their necks, as Alexander III. did 
to Frederic I. ; and kicking off the imperial crown with his foot, as Celestin did 
to Henry VI. ; nor only above kings and emperors, but likewise above Christ 
and God himself, " making the word of God of none effect by his traditions" 
forbidding what God hath commanded, as marriage, communion in both kind?, 
the use of the scriptures in the vulgar tongue, and the like, and also command- 
ing or allowing what God hath forbidden, as idolatry, persecution, works of 
supererogation, and various other instances. 

" So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God ; " — having his seat or ca- 
thedra in the Christian church: and he sitteth there "as God," especially at 
his inauguration, when he sitteth upon the high altar in St. Peter's church, and 
maketh the table of the Lord his footstool, and in that position receiveth ador- 
ation. 

" Showing himself that he is God ; " at all times he exerciseth divine author- 
ity in the church; affecting divine titles and attributes, as holiness and infalli- 
bility ; assuming divine powers and prerogatives in condemning and absolving 
men ; in retaining and forgiving sins ; in asserting his decrees to be of the same 
or greater authority than the word of God, and commanding them to be received 
under the penalty of the same or greater damnation. Like another Salmoneus, he 
is proud to imitate the state and thunder of the Almighty ; and is styled, and is 
pleased to be styled, " Our Lord God the Pope " — "Another God upon earth " 
— "King of kings, and Lord of lords." " The same is the dominion of God and 
the Pope " — " To believe that our Lord God the Pope might not decree, as he 
decreed, it were a matter of heresy " — " The power of the Pope is greater than 
all created power, and extends itself to things celestial, terrestrial, and infer- 



908 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

nal" — "The Pope doeth whatsoever he listeth, even things unlawful, and is 
more than God." Such blasphemies are not only allowed, but even approved, 
encouraged, rewarded in the writers of the church of Rome : and they are not 
only the extravagances of private writers, but are the language even of public de- 
cretals and acts of councils. So that the Pope is evidently the god upon earth : 
or at least there is no one like him, who " exalteth himself above every God ; " 
no one like him, " who sitteth as God in the temple of God, showing himself 
that he is God." — Dissertations on the Prophecies, No. XXII. 

2 Thess. ii: 5-8. — Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And 
now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of 
iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
And then shall that Wicked be revealed. 

Dr. Thomas Scott. — The Roman empire, united under one potent govern- 
ment, and extremely jealous of all other power and authority, prevented the 
establishment of that spiritual tyranny and usurpation by which Satan was 
attempting to make his grand effort against Christianity; but it would not have 
been prudent for the apostle explicitly to mention it, in an epistle for general 
perusal; nor would it have accorded to the style of prophecy; however, most 
of the Fathers so far understood him as to declare that Antichrist would not 
come till after the downfall of the Roman empire. Had it not been for this 
obstacle, the evil would have broken out much sooner; for even when this was 
written, " the mystery of iniquity did already work." But the Roman empire, 
which then "letted," ox hindered its full effect, by keeping the church under 
persecution, and curbing all authority but its own, would continue to retard this 
event until it should be removed " out of the way." It was not till the subver- 
sion of the Western empire by the northern nations, and the division of it into 
ten kingdoms, that way was made for the full establishment of the Papal 
usurpation at Rome, the capital of the empire. — Com., in loco. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — In the same proportion as the power of the 
empire decreased, the authority of the church increased, the latter at the ex- 
pense and ruin of the former : till at length the Pope grew up above all, and 
the wicked one was fully manifested and revealed, or the lawless one, as he may 
be called; for the Pope is declared again and again not to be bound by any laws 
of God or man. — Dissert., XXII. 

2 Thess. ii : 9, 10. — Even him, whose coming is after the coming of Satan with all power and 
signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — And doth it require any particular proof, 
or is it not too generally known, that the pretensions of the Pope and the cor- 
ruptions of the church of Rome are all supported and authorized by feigned 
visions and miracles, by pious frauds and impostures of every kind? There 
hath been printed at London, so lately as in the year 1756, a book entitled, 
"The Miraculous Power of the Church of Christ, Asserted through each Sue- ' 
cessive Century, from the Apostles down to the Present Time; " and from thence 
the author draweth the conclusion, that the Catholic church is the true church 



SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 909 

of Christ. They must certainly "not receive the love of the truth, but have 
pleasure in unrighteousness," who can believe such fabulous and ridiculous 
legends, who hold it a mortal sin but to doubt of any article of their religion, 
who deny the free exercise of private judgment, who take away the free use of 
the Holy Scriptures, and so "shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, 
neither going in themselves, neither suffering them, who were entering in, to go 
in."— Dissert, XXII. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — It is hardly necessary to remark that the Papacy has 
always relied for support on its pretended miracles. Even in our own age the 
wonders performed by the Prince Hohenloe, and by the pretended seamless 
garment of the Saviour, have been proclaimed as true miracles, and as furnish- 
ing indubitable evidence of the truth of the Roman Catholic system. The dis- 
solving of the blood of St. Januarius, the removal of Pilate's stairs to Rome, and 
the transportation to Italy of the " House of our Lady," are among the miracles 
to which there is a constant reference in the Papal communion. In addition to 
these and to all similar pretensions, there is the power claimed of performing a 
miracle at the pleasure of the priest by the change of bread and wine into "the 
body and blood, the soul and divinity" of the Lord Jesus. The power of 
working miracles has been one of the standing claims of the Papacy. Lying won- 
ders — all deceivableness of unrighteousness. It would be impossible for language 
to describe them more clearly, in the apprehension of all Protestants, than is 
done in this language of the apostle Paul. — Note, in loco. 

Idem. — To any one acquainted with the decline and fall of the Roman Em- 
pire, nothing can be more manifest than the correspondence of the facts in 
history respecting the rise of the Papacy, and the statement of the apostle Paul 
here. The simple facts are these: i. There were early corruptions in the 
church at Rome, as there were elsewhere, but peculiarly there, as Rome was the 
seat of philosophy and of power. 2. There were great efforts made by the 
bishop of Rome to increase his authority, and there was a steady approximation 
to what he subsequently claimed — that of being universal bishop. 3. There 
was a constant tendency to yield to him deference and respect in all matters. 
4. This was kept in check as long as Rome was the seat of the imperial power. 
Had that power remained there, it would have been impossible for the Roman 
bishop ever to have obtained the civil and ecclesiastical eminence which he 
ultimately did. Rome could not have two heads, both claiming and exercising 
supreme power; and there never could have been "a revelation of the man 
of sin." 5. Constantine removed the seat of empire to Constantinople; and 
this removal or " taking away" of the only restraint on the ambitious projects 
of the Roman bishops, gave all the opportunity which could be desired for the 
growth of the Papal power. In all history there cannot, probably, be found a 
series of events corresponding more accurately with a prophetic statement than 
this. — Paul, therefore, must have been inspired. — Notes, in loco. 



First Timothy. 



AUTHENTICITY. 

I Timothy i: I, 2. — Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, . . . unto Timothy, my own son in the 

faith. 

Prof. Edward Hayes Plumtre, M. A. — The epistles to Timothy have been 
universally regarded as the productions of Paul. They are reckoned among the 
Pauline Epistles in the Muratorian Canon and the Pshito version. Eusebius 
places them among the books of the New Testament. They are cited as author- 
itative by Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Irenaeus. Quotations from 
them are found in Ignatius, Polycarp, and Theophilus of Antioch. Respecting 
the exact date of this epistle there are two opinions, one placing it in the year 
58 or 59, the other in 64 or 65. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3255. 

I Tim. i: 3. — As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, etc. 
See Acts xix: 1, etc. 

GENEALOGIES. 

I Tim. i : 4. — Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, 
rather than godly edifying which is in faith. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Fables — silly legends, of which no people ever possessed 
a greater stock than the Jews. Their Talmud abounds with them. — Endless 
genealogies — Herod destroyed the public registers of the Jews : he, being an 
Idumean, was jealous of the noble origin of the Jews ; and that none might be 
able to reproach him with his descent, he ordered the genealogical tables, which 
were kept among the archives in the temple, to be burnt (Euseb., I., 8). From 
this time the Jews could refer to their genealogies only from memory, or from 
those imperfect tables' which had been preserved in private hands ; and to make 
out any regular line from these, must have been endless and uncertain work. — 
Comm., in loco. 

Plutarch. — While we neglect and are ignorant of that which concerns our- 
selves we are continually searching into the genealogies of others, and can 
readily tell that our neighbor's grandfather was no better than a base and servile 
Syrian, and that his grandmother was a Thracian, — that such an one is in debt 
and owes three talents, and is in arrear moreover with his interest. We are 
inquisitive also in such matters as these — Whence came such an one's wife? 
what was it that such and such people talked of when they were alone together ? 
— De Curiosit., c. 2. 
(910) 



FIRST TIMOTHY II. 911 

THE LAW FOR EVIL DOERS. 

I Tim. i : 9. — The law is not made for a righteous man, etc. 
Aristotle. — The elegant and liberal man will so conduct himself, as if he 
were a law to himself. — Eth., IV., 8. 

PRAYER TO BE OFFERED FOR ALL. 

I Tim. ii : I, 2. — I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
giving of thanks be made for all men ; for kings, and for all that are in authority ; that we 
may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 

Cyprian. — We pray to God, not only for ourselves, but for all mankind, and 
particularly for the emperors. — Defence before Rom. Procon. 

Tertullian. — We pray for all the emperors, that God may grant them long 
life, a secure government, a prosperous family, vigorous troops, a faithful senate, 
an obedient people ; that the whole world may be in peace ; and that God may 
grant both to Caesar, and to every man the accomplishment of their just desires. 
— ApoL, c. 30. 

Origen. — We pray for kings and rulers, with their royal authority, they may 
be found possessing a wise and prudent mind. — Cont. CeL, VIII. 

PRAYER TO BE OFFERED EVERYWHERE. 

I Tim. ii : 8. — I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath 

and doubting. 

Cicero. — The best, the chastest, the most sacred and pious worship of the 
gods, is to reverence them always with a pure, perfect, and unpolluted mind and 
voice. — De Nat. Deor., II., 28. 

MODEST APPAREL. 

I Tim. ii : 9. — In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame- 

facedness and sobriety. 

Epictetus. — We ought to make women sensible that they are esteemed for 
nothing else but the appearance of a decent, and modest, and discreet behavior. 
—Euchir., 40. 

WOMAN'S PLACE AND DUTY. 

I Tim. ii: 11, 12. — Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a 
woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 

Plato. — If you wish to know the virtue of a woman, it is to manage well the 
affairs of her family, to keep safe the things in the house, and to hearken to her 
husband. — Men., c. III. 

Plilemon. — It is the part of a good wife, Nicostrate, not to be superior to 
her husband, but to obey him. A woman who rules her husband is a great evil. 
—Apud Stob. 

Plutarch. — Numa taught the Roman matrons to be sober, and accustomed 
them to silence. — Comp. Lycurg. c. Num., c. 3. 

Sophocles. — Woman, thy sex's noblest ornament is silence. — Ajax, v. 293. 
56 



912 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

APOSTACY FORETOLD AND DESCRIBED. 

I Tim. iv: 1-4. — Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypo- 
crisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding 
to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which 
believe and know the truth. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — Some shall depart from the faith, or rather, 
Some shall apostatize from the faith. The apostle had predicted the same thing 
before to the Thessalonians. It is not every error, or every heresy, that is 
"apostacy" from the faith. It is a revolt in the principal and essential article, 
when we worship God by an image or representation, or when we worship other 
beings besides God, and pray unto other mediators besides "the one Mediator 
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." This is the very essence of 
Christian worship, to worship the one true God through the one true Christ ; 
and to worship any other god, or any other mediator, is apostacy and rebellion 
against God and against Christ. 

Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, or rather, Giving heed to 
erroneous spirits and doctrines concerning demons (daimonion). This therefore is 
a prophecy that the idolatrous theology of demons professed by the Gentiles 
should be revived among Christians — that they should apostatize and worship 
demons. Demons, according to the theology of the Gentiles, were middle 
powers between the sovereign gods and mortal men. So saith Plato: "Every 
demon is a middle being between God and mortal man " (Plat. Sym., 28). So 
Apuieius : " Demons are middle powers, by whom both our desires and deserts 
pass unto the gods ; they are carriers between men on earth and the gods in 
heaven ; hence of prayers, thence of gifts \ they convey to and fro, hence peti- 
tions, thence supplies ; or they are interpreters on both sides, and bearers of 
salutations ; for it would not be for the majesty of the celestial gods to take care 
of these things." (De Deo Socr.) Of these demons there were accounted two 
kinds. One kind of demons were the souls of men deified or canonized after 
death. Thus Hesiod : "After they were dead, they were by the will of great 
Jupiter promoted to be demons, keepers of mortal men, observers of their good 
and evil works," etc. (Op. et Di., I., 120.) So also Plato: "When good men 
die, they attain great honor and dignity, and become demons" (Plat. Crat., 33). 
The other kind of demons were such as had never been the souls of men, nor 
ever dwelt in mortal bodies. Both Apuieius and Ammonius speak of these; 
thus the latter: "There are two kinds of demons, souls separated from bodies, 
or such as had never inhabited bodies at all." (Plut. de Defect Orac.) These 
latter demons may be paralleled with angels, as the former may with canonized 
saints; and as we Christians believe that there are good and evil angels, so did 
the heathen that there were good and evil demons. — Here St. Paul foretells that 
Christians, in the latter times, should attend to doctrines concerning demons. 
Christians never actually worshipped the evil ones, or devils, but they did come 
to worship demons } deceased men and women and angels. 



FIRST TIMOTHY IV. 913 

Even in the days of the apostle there appeared the beginnings of "a voluntary 
humility and worshipping of angels." But the worshipping of the dead was not 
introduced so early into the church ; it was advanced by slow degrees ; and 
what was at first nothing more than a pious and decent respect to the memory 
of saints and martyrs, degenerated at last into an impious and idolatrous adora- 
tion. At first annual festivals were instituted to their honor ; the next step was 
praying in the cemeteries at their sepulchres ; then their bodies were translated 
into the churches ; then the power of working miracles was attributed to their 
dead bodies, bones, and other relics; then their wonder-working relics were 
conveyed from place to place, and distributed among other churches; then they 
were invocated and adored for performing such miracles, for assisting men in 
their devotions, and interceding for them with God ; and not only the churches, 
but even the fields and highways were filled with altars for invoking them. 

Epiphanius, a Father of the fourth century, who was very zealous against the 
worship of saints and images, which was then springing up in the church, loudly 
complains of some Christians, who made a goddess of the blessed Virgin, and 
offered a cake to her as to the queen of heaven. He condemns their heresy as 
impious and abominable, and declares that "upon these also is fulfilled that 
of the apostle, Some shall apostatize from the sowid doctrine, giving heed to fables 
and doctrines of dei?ions ; for they shall be, saith the apostle, worshippers of the 
dead, as in Israel also they were worshipped. " It is observable that this writer 
explains as well as recites the words of the apostle (Epiph. adv. Haer., 78,23). 

Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscie?ice seared with a hot iron. The 
great apostacy of the latter times was to prevail through the hypocrisy of liars ; 
and hath not the great idolatry of Christians, and the worship of the dead par- 
ticularly, been diffused and advanced in the world by such instruments and 
agents, who have "changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and 
served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever ? " It is 
impossible to relate or enumerate all the various falsehoods and lies which have 
been invented and propagated for this purpose ; the fabulous books forged under 
the names of apostles, saints and martyrs ; the fabulous legends of their lives, 
actions, sufferings and deaths ; the fabulous miracles ascribed to their sepulchres, 
bones, and other relics ; the fabulous dreams and revelations, visions and ap- 
paritions of the dead to the living ; and even the fabulous saints, who never 
existed but in the imagination of their worshippers. And all these stories the 
monks, the priests', the bishops of the church, have imposed and obtruded upon 
mankind, it is difficult to say whether with greater artifice or cruelty, with 
greater confidence or hypocrisy and pretended sanctity, a more hardened face 
or a more hardened conscience. The history of the church, saith Pascal, is the 
history of truth ; but, as written by bigoted Papists, it is rather the history of lies. 
So well doth this prophecy coincide and agree with that in Thessalonians that 
the coming of the man of sin should be "after the working of Satan, with 
all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of un- 
righteousness." 



914 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Forbidding to marry. This error also had an early origin. Saturninus, in 
the second century, declared matrimony to be an evil. Tatian and Marcion 
concurred in his opinion. The followers of these became known by the name 
of Continents, from their continence in regard to marriage and meats. The 
Gnostics asserted that to marry and beget children proceeded from the devil, 
and taught that men ought not to bring into the world other unhappy persons, 
nor supply food for death. The Council of Eliberis, in Spain, a. d. 305, for- 
bade the clergy to marry, and commanded even those who were married to 
abstain altogether from their wives. The Council of Neocsesarea, a. d. 314, for- 
bade unmarried presbyters to marry on the penalty of degradation. The monks 
soon after overspread the eastern church, and the western, too: and as che 
monks were the first who brought single life into repute, so they were the first 
also who revived and promoted the worship of demons. It is a thing univer- 
sally known, that one of the primary and most essential laws and constitutions 
of all monks, whether solitary or associated, whether living in deserts or in 
convents, is the profession of single life, to abstain from marriage themselves, 
and to discourage it all they can in others. And the monks and priests and 
bishops of the Church of Rome, at the present time, do not they also profess 
and recommend single life, as well as the worship of saints and angels? The 
celibacy of the clergy was fully decreed by Gregory VII. in the eleventh cen- 
tury ; and this has been the universal law and practice of the church ever 
since. 

Co??imanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with 
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. As we learn from 
Irenaeus, the ancient heretics called Continents, who taught that matrimony was 
not to be contracted, introduced abstinence also from animal food. It is as much 
the law and constitution of all monks to abstain from meats as from marriage. 
Frequent fasts are the rule, the boast of their order. But this idle, popish, 
monkish, abstinence is as unworthy of a Christian, as it is unnatural to a man. 
— Dissertations on the Prophecies, No. XXIII. 

Council of Trent. — It is good and useful to supplicate the saints, and to fly 
to their prayers, power, and aid ; but they who deny that the saints are to 
be invoked, or who assert that they do not pray for men, or that their invocation 
of them is idolatry, hold an impious opinion. — Sess., 25. 

Prayer before Mass.— In union with the holy church and its minister, and 
invoking the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and all the'angels and saints, 
we now offer the adorable sacrifice of the mass, etc. 

General Confession.— I confess to Almighty God, to the blessed Mary, 
ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to 
the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the saints, that I have sinned 
exceedingly. 

Council of Trent. —Whosoever shall say that the marriage state is to be 
preferred to a state of virginity, or celibacy, and that it is not better and more 
blessed to remain in virginity, or celibacy, than to be joined in marriage ; let 
him be accursed. — Tenth Article, on Marriage. 



FIRST TIMOTHY IV. 915 

Catechism.— It is strictly forbidden by the church to eat flesh meat on days 
of abstinence. To eat flesh meat on any day on which it is forbidden, without 
necessity and leave of the church, is very sinful. — Dr. Butler's Catech. 

Ibid. — The abstinence on Saturday is dispensed with, for the faithful through- 
out the United States, for the space of ten years (from 1833 to 1843) except 
when a Fast falls on a Saturday. The use of flesh meat is allowed at present 
by dispensation, in the diocese of Philadelphia, on all the Sundays of Lent, 
except Palm Sunday, and once a day on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in 
each week, except the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, and also excepting 

Holy Week. 

GODLINESS PROFITABLE. 

I Tim. iv: 8. — Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, 

and of that which is to come. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — The man that fears, loves, and serves God, has God's 
blessing all through his life. His religion saves him from all those excesses 
both in action and passion, which sap the foundations of life, and render 
existence itself often a burden. The peace and love of God in the heart, 
produce a serenity and calm which cause the lamp of life to burn clear, strong, 
and permanent. Evil and disorderly passions obscure and stifle the vital spark. 
Every truly religious man extracts the utmost good out of life itself; and, through 
the Divine blessing, gets the uttermost good that is in life; and, what is better 
than all, acquires a full preparation here below, for an eternal life of glory above. 
Thus godliness has the promise of, and secures the blessings of, both worlds. — 
Comm., in loco. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Godliness — piety or religion — is profitable unto all 
things — in every respect. There is not an interest of man, in reference to this 
life, or to the life to come, which it would not promote. It is favorable to 
health of body, by promoting temperance, industry, and frugality ; to clearness 
and vigor of intellect, by giving just views of truth, and of the relative value of 
objects; to peace of conscience, by leading to the faithful performance of duty; 
to prosperity in business, by making a man sober, honest, prudent, and 
industrious ; to a good name, by leading a man to pursue such a course of life as 
shall deserve it ; and to comfort in trial, calmness in death, and immortal peace 
beyond the grave. — Note, in loco. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — The influence of the Christian Religion on nations is 
not less evident and happy than on individuals. Wherever it has been received, 
it has brought with it superior light, and has completely banished the absurd 
systems of polytheism and pagan idolatry, with all the cruel and obscene rites 
with which they were accompanied ; and in their place, has substituted a system 
of doctrine and practice, both pure and rational. When it made its way 
through the Roman empire, it abolished the unnatural practice of polygamy and 
concubinage, reduced the number of divorces,, and mitigated the rigor of 
servitude, which among that people was cruel and severe. Polished and polite,- 
as the Romans have been generally considered, they indulged in the most 



916 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

barbarous entertainments. They delighted to behold men combating with wild 
beasts and with one another ; and we are informed by respectable historians, 
that the fights of gladiators sometimes deprived Europe of 20,000 lives in one 
month. Neither the humanity of Titus, nor the wisdom and virtue of Trajan, 
could abolish these barbarous spectacles, till the gentle and humane spirit of the 
Gospel put a final period to such savage practices, and they can never again 
be resumed in any nation where its light is diffused, and its authority 
acknowledged. It humanized the barbarous hordes that overturned the 
Roman empire, and softened their ferocious tempers, as soon as they embraced 
its principles and yielded to its influence. It civilized, and raised from moral and 
intellectual degradation, the wild Irish, and our forefathers the ancient Britons, 
who were classed among the rudest of barbarians till the time they were 
converted to the religion of Jesus ; so that the knowledge we now see diffused 
around us, the civilization to which we have advanced, the moral order which 
prevails, the beauties which adorn our cultivated fields, the comforts and 
decorations connected with our cities and towns, and the present improved state 
of the arts and sciences, may all be considered as so many of the beneficial 
effects which the Christian religion has produced among us. In our own times, 
we have beheld effects no less powerful and astonishing, in the moral revolution 
which Christianity has lately produced in Tahiti, in the Sandwich Islands, in 
Madagascar, and in many other parts of the world — where races of the most 
degraded character and condition, have been enlightened, and transformed into 
civilized societies, worshipping the true and living God, and rejoicing in the hope 
of a blessed immortality. In fine, Christianity is adapted to every country and 
every clime. Its doctrines and precepts are equally calculated to promote the 
happiness of princes and subjects, statesmen and philosophers, the high and the 
low, the rich and the poor. It is completely adapted to the nature and 
necessities of men. It forbids the use of nothing but what is injurious to health 
of body or peace of mind, and it has a tendency to promote a friendly and 
affectionate intercourse among men of all nations. And we do not think it 
possible that the mind of man can receive a more convincing demonstration of 
the truth of Christianity than is set before us in the authentic facts on which it 
rests, in its tendency to produce universal happiness, and in the intrinsic 
excellence for which it is distinguished. — Improveme?it of Society, Sect. IX. 

STEADFASTNESS IN FAITH AND PRACTICE. 

I Tim. iv: 16. — Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing 
this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. 

Maximus Tyrius. — The good man, persevering in his goodness, both saves 
himself, and brings others to a better mind. — Diss., 5. 

PROVISION FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. 

I Tim. v: 8. — But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he 
hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 



FIRST TIMOTHY VI. 9J7 

Galgacus.— Nature dictates that to every one, his own children and relatives 
should be most dear. — In Tacitus. 

Cicero. — Every man should take care of his own family. — Ad Capt. 

I Tim. v : 18. — Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. 

See i Cor. ix: 9. 

I Tim. vi : 1. — Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of 

all honor, etc. 

See Eph. vi : 5. 

GODLINESS AND CONTENTMENT. 

I Tim. vi: 6. — Godliness with contentment is great gain. 

See chap, iv : 8. 

Seneca. — I can never think him a poor man who has still enough, however 
small a portion it may be, wherewith to be content. — Epist., I. 

I Tim. vi : 7. — For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing 

out. 

Seneca. — No man is born rich ; every one that comes into the world is com- 
manded to be content with food and raiment. — Epist. , 20. 

Idem. — Nature, in returning, shakes off all encumbrances as in entering; thou 
canst not carry back more than thou broughtest in. — Epist., 2. 

Phocylides. — There is no such thing as carrying riches to Hades and 
enjoying them there. — Phocyl., v. 104 

THE LOVE OF MONEY. 

I Tim. vi : 10. — The love of money is the root of all evil. 
Phocylides. — The love of money is the mother of every ill ; gold and silver 
have always been a snare to men. O gold, chief source of ills, corrupter of 
life, that turneth all things upside down ! — Phocyl., v. 37. 
Anacreon. — Gold breaks through every sacred tie, 
And bids a friend or brother die ; 
The fruitful source of kindred strife, 
Gold would not spare a parent's life. 
Long wars and murders, crimes untold 
All spring from cursed thirst of gold. — Anac, carm. 46. 
Juvenal. — Not any vice that taints the human soul, 

More frequent points the sword, or drugs the bowl, 

Than the dire lust of an untamed estate — 

Since he who covets wealth disdains to wait : 

Law threatens, conscience calls, yet on he hies, 

And this he silences, and that defies ; 

Fear, shame — he bears down all, and with loose rein, 

Sweeps headlong o'er the alluring paths of gain. 

— Sat. XIV., v. 173 



918 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

I Tim. vi: II. — But thou, O man of God, flee these things. 
Lucian. — He thought that he who taught that riches were to be despised, 
ought first to show himself superior to the love of gain. — Nigr., c. 25. 

THE GOOD FIGHT. 

I Tim. vi: 12. — Fight the good fight of faith. 

Plato. — Great is the contest, great beyond all appearance, to become a good 
man.— De Rep., X., 8. 

VAIN PHILOSOPHY. 

I Tim. vi : 20, 21. — Avoiding profane and vain babblings, and opposition of science falsely so 
called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith. 

Prof. Pritchard, Oxford. — There is no need to be frightened at the phan- 
toms raised by such terms as matter, and force, and molecules, and protoplasmic 
energy, and rhythmic vibrations of the brain ; there are no real terrors in a philos- 
ophy which affirms the conceivability that two and two might possibly make five ; 
or in that which predicates that an infinite number of straight lines constitute a 
finite surface; or that which denies all evidence of a design in nature; or in 
that which assimilates the motives which induce a parent to support his offspring 
to the pleasures derived from wine and music ; or in that which boldly asserts the 
unknowableness of the Supreme, and the vanity of prayer. Surely, philosophies 
which involve results such as these have no permanent grasp on human nature ; 
they are in themselves suicidal, and, in their turn, after their brief day, will, like 
other philosophies, be refuted or denied by the next comer, and are doomed to 
accomplish the happy despatch. — Address on Science and Religion before the 
Church Ccttgtess, at Brighton, England. 



Second Timothy. 



AUTHENTICITY. 



2 Tim. i : 1, 2. — Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God ... to Timothy my dearly 

beloved son. 

See 1 Tim. i : 1,2. 

Dr. John Kitto. — The second epistle to Timothy unites not fewer proofs in 
favor of its Pauline origin than the first epistle. — Introduction to Efiist. 

LIFE AND IMMORTALITY REVEALED. 

2 Tim. i : 10. — Who.hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — It is not meant that there were no intimations of this 



SECOND TIMOTHY III. 919 

truth before ; but that Christ removed all doubt and ambiguity on the subject. 
The ideas of the wisest of the heathen respecting a future life were very obscure, 
and their hopes very faint. Seneca says of it, " that which our wise men do 
promise, but do not prove." (Epist., 102.) And Cicero alluding to the different 
sentiments of philosophers concerning the matter, says, "Which of these 
opinions is true, some god must tell us; which is most like to truth, is a great 
question." Of the resurrection and future life of the body, they had no concep- 
tion whatever. With what propriety, then, may it be said that these doctrines 
were brought to light through the Gospel. — Notes, in loco. 

THE TRUE SOLDIER. 

2 Tim. ii : 4. — No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. 
Grotius. — Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, or to engage in any 
husbandry or trade ; and they were forbidden to act as tutors to any person, or 
curators to any man's estate, or proctors in the cause of other men : and all this, 
lest such engagements and relations should divert their minds from that which 
was to be the sole object of pursuit. — In loco. 

STRIVING LAWFULLY. 

2 Tim. ii: 5. — And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive 

lawfully. 

Pausanias. — Every competitor in the athletic contests, before he was entered 
upon the list, was obliged to take an oath that he would violate none of the reg- 
ulations, and if afterwards he did violate any one regulation, it debarred him from 
the prize, even though victorious. — Eliaca. 

GENTLENESS AND PATIENCE. 

2 Tim. ii : 24, 25. — And the servant of the Lord must not strive ; but be gentle unto all men, apt 
to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure 
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. 

Plato. — How can one in mild terms admonish and teach those who deny 
that the gods have any existence, and that too without a single sufficient reason ? 
Let us however make the attempt : for there is no reason why they should be 
mad after pleasure, and we should be so too with anger against them. Let our 
addresses to persons of this kind, therefore, be kind and passionless, and let us 
speak mildly, repressing our anger, conversing with them thus — "My child, you 
are young : but time, as it advances, will cause you to change your opinions, 
etc." — De Leg., X., 3. 

2 Tim. iii : 1. — This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 

See 2 Thess. ii : 1-12, and 1 Tim. iv: 1-3. 

INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 

2 Tim. iii: 16, 17. — All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness : that the man of God may be per- 
fect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — This properly refers to the Old Testament ; and it is 
the solemn testimony of Paul that it was all inspired. — Note, in loco. 



920 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — And, finally, I may state, as 
the conclusion of the whole matter, that the Bible contains within itself all that 
under God is required to account for and dispose of all forms of infidelity, 
and to turn to the best and highest uses all that man can learn of nature ; if 
only its truths can be presented in an intelligent and loving manner, and by the 
lips of men themselves animated by the Divine Spirit, whose inspiration speaks 
in the Sacred Scriptures. — Nature and the Bible, p. 221. 

READY TO BE OFFERED. 

2 Tim. iv : 6. — I am now ready to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand. 
Lucan. — In war, in dangers, oft it has been known, 

That fear has driven the headlong coward on ; 
Give me the man, whose cooler soul can wait 
With patience for the proper hour of fate. — Phars., VII., 103. 

THE FAITH KEPT. 

[ 2 Tim. iv : 7. — I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 

Epictetus. — The champions in this greatest of combats must not grow 
weary, but be content to bear suffering. For this is no combat of wrestling or 
boxing, where both he who succeeds and he who succeeds not may be equal in 
worth, or equal in misery; but a combat for good fortune and for happiness 
itself. — Epict., lib. 25. 

Seneca. — Life is a warfare : such men therefore who are ordered from place, 
who undergo all manner of difficulties in the execution of the most dangerous 
commissions, are the brave men and chiefs in the army. — Epist., 94. 

THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

2 Tim. iv : 8. — Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous judge, shall give me at that day. 

Plutarch. — To Lyeurgus whose performances were so illustrious, the conclu- 
sion of life was the crown of happiness. — Lycurg., c. 29, 

Dr. John Kitto. — The soldiers and officers of the Roman army received 
various rewards, proportionate to their merit. The greatest of all rewards was 
the civic crown of oak-leaves, given to one who had saved the life of a citizen. 
The honorary crowns were usually conferred by the general in the presence of 
the army, and such as received them, after a public eulogium on their valor, 
were placed next to his person. All this seems strikingly illustrative of the 
comparison used by the apostle, and points its applications. — Pict. Bib. in loco. 



Titus. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 

Titus i : I. — Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, ... to Titus, mine own son 

after the common faith. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — The direct external evidence in favor of the 
authenticity and genuineness of this epistle is as firm and complete as that 
of the other pastoral epistles, if not more so. Nothing can well be more ex- 
plicit than the quotations from it in Irenaeus, in Clemens Alexandrinus, in Ter- 
tullian, to say nothing of earlier allusions in Justin Martyr and Theophilus. 
Internally also the Epistle to Titus has all the characteristics of the other pas- 
toral epistles. All this tends to show that this letter was written about the 
same time and under similar circumstances with the other two. While, on the 
other hand, this epistle has marks in its phraseology and style which assimilate 
it to the general body of the epistles of St. Paul. — Smith's Did. of Bible, p. 
3268. 

GOD CANNOT LIE. 

Titus i : 2. — God, that cannot lie. 
Plato. — What then does the god mean? for he does not speak falsely; that it 
is impossible for him to do. — Apol. Socr., c. 6. 

Titus i; 5. — For this cause left I thee in Crete, etc. 
See Acts xxvii : 7. 

CHARACTER OF THE CRETIANS. 

Titus i: 12. — One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always 

liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This was Epimenides, who was reckoned by many the 
seventh wise man of Greece. By the Cretans he was reputed a prophet; 
Diogenes Laertius mentions some of his prophecies. The words quoted here 
by the apostle, according to St. Jerome and others, are taken from a work of 
Epimenides, now no longer extant, and form this hexameter verse : 

The Cretans are always liars ; destructive wild beasts ; sluggish gluttons. 
Ovid. — I sing of things well known. Crete, with the hundred cities, how- 
ever fond of lying, cannot deny this. — De art. amand., L, 297. 
Callimachus. — The Cretans, always liars, vaunt in vain, 

And impious built thy tomb on Dicte's plain. 

—■Hymn injov., v. 8. 
(921) 



922 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Cicero. — And what a bench will it be, O ye good gods ! A Cretan judge, 
and he the most worthless of men. Whom can a defendant employ to pro- 
pitiate him? He comes of a hard nation. — Phil., V., 5. 

Titus ii : 9. — Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, etc. 
See Eph. vi: 5. 

THAT BLESSED HOPE. 

Titus ii : 13. — Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and 

our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Plato. — Excellent the contest ; great the hope ! — Phcedo, c. 63. 

Cicero. — These opinions do indeed bring us hope, if it is any pleasure to you 
to think that souls, after they leave the body, may go to heaven as to a per- 
manent home. I have great pleasure in that thought, and it is what I most 
desire. — Disp. Tuse., I., 11. 

Titus iii : 9. — But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, etc. 
See 1 Tim. i : 4. 

NICOPOLIS. 

Titus iii: 12. — Be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis, for I have determined there to winter. 

Dr. John Saul Howson. — There were several cities of the name of Nicopolis; 
but that here intended doubtless was the celebrated Nicopolis of Epirus, built 
by Augustus in memory of the battle of Actium, and on the ground occupied by 
his army before the engagement. This was on a peninsula to the west of the 
bay of Actium, what is now a low and unhealthy situation, and a very desolate 
place. The remains have been often described. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 
2147. 



Philemon. 



GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE. 

Verse I. — Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly 

beloved, and fellow-laborer. 

Prof. Horatio Balch Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — The date of this epistle 
may be fixed with much precision ; it was written in the year 63, or early in 
64. Nothing is wanting to confirm the genitine?iess of this epistle. The exter- 
nal testimony is unimpeachable. It is not quoted so often by the earlier Chris- 
tian Fathers as some of the other letters; its brevity, and the fact that its 
contents are not didactic or polemic, account for that omission. The Canon 
of Muratori, which comes to us from the second century, enumerates this as 
one of Paul's epistles. Tertullian mentions it, and says that Marcion admitted 
it into his collection. Origen and Eusebius include it among the universally 



PHILEMON. 923 

acknowledged writings of the early Christian times. It is so well attested, his- 
torically, that, as Dr. Wette says, its genuineness on that ground is beyond 
doubt. It will be found also that all the historical allusions which the apostle 
makes to events in his own life, or to other persons with whom he was con- 
nected, harmonize perfectly with the statements or incidental intimations con- 
tained in the Acts of the Apostles, or other epistles of Paul. — Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 2483. 

Dr. Doddridge. — It is impossible to read over this admirable epistle without 
being touched with the delicacy of sentiment and the masterly address that 
appear in every part of it. We see here, in a most striking light, how perfectly 
consistent true politeness is — not only with all the warmth and sincerity of a 
friend, but even with the dignity of the Christian and the apostle. And if this 
letter were to be considered in no other view than as a mere human composi- 
tion, it must be allowed to be a masterpiece in its kind. As an illustration of 
this remark, it may not be improper to compare it with an epistle of Pliny, that 
seems to have been written on a similar occasion; which, though penned by one 
that was reckoned to excel in the epistolary style, though it has undoubtedly 
many beauties, yet' must be acknowledged by every impartial reader vastly in- 
ferior to this animated composition of the apostle. — In loco. 

Caius Pliny to Sabinianus, Health. 

Thy freedman, with whom thou didst say thou wert incensed, came to me, 
and having thrown himself at my feet, grasped them as if they had been thine. 
He wept much ; he plead much ; and yet pleaded more by his silence. In short, 
he fully convinced me that he was a penitent. I do sincerely believe that he 
is reformed, because he perceives that he has done wrong. I know that thou 
art incensed against him; and I know also that thou art justly so; but then 
clemency has its chief praise when there is the greatest cause for anger. Thou 
hast loved the man ; and I hope that thou wilt love him again. In the mean- 
time it may suffice that thou dost suffer thyself to be entreated for him. It will 
be right for thee again to be offended if he deserves it; because, having allowed 
thyself to be entreated, you will do it with greater propriety. 

Forgive something for his youth ; forgive on account of his tears ; forgive on 
account of thine own kindness : do not torment him ; do not torment thyself — 
for thou wilt be tormented when thou, who art of so gentle a disposition, dost 
suffer thyself to be angry-. I fear, if I should unite my prayers to his, that I 
should seem not to ask, but to compel. Yet I will write them, and the more 
largely and earnestly, too, as I have sharply and severely reproved him; solemnly 
threatening him, should he offend again, never more to intercede for him. 
This I said to him, because it was necessary to alarm him ; but I will not say 
the same to thee. For perhaps I may again entreat thee, and again obtain, if 
now that shall be done which it is fit that I should ask and you concede. 
Farewell. — Epistolar, lib. ix. ; ep. 21. 



924 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ONESIMUS ONCE A SLAVE. 

Verse 16. — Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D., LL. D. — Onesimus was a native of Colossae in 
Phrygia. Slaves were numerous in that region, and the name itself of Phrygia 
was almost synonymous with that of slave. Hence it happened that in writing 
to the Colossians, Paul had occasion to instruct them concerning the duties of 
masters and servants to each other. Qnesimus was one of this unfortunate 
class. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2252. 

UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCE. 

Verses 23, 24. — There salute thee Epaphras, my fellcw-prisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, 
Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow-laborers. 

Dr. William Paley. — As the letter to Philemon, and that to the Colossians, 
were written at the same time, and sent by the same messenger, the one to a 
particular inhabitant, the other to the church of Colosse, it may be expected 
that the same or nearly the same persons would be about St. Paul, and join 
with him, as was the practice, in the salutations of the epistle. Accordingly we 
find the name of Aristarchus, Marcus, Epaphras, Luke and Demas in both 
epistles. Timothy, who is joined with St. Paul in the superscription of the 
epistle to the Colossians, is joined with him in this. Tychicus did not salute 
Philemon, because he accompanied the epistle to Colosse, and would undoubtedly 
there see him. — If ores Paulinas, c. XIII., No. 2. 



Hebrews. 



AUTHOR OF THE EPISTLE. 

Rev. William T. Bullock, M. A. — During the first century after this epistle 
was written, there was not one dissentient voice respecting its canonical 
authority: it was received by Clement, writing from Rome; by Justin Martyr, 
familiar with the traditions of Italy and Asia ; by his contemporaries, Pinytus 
the Cretan bishop, and the predecessors of Clement and Origen at Alexandria ; 
and by the compilers of the Peshito version of the New Testament. Afterwards 
a temporary doubt concerning its authorship arose in some of the Latin 
churches. The church of Jerusalem, as the original receiver of the epistle, was 
the depository of that oral testimony on which both its authorship and canonical 
authority rested, and was the fountain-head of information which satisfied the 
Eastern and Greek churches. But the church of Jerusalem was early hidden , 
in exile and obscurity. And Palestine, after the destruction of Jerusalem, 
became unknown ground to that class of " dwellers in Libya about Cyrene, and 
strangers of Rome," who once maintained close religious intercourse with it. 



HEBREWS I. 925 

All these considerations may help to account for the fact that the Latin churches 
hesitated to receive this epistle, for a time. All the rest of orthodox 
Christendom from the beginning was agreed upon the canonical authority of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews. No Greek or Syriac writer ever expressed a doubt. 
It was acknowledged in various public documents ; received by the framers of 
the Apostolic Constitutions, a. d. 250 ; quoted in the epistle of the Synod of 
Antioch, a. d. 269 ; appealed to by the debaters in the first Council of Nice, 
a. d. 325 ; included in that catalogue of canonical books which was added 
to the canons of the Council of Laodicea, a. d. 365 ; and sanctioned by the 
Quinisextine Council at Constantinople, a. d. 692. The canonical authority 
of the Epistle to the Hebrews is then secure, so far as it can be established by 
the tradition of Christian churches. The doubts which affected it were 
admitted in remote places, or in the failure of knowledge, or under the pressure 
of times of intellectual excitement; and they have disappeared before full 
information and calm judgment. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1023. 

Hebrews i: 10. — Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the 
heavens are the works of thine hands. 

See Gen. i : 1 ; and Psm. cii : 25. 

CREATION'S CHANGE AND DISSOLUTION. 

Heb. i: II, 12. — They shall perish, but thou remainest: and they shall wax old as doth a 
garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art 
the same, and thy years shall not fail. 

Sir William Thomson.— i. There is at present, in the material world, a 
universal tendency to the dissipation of mechanical energy. 2. Any restoration 
of mechanical energy, without more than equivalent dissipation, is impossible 
to inanimate material processes, and is probably never effected by means of or- 
ganized matter, either endowed with vegetable life or subjected to the will of 
an animated creature. 3. Within a finite period of time past, the earth must 
havebeen, and within a finite period of time to come, the earth must again be, 
unfit for habitation of man as at present constituted, unless operations have been, 
or are to be, performed, which are impossible under the laws to which the 
known operations going on at present in the material world are subject. — 
Transactions of the Royal Society, 1852. 

Dr. William Fraser.— Inexorable fact and demonstration have not only 
dissipated perpetually recurrent theories as to the eternity of the present mate- 
rial system, but furnished presumptive evidence of a new and higher order of 
existences. These remarkable conclusions not only confirm the Bible declara- 
tion as to a commencement, but with prophetic directness they sustain its delin- 
eations of change and dissolution, and of the establishment of new heavens and 
anew earth. — Blending Lights, p. 25. 

MINISTERING ANGELS. 

Heb. i : 14.— Are they not ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs 

of salvation ? 



926 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Hesiod. — Earth hovering spirits they their charge began, 

The ministers of good, and guards of men; 

Mantled with mists of darkening air they glide, 

And compass earth and pass on every side, 

And mark with earnest vigilance of eyes, 

Where just deeds live, or crooked wrongs arise ; 

And shower the wealth of seasons from above, 

Their kingly office, delegate from Jove. — Oper. et Dies, v. 121. 

Plutarch. — There is a third kind of providence, viz., that of the angels 

(daimonid), who are placed and ordained about the earth, as superintendents, to 

observe and watch over the deeds of men. — De Fat., c. 9. 

t 
Heb. ii : 6. — What is man that thou art mindful of him, etc. 

See Psm. viii : 3, 4. 

Pleb. ii ; 8. — Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. 

See Gen. i : 28. 

FEAR OF DEATH. » 

Heb. ii : 15. — And delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject 

to bondage. 

Gibbon. — The writings of Cicero represent in the most lively colors the ig- 
norance, the errors, and the uncertainty of the ancient philosophers with regard 
to the immortality of the soul. . . Since therefore the most sublime efforts of phi- 
losophy can extend no farther than feebly to point out the desire, the hope, or, 
at most, the probability, of a future state, there is nothing, except a divine rev- 
elation, that can ascertain the existence, and describe the condition, of the in- 
visible country which is destined to receive the souls of men after their separation 
from the body. — Decline and Fall, Chap. XV. 

Shakspeare. — Who would fardels bear, 

To grunt and sweat under a weary life ; 

But that the dread of something after death, — 

The undiscovered country from whose bourne 

No traveller returns, — puzzles the will ; 

And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 

Than fly to others that we know not of. 

Thus- conscience does make cowards of us all. — Hamlet. 

FELLOW-FEELING, 

Heb. ii: 18. — For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them 

that are tempted. 

Virgil. — For I myself like you have been distressed, 
Till heaven afforded me this place of rest : 
Like you, an alien in a land unknown, 
I learn to pity woes so like my own. — s£n., I., 628. 



HEBREWS IX. 927 

THE HONOR DUE THE MASTER BUILDER. 

Heb. iii : 3, 4. — For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he 
who hath buiided the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded 
by some man ; but he that built all things is God. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The architect is worthy of more respect than the 
house he has made. He exhibits intellect and skill ; the house, however splen- 
did, has neither. The plan of the house was drawn by him ; its beauty, its 
proportions, its ornaments, are what he made them, and but for him they would 
not have existed. Michael Angelo was worthy of more honor than St. Peter's at 
Rome ; and Sir Christopher Wren worthy of more than St. Paul's at London. 
Galileo is worthy of more praise than the Telescope, and Fulton more than a 
Steant-engine. All the evidence of skill and adaptedness that there is in the 
invention had its origin in the inventor ; all the beauty of the statue or the 
temple had its origin in the mind of him that designed it. An author is wor- 
thy of more honor than a book ; and he that forms a work of art is worthy of 
more respect than the work itself. — Now, He that built all things is God! — 
Note, in loco. 

FAITH NECESSARY TO PROFIT. 

Heb. iv : 2. — The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that 

heard it. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — How can a man be profited by the records of history 
if he does not believe them ? How can he be benefited by the truths of science 
if he does not believe them ? So of the knowledge of salvation. — Note, in loco. 

ALL NAKED AND OPEN TO GOD. 

Heb. iv: 13. — Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are 
naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 

Hesiod. — Jove's all-seeing and all-knowing eye 

Discerns at pleasure things that hidden lie. — Op. et. Z>i., v. 265. 
Plutarch. — God is not ignorant of the nature and disposition of every man. 
— De ser. num. vind., c. 20. 

Epictetus. — God sees and hears every thought. — Epict, II., 8. 
Lucian. — Man may not see thee do an impious deed ; 

But God thy very inmost thought can read. — Phil., ep. 9. 

MILK FOR CHILDREN. 

Heb. v: 12. — Ye are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat. 
Epictetus.— Will you not be weaned from your milk like children, and adapt 
yourselves for strong meat }— Epict., II., 16. 

ALL MUST DIE. 

Heb. ix : 27. — It is appointed unto men once to die. 
Seneca. — All mankind, whoever are,or shall be, are condemned to die. All 
57 



928 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

those flourishing cities that have the world at command, and all the greatness 
and splendor of foreign empires, in whatever part of the globe, shall one day 
fall into various kind of ruins and be no more. Why then should I complain 
or be grieved, if I precede the general fate of things by a few moments ? — 
Epist., 71. 

THE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY. 

Heb. x : 25. — Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; 
but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

Pliny. — Those who confessed that they had once been Christians, but had 
abandoned that profession, asserted at the same time that this had been the sum 
of their fault or error, namely, that they were accustomed to meet together on 
a certain day before the dawn, to repeat alternately among themselves hymns to 
Christ as God, and to bind themselves by an oath, not to any evil purpose, but 
that they would not be guilty of theft, robbery, adultery, or dishonesty ; which 
being done, they departed, but assembled again to eat food in common, and in 
an harmless manner. — Epistle to Trajan. 

FAITH INDISPENSABLE. 

Heb. xi : 6. — Without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must 
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 

Seneca. — The first step to the right worship of God is to believe that there 
is a God. And next, to ascribe to him all majesty, and goodness, without 
which true majesty cannot subsist ; - to know likewise that it is he who governs 
the world and presides over the universe as his own, who hath taken mankind 
in general under his protection, and on some is pleased to bestow particular 
favor. He can neither do nor suffer evil. — Epist., 95. 

Heb. xi : 7. — By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, 
prepared an ark to the saving of his house. 

See Gen. vi: 5, etc. 

STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS. 

Heb. xi; 13. — Confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

Plutarch. — Empedocles showeth that all men are but strangers, passengers, 
foreigners, and exiles in the world. — De Ext'/., c. 18. 

FIRM ENDURANCE. 

Heb. xi : 35. — Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. 
Seneca. — Why do you wonder at my saying, that some rejoice in being 
burned, wounded, bound in chains, and slain, nay, that sometimes they have 
made it their choice. — Epist., 71. 

Heb. xi : 37. — They were sawn asunder. 

Aristophanes. — May I perish, and be sawn in two. — Equit., v. 765. 



HEBREWS XIII. 929 

IGNOMINY OF THE CROSS. 

Heb. xii : 2. — Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. 

Gibbon. — An instrument of the tortures which were inflicted only on slaves 
and strangers, became an object of horror in the eyes of a Roman citizen ; and 
the ideas of guilt, of pain, and of ignominy, were closely united with the idea 
of the cross. — Decline and Fall, c. xx. 

Cicero. — In the middle of the forum of Messana, a Roman citizen, O judges, 
was beaten with rods; and a cross, a cross, I say, was prepared for him. — In 
Verr. VI., 62. 

Idem. — Even if death be threatened, we may die freemen ; but the execu- 
tioner, and the veiling of the head, and the very name of the cross should be 
far removed, not only from the persons of Roman citizens, but from their 
thoughts, and eyes, and ears ; the bare possibility of being exposed to these 
things, the mere mention of them is unworthy of a Roman citizen and of a 
freeman. — Pro. Rab., c. 5. 

DIVINE CHASTISEMENT. 

Heb. xii: 6. — Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth eveiy son whom hereceiveth. 

Maximus Tyrius. — To all these wanderings and sufferings the Divinity 
exposed him with benevolent intentions. These exercises were assigned to him 
by a divine allotment, through which he both was, and appeared to be, a worthy 
man. — Diss., 22. 

Seneca. — The gods neither Suffer evil themselves, nor inflict it upon others ; 
though they sometimes chastise and lay heavy afflictions upon some persons, 
which have the appearance of Evil. — Epist., 95. 

Heb. xii: II. — Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: never- 
theless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised 
thereby. 
Plato. — The art which makes men better is that which chastises properly, 

and knows the good and bad. — Amator., c. 7. 

Menander. — Let no one be too much cast down in adversity: perhaps this 

may be the occasion of good. — Apud Stob., 108. 

Cato. — I had rather my good actions should go unrewarded than my bad 

ones uncorrected. — Plut. Cat. Maj., c. 8. 

SYMPATHY FOR THE IMPRISONED. 

Heb. xiii: 3. — Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer 
adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. 

Lucian. — Proteus, being accused of worshipping the famous Magus (Jesus 
Christ), who was crucified in Palestine for having introduced novel mysteries 
into the world, was arrested and thrown into prison; a circumstance that con- 
tributed not a little to fan in him that singular vanity which had actuated him 
through life. For no sooner was he in confinement than the Christians, who 
looked upon it as a great disappointment to the common cause, attempted by 



930 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

all possible means to procure his enlargement from prison ; and not succeeding, 
they let him at least want for nothing, and were the more assiduous in affording 
him every supply that could conduce to his accommodation and comfort. By 
the first dawn of day a number of old women and deaconesses, and young 
orphans, were seen hovering about the prison ; some of the most principal even 
bribed the jailers, and passed whole nights with him. Likewise sumptuous 
meals were carried in to him; and they read their sacred books together. 
Several even came from different cities in Asia, as deputies from the Christians 
in those parts, to offer their assistance and to be his advocates on his trial, and 
to comfort him. — De Morte Pereg., c. 12, 13. 



James. 



CANONICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 

James i: I. — James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes, which 

are scattered abroad, greeting. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — The particular proof of the canonical authority of 
this epistle is contained in the evidence that it was written by one of the 
apostles. It was early received as of authority in the churches. It was in- 
cluded in the old Syriac version, the Peshita, made either in the first century or 
in the early part of the second. Ephrem, the Syrian, in his Greek works, made 
use of it in many places. It is quoted as of authority by several of the Fathers, 
as by Clement of Rome, by Hermas, and by Jerome (see Lardner, Vol. VI., 
p. 195-199). — Introd. to James, p. xiv. 

Prof. Frederick Meyrick, M. A., Oxon. — Eusebius bears witness that it was 
publicly read in the churches, and in his time accepted as canonical. Origen 
bears the same testimony as Eusebius. It is quoted by nearly all the Fathers 
of the fourth century. In a. d. 397 the Council of Carthage accepted it as 
canonical, and from that time there has been no further question of its genuine- 
ness on the score of external testimony: and the objection on internal grounds 
proves nothing except against the objectors, for it really rests on a mistake. — 
Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1208. 

WAVERING. 

Jas. i : 6. — But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of 
the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. 

Epictetus. — No man can improve while he is wavering. Whichever way you 
decide to be preferable, incline to that way altogether, and let no other kind 
of reasoning draw you aside. — Epiet., lib. iv., c. 2. 

Cicero. — A mind that disagrees and quarrels with itself, cannot taste any 
portion of clear and unrestrained pleasure. — De Fin., I., 18. 



JAMES III. 931 

WHENCE TEMPTATIONS SPRING. 

Jas. i : 13, 14. — Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for God cannot 
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man : But every man is tempted when he is 
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 

Homer. — Perverse mankind ! whose wills, created free, 
Charge all their woes on absolute decree ; 
All to the dooming gods their guilt translate, 
And follies are miscall'd the crimes of fate. — Odyss., I., 32. 
Plato. — To say that God, who is good, is the cause of ills to any one, this 
we must by all means oppose, nor suffer it to be said in our state. — De Rep., 

II., 19. 

ALL GOOD FROM GOD. 

Jas. i : 17. — Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the 

Father of lights. 

Maximus Tyrius. — There is nothing good given to man which does not pro- 
ceed from God. — Diss., 22. 

Plato. — We have no good at all which the gods did not impart. — Euth., 
c. 18. 

THE HEARER ONLY. 

Jas. i : 23. — For if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man 
beholding his natural face in a glass. 

Plautus. — Not only for the sake of the face were it right for men to have a 
mirror for themselves, but one with which they might be able to examine the 
heart of discretion and the resources of the mind; when they had looked in 
that, they might afterwards consider how they had passed their lives in guilt. — 
Epidic., act iv., scene 1. 

THE FRIEND OF GOD. 

Jas. ii : 23. — Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness : and he 

was called the Friend of God. 

Plato. — As respects the gods, the unjust man will be a foe, but the just man 
a friend. — De Rep., I., 23. 

, Epictetus. — I am free and the friend of God, so as to obey him willingly; 
but I must not value any other things ; for it is not his will that I should value 
them.— Epict., IV., 3. 

Maximus Tyrius. — The pious man is a friend to the Deity; but the super- 
stitious man is a flatterer only. — Diss., 4. 

THE TONGUE A WORLD OF INIQUITY. 

Jas. iii: 5, 6. — Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how 
great a matter a little fire kindleth ! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. 

Euripides. — From a small beginning the tongue furnishes a mighty dispute 
to men. — Androm., v. 642. 

Plutarch. — By means of a little spark you might set Mount Ida on fire : so 
a word spoken to one man may reach to every ear in the city. — De GarritL, 
c. 10. 



932 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

ALL LIVING CREATURES TAMABLE. 

Jas. iii : 7. — For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is 
tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. 

Euripides. — Small is the power which nature has given to man, but by various 
acts of his superior understanding, he has subdued the tribes of the sea, the 
earth, and the air. — In Barnes. 

Dr. John Kitto. — There is perhaps no kind of creature, to which man has 
access, which might not be tamed by him, with proper perseverance. The 
ancients seem to have made more exertions to this end, and with much better 
success, than ourselves. The examples given by Pliny of creatures tamed by 
men, relate to elephants, lions, and tigers, among beasts ; to the eagle among 
birds ; to asps and other serpents : and to crocodiles, and various fishes, among 
the inhabitants of the water (Nat. Hist. VIII., 9, 16, 17; and X. 5, 44.) The 
lion was very commonly tamed by the ancient Egyptians. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 

THE TONGUE UNTAMABLE. 

Jas. iii : 8. — But the tongue can no man tame ; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — The allusion here seems to be to the bite of a venom- 
ous reptile. Nothing would better describe the mischief that may be done by 
the tongue. There is no sting of a serpent that does so much evil in the world ; 
there is no poison more deadly to the frame than the poison of the tongue is to 
the happiness of man. Who, for example, can stand before the power of the 
slanderer ? What mischief can be done in society that can be compared with 
that which he may do ? — In loco. 

Shakspeare.— 'Tis slander; 

Whose edge is sharper than the sword ; whose tongue 
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile ; whose breath 
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie 
All corners of the world : kings, queens, and states, 
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave 
This viperous slander enters. — In Cymbeline. 

Jas. iii : 9. — And therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 

Maximus Tyrius. — The human soul is most near and most similar to divinity. 
— Diss., 38. 

See Genesis i: 27. 

WHENCE COME WARS. 

Jas. iv : I . — From whence come wars and fightings among you ? come they not hence even of 
your lusts that war in your members? 

Plato. — Nothing else but the body and its desires occasion wars, seditions, 
and contests ; for all wars among us arise on account of our desires to acquire 
wealth. — Phcedo, c. 11. 

Maximus Tyrius. — All things are full of war and injustice : for desires wander 
everywhere, exciting in every land an immoderate desire of possessing ; and all 



JAMES IV. 933 

places are filled with armies marching to invade the property of others. — 
Diss., 13. 

Cicero. — Desires are insatiable, and ruin not only individuals but entire 
families, and often overturn the whole state. From desires arise hatred, dis- 
sensions, quarrels, seditions, wars. Nor is it only out of doors that these 
passions vent themselves, nor is it only against others that they run with blind 
violence ; they are often shut up, as it were, in the mind, and throw that into 
confusion with their disagreements. — De Fin., I., 13. 

THE PROUD AND THE HUMBLE. 

Jas. iv : 6. — God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 

Xenophon. — Perhaps God has ordained this in order to humble these proud 
conceited boasters, and to give us the greater glory who derive all our hopes 
from the gods. — Anab., VI., 3. 

Diodorus Siculus. — God, I conceive, purposely sets himself, by contrary 
events, to disappoint the expectations of those who proudly resolve beforehand 
what shall absolutely be done. — Diod. Sic, XX., 13. 

THE ONE LAWGIVER. 

Jas. iv : 12. — There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. 
Prof. William Whewell, M. A. — How incomparably the nature of God 
must be elevated above any conceptions which our natural reason enables us to 
form ! The Divine Mind must be conceived by us as the seat of those Laws of 
nature which we have discovered. It must be no less the seat of those Laws 
which we have not yet discovered, though these may and must be of a character 
far different from anything we can guess. The Supreme Intelligence must 
therefore contain the Laws, each according to their true dependence, of organic 
life, of sense, of animal impulse, and must contain also the purpose and intent 
for which these powers were put into play. But the Governing Mind must com- 
prehend also the Laws of responsible creatures which the world contains, and 
must entertain the purposes for which their responsible agency was given them. 
It must include the Laws and Purposes connected by means of the notions, 
which responsibility implies, of desert and reward, of moral excellence in various 
degrees, and of well-being as associated with right-doing. All the Laws which 
govern the moral world are expressions of the thoughts and intentions of our 
Supreme Ruler. All the contrivances for moral no less than for physical good, 
for the peace of mind, and other rewards of virtue, for the elevation and puri- 
fication of individual character, for the civilization and refinement of states, 
their advancement in intellect and virtue, for the diffusion of good, and the 
repression of evil ; all the blessings that wait on perseverance and energy, in a 
good cause ; on unquenchable love of mankind, and unconquerable devotedness 
to truth ; on purity and self-denial ; on faith, hope, and charity ; all these things 
are indications of the character, will, and future intentions of that God, of 
whom we have endeavored to track the footsteps upon earth, and to show his 



934 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

handiwork in the heavens. And if, in endeavoring to trace the tendencies of 
the vast labyrinth of Laws by which the universe is governed, we are sometimes 
lost and bewildered, and can scarce, or not at all, discern the line by which 
pain, and sorrow, and vice, fall in with a scheme directed to the strictest right • 
and greatest good, we yet find no room to faint or falter : knowing that these 
are the darkest and most tangled recesses of our knowledge ; that into them 
science has as yet cast no ray of light ; that in them reason has as yet caught 
sight of no general law. by which we may securely hold : while, in those regions 
where we can see clearly, where science has thrown her strongest illumination 
upon the scheme of creation ; where we have had displayed to us the General 
Laws which give rise to all the multifarious variety of particular facts ; we find 
all full of wisdom, and harmony, and beauty : and all this wise selection of 
means, this harmonious combination of Laws, this beautiful symmetry of 
relations, directed with no exception which human investigation has yet discov- 
ered, to the preservation, the diffusion, the well-being of those living things, 
which, though of their nature we know so little, we cannot doubt to be the wor- 
thiest objects of the Creator's care. — Astronomy and General Physics, p. 193. 
See Exod. xx: 3-17; and Deut. v : 7-21. 

PRESUMING ON THE FUTURE. 

Jas. iv; 13, 14. — Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and 
continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain : whereas ye know not what shall be on 
the morrow. For what is your life ? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and 
then vanisheth away. 

Plutarch. — How blind is man to futurity ! — Solon, c. 12. 

Seneca. — How ridiculous is it to promise ourselves a long life, when we 
are not certain of to-morrow. O the madness of entering into distant specula- 
tions. — Epist.y 1 01. 

See Prov. xxvii : 1 . 

Jas. iv : 15. — For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 
. Cyrus. — Our design will succeed, if God be willing. — Xen. Anab., VII., 3. 

THE LATTER RAIN. 

Jas. v : 7. — Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long 
patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — In the climate of Palestine there are two rainy sea- 
sons — the autumnal and the spring rains — called here and elsewhere in the 
scriptures " the early and the latter rain." — In loco. 

Jas. v : 12. — But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, 

neither by any other oath ; etc. 

See Matt, v : 34. 

THE EFFECTUAL PRAYER. 

Jas. v : 16. — The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 
Pindar. — The gods above with favoring ear 

The prayers of pious mortals hear. — Olymp., VIII., 10. 



First Peter. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 

I Pet. i : I. — Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Gala- 
tia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 

Rev. Frederick Charles Cook, M. A. — Concerning the authenticity of this 
epistle no doubt has ever been entertained in the church. The external evi- 
dence to this is of the strongest kind. It was known to Polycarp, and fre- 
quently referred to by him in the beginning of the second century; it was 
recognized by Papias, and repeatedly quoted by Irenaeus, Clemens of Alexandria, 
Tertullian, and Origen. It was accepted without hesitation by the universal 
church. The internal evidence is equally strong. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 

2455- 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, all 

these were provinces of Asia Minor. — In loco. 

Cicero. — The Senate decrees that Caius Cassius, proconsul, shall have the 

government of Syria ; and that he shall have money and men for carrying on 

the war throughout Syria, Asia, Bithynia, and Pontus. — Phil., II., 12. 

TRIAL OF FAITH. 

I Pet. i: 7. — That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, 
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing 
of Jesus Christ. 

Plato. — Young persons are to be tried far more than gold in the fire. And 
he who, in childhood, youth, and manhood, has been thus tried and come out 
pure, may be appointed governor and guardian of the state ; honors are to be 
paid him while he lives, and at his death he should receive the highest rewards 
of public burial and other memorials. — De Rep., III., 20. 

Cicero. — It is difficult to distinguish true friendship from that which is coun- 
terfeit, unless something occur to try it as gold is tried in the fire. — Epist. 
Fam., IX., 15. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Gold, when exposed to the action of fire, becomes red 
hot before it melts ; but in melting suffers no alteration ; but if a strong heat 
be applied while in fusion, it becomes of a beautiful green color. The con- 
tinual action of any furnace, however long applied, has no effect on any of its 
properties. It has been kept in a state of fusion for several months, in the fur- 
nace of a glass house, without suffering the smallest change. — Com. in loco. 

(935) 



936 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

MILK FOR BABES. 

I Pet. ii : 2. — As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. 
Quintilian. — I recommend it to teachers that they imitate the nurses in 
nourishing the tender mind, and that they fill it with the milk, as I may call it, 
of agreeable literature. — Quintil., II., 4. 

HOLY PRIESTHOOD. 

I Pet. ii: 5. — Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, etc. 
M. Antoninus. — The good and virtuous man is a kind of priest and minister 
of the gods. — M. Anton., III., 4. 

I Pet. ii; 13. — Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be 

to the king as supreme. 
See Rom. xiii : 4. 

I Pet. ii : 14. — Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil 
doers, and for the praise of them that do well. 

Ulpian. — It is the duty of a good and vigilant president to see to it that his 
province be peaceable and quiet. And that he ought to make diligent search 
after sacrilegious persons, robbers, man-stealers and thieves, and to punish every 
one according to their guilt. — See Lardner's Credibility, Works I., 77. 

1 Pet. ii : 18. — Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, etc. 

See Eph. vi : 5-9. 

1 Pet. iii : 1. — Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, etc. 

See Eph. v: 22. 

PLAITING THE HAIR. 

I Pet. iii: 3. — Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and 
of wearing gold, or of putting on of apparel. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — Plaiting the hair, and variously folding it about the 
head, was the most ancient and most simple mode of disposing of this chief or- 
nament of the female head. It was practised anciently in every part of the 
East ; and is so to the present day in India, in China, and also in Barbary. It 
was also prevalent among the Greeks and Romans, as ancient gems, busts and 
statues, still remaining, sufficiently declare. We have a remarkable instance 
of the plaiting of the hair in a statue of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus. 
Antique relics show the different modes of dressing the hair which obtained 
among the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, and other nations. Thin 
plates of gold were often mixed with the hair, to make it appear more orna- 
mental by the reflection of light and of the solar rays. Small golden buckles 
were also used in different parts; and among the Roman ladies, pearls and 
precious stones of different colors. In monuments of antiquity the heads of 
the married and single women may be known ; the former by the hair being 
parted from the forehead over the middle of the top of the head ; the latter 
by being quite close, or being plaited and curled, all in a general mass, — 
Note, in loco. 



FIRST PETER III. 



937 



ORNAMENT OF THE HEART. 

I Pet. iii : 4. — But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even 
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 

Naumachius. — Be not too fond of gold, neither wear purple hyacinth about 
your neck, or the green jasper, of which foolish persons are proud. Do not 
covet such vain ornaments, neither view yourself too often in the glass, nor 
twist your hair into a multitude of curls, etc. — In Benson, quoted from 
Fragments. 

Plutarch. — Crates, the philosopher, said, That is an ornament which doth 
adorn, and that adorneth a wife which maketh her more comely and decent. 
Jewels of gold, emeralds, robes of purple and scarlet, cannot do this ; but only 
that which causeth her to be reputed grave, sober, lowly and modest. — Conj. 
Prcec., c. 26. 

Plautus. — I had rather be adorned with a good disposition than with gold. 
— Pan., act I., scene 2. 

SARAH'S REVERENCE FOR ABRAHAM. 

I Pet. iii: 6. — Even as Sarah obeyed 
Abraham, calling him lord. 

Rev. Aleert Barnes. — The 
word " lord " has the elemen- 
tary idea of ruling, and this is 
the sense here. Among the Ro- 
mans it was quite common for 
wives to use the appellation 
lord 'when speaking of their hus- 
bands. The same custom also 
prevailed among the Greeks. 
— Note, in loco. 

Phocion's Wife. — My ornament is my husband, now for the twentieth year 
general of the Athenians. — Plut. Life of Phoc. 

X Pet. iii : 7. — Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor 
unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, etc. 
See Eph. v: 28. 

UNITY, LOVE, AND SYMPATHY. 

I Pet. iii: 8. — Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another; love as breth- 
ren, be pitiful, be courteous. 

Epictetus. — Be of service to your companions, by giving way to all, yielding 
to them, bearing with them ; and not by throwing out your own ill humour upon 
them. — Epict., III., 13. 

THE GOOD EVER SAFE. 

I Pet. iii: 13. — And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 

Plato. — It is very difficult to possess the power of not being injured : nor is 




plaited hair. 



938 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

it possible to acquire it perfectly, otherwise than by becoming perfectly good. 
— De Leg., VIII., i. 

Plutarch. — As Agis was going to execution he perceived one of the officers 
lamenting his fate with tears; upon which he said, My friend, dry up your 
tears ; for, as I suffer innocently, I am in a better condition than those who 
condemn me contrary to law and justice. — Agis, c. 20. 

WHAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE. 

I Pet. iii : 15, 16. — But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:, and be ready always to give an 
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and 
fear: having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evil doers, they 
may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 

Gibbon. — When the Christians of Bithynia were brought before the tribunal 
of the younger Pliny, they assured the proconsul that, far from being engaged 
in any unlawful conspiracy, they were bound by a solemn obligation to abstain 
from the commission of those crimes which disturb the private or public peace 
of society, from theft, robbery, adultery, perjury and fraud. Near a century 
afterwards Tertullian, with an honest pride, could boast that very few (if any) 
Christians had suffered by the hand of the executioner, except on account of 
their religion. Their serious and sequestered life, averse to the gay luxury 
of the age, inured them to chastity, temperance, economy, and all the sober 
domestic virtues. As the greater number were of some trade or profession, it 
was incumbent on them, by the strictest integrity and the fairest dealing, to 
remove the suspicions which the profane are too apt to conceive against the ap- 
pearances of sanctity. The contempt of the world exercised them in the habits 
of humility, meekness and patience. The more they were persecuted, the more 
closely they adhered to each other. Their mutual charity and unsuspecting 
confidence has been remarked by infidels, and was too often abused by per- 
fidious friends. — Decline and Fall, Chap. XV. 

THE END NEAR. 

I Pet. iv: 7. — But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto 

prayer. 
Seneca. — The end of all things is at hand : the time, I say, is near ; even 
that which shall eject the happy, and deliver the wretched. — Epist., 109. 

THE CLOAK OF CHARITY. 

I Pet. iv : 8.— For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 

Menander. — It is not my part to expose an evil that is unseen. I say that 
it ought rather to be concealed. — Apud Stob., c. XIII. 

Plutarch. — Pompey's reputation as to power was great, and it was equally 
respectable as to virtue and moderation : with which, he covered the offences 
of his friends and acquaintances. — Po??ip., c. 39. 



Second Peter. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 

2 Peter i : i. — Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them who have obtained 

like precious faith with us. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Jerome and Origen state that there were some persons 
who entertained a doubt of the genuineness of this epistle, and that this doubt 
was founded on a supposed difference of style between this and Peter's former 
epistle. This fact may serve to show the care which was evinced in admitting 
books to be canonical, and as proving that they were not received without the 
utmost caution. The effect of examination in this case was to remove all doubt 
and suspicion ; and the epistle was received as the production of Peter. — Introd. 
to Eft st., § i. 

Rev. Frederick Charles Cook, M. A. — The contents of this epistle seem 
quite in accordance with its asserted origin. Passages in Clement of Rome, 
Hermas, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, and Irenaeus, indicate that these 
Fathers were acquainted with the epistle. To these may be added a probable 
reference in the Martyrdom of Ignatius, and another in the Apology of Melito. 
Clement of Alexandria wrote a comment upon it. It is quoted twice by Origen, 
according to Ruffinus. Didymus refers to it very frequently in his great work 
on the Trinity. And, finally, included in the collection of Catholic Epistles, 
known to Eusebius and Origen. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2457. 

PUTTING OFF THE TABERNACLE. 

2 Pet. i : 14. — Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus 

Christ hath showed me. 

Plato. — We are fettered to this body which we now carry about with us, as 
an oyster is to its shell. — Phcedr., c. 30. 

Cicero. — The body is but a kind of vessel or receptacle of the soul. — Tusc. 
Disp., L, 22. 

Seneca. — This body is not a fixed habitation, but an inn, in which we can 
make but a short stay, and must certainly leave it at the pleasure or displeasure 
of our host. — Epist., 120. 

Even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. 
St. John. — Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young thou 
girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest : but when thou shalt be 
old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry 

(939) 



940 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake Jesus, signifying by what death 
he should glorify God. — Gospel, xxi: 18, 19. 

2 Pet. ii : 5. — And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of 

righteousness, etc. 

See Gen. vii: 7, etc. 

2 Pet. ii : 6. — And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with 

an overthrow, etc. 

See Gen. xix : 24. 

BONDAGE OF SIN 

2 Pet. ii : 19. — For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 

See Rom. vi : 16. 

Dr. Adam Clarke. — This is in allusion to the ancient custom of selling for 
slaves those whom they had conquered and captivated in war. The ancient law 
was, that a man might kill him whom he overcame in battle, or keep him for a 
slave. These were called servi, slaves, from the verb servare, to keep or 
preserve. And they were also called mancipia, from manu capeuntur, they were 
taken captive by the hand of the enemy. Thus the person who is overcome by 
his lusts, is represented as being the slave of these lusts. — Note, in loco. 

SCOFFERS. 

2 Pet. iii : 4-6. — Scoffers .... saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers 
fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they 
willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth 
standing in the water and out of the water : whereby the world that then was, being overflowed 
with water, perished. 

Prof. John Henry Kurtz, D. D. — Here reference is made to the analogy of 
a historical fact — the Deluge, to the final catastrophe of the world — its confla- 
gration. No antediluvian philosopher, even of the most advanced order, could 
have suspected or foreseen any tokens of the possibility or probability of such a 
universal and mighty catastrophe, involving and transforming the whole surface 
of the earth : and yet the Flood broke forth when it was least expected, and 
sources of destruction were opened in the fountains of the great deep and from 
the windows of heaven, in a manner surprising and appalling to all minds. — - 
"And as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." 
As formerly, from the profound depths of the earth, never penetrated by the 
inquiring eye of man, and from the regions aloft, where the clouds were formed 
according to a law which no human investigation had yet discovered, there 
suddenly broke out floods of destruction, which in a moment silenced all 
sceptics and deriders with their appalling terrors, — so also there may lie hidden 
in the heights and depths of the universe, latent forces, which in the future may 
leap forth at the call of the Mighty Creator and Judge of the world, with an 
energy and universality capable of bringing about at once a transformation and 
renovation of the heavens and the earth. — Bible and Astronomy, p. 516. 

See Gen. vi : 5, etc. 



SECOND PETER III. 941 

THE EARTH RESERVED UNTO FIRE. 

2 Pet. iii : 7.— But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in 
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 

Sophocles. — A raging fire shall devour all things earthly and above. — Apud 
Justin Martyr. 

M. Antoninus-. — Heraclitus used to discourse much concerning the conflagra- 
tion of the world.— M. Ant., III., 3. 

Lucian. — Coming events in futurity are extremely lamentable ; I mean the 
general conflagration which will consume the universe. — Vitar. Auct., c. 13. 

Cicero. — It will happen that some day or other all this world will be burnt 
up with fire. — Qucest. Academ., c. 37. 

Pliny. — It really exceeds all other wonders that one single day should pass 
without everything being consumed ; especially when we reflect that concave 
mirrors placed opposite the sun's rays produce flames most readily, and that 
numerous small but natural fires abound everywhere in the earth. — Hist. JVat., 
II., in. 

Duke of Argyll. — Under a thinner air, the torrid zone might be wrapped 
in eternal snow; under a denser air, and with differing refracting powers, the 
earth and all that is therein might be burned up. — Reign of Law, p. 53. 

Dr. William Fraser. — The globe is carrying within itself volcanic forces 
sufficient to dislocate and overwhelm its inhabited crust, if only the balance of 
pressure and upheaval be in the least destroyed ; and chemistry has long at- 
tested the facility of an universal overthrow and conflagration. The subtlest 
and most delicate combinations are invested with such tremendous power that 
they require but slight modification to insure a literal fulfilment of the apostolic 
prophecy regarding the heavens passing away with a great noise, and the earth 
and its works being burnt up. — Blending Lights, p. 31. 

Sir William Thomson. — The earth is filled with evidence that it has not 
been going on forever in the present state, and that there is a process of events 
towards a state infinitely different from the present. — Geological Time, 
p. 16. 

Prof. Richard A. Proctor, F. R. A. S. — The earth is our chief timepiece ; 
and it is of the correctness of this giant clock that we are now to speak. ... It 
is no idle dream, but a matter of absolute certainly, that though slowly, still very 
surely, our terrestrial globe is losing its rotation-movement ; in other words, the 
length of her day is increasing. . . . This fact appears to us to have an interest 
apart from the mere speculative consideration of the future physical condition 
of our globe. Instead of the recurrence of ever-varying, closely intermingled 
cycles of fluctuation, we see, now for the first time, the evidence of cosmical 
decay — a decay which, in its slow progress, may be but the preparation for 
renewed genesis — but still a decay which, so far as the races at present subsisting 
upon the earth are concerned, must be looked upon as finally and co?npletely de- 
structive. — Light Science for Leisure Hours, pp. 45—62. 



942 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY. 

2 Pet. iii : 8. — But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as 
a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

Plutarch. — If we compare the time of life with eternity, we shall find no 
difference between long and short; for a thousand, or ten thousand, years are 
but a certain indefinite point; or, rather, the smallest part of a point. — ConsoL 
ad Apoll. 

THE FINAL CONFLAGRATION. 

2 Pet. iii: io. — But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the 
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the 
earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 

Prof. John Henry Kurtz, D. D.— As fire is the most energetic and mighty 
of all the elements, so also is it the most universally disseminated : it lies hidden 
in all bodies, and may be called forth at any moment by mechanical and 
dynamic means. An inextinguishable furnace of fire glows within the hidden 
depths of the earth ; fiery bolts leap forth from the clouds of the heavens ; fire 
is begotten by the sun ; and those as it were spiritual agencies of electricity, 
which in all probability flit through the regions of the created everywhere, 
seeking ever and in vain their equilibrium, involve a signal fulness and intensity 
of fire-development. — Bible and Astronomy, p. 518. 

Prof. J. P. Cooke, Ha7'vard University. — The fire-element in nature is 
oxygen; this gas is the producer of flame and combustion, and is the mightiest 
and most destructive of all the elements. Mingled with and restrained by other 
elements, in its natural and ordinary condition, oxygen is bland and harmless, 
without odor or taste, and seems devoid of any active properties. But beneath 
this apparent mildness there is concealed an energy so violent that, when once 
thoroughly aroused, nothing can withstand it. A single spark of fire will 
change the whole character of this element, and what was before inert and 
passive becomes in an instant violent and irrepressible. The gentle breeze 
which was waving the corn and fanning the browsing herds becomes the next 
moment a consuming fire, before which the works of man melt away into air ! 
. . . Now you may be surprised at the statement, but it is nevertheless true, that 
between one-half and two-thirds of the crust of this globe and of the bodies of 
its inhabitants consist of oxygen. One-fifth of the volume of the whole atmos- 
phere is composed of oxygen. No less than eight-ninths of all water is formed 
of the same gas. It makes up three-fourths of our own bodies, and no less than 
four-fifths ot every plant, and at least one-half 'of the solid rocks. — Let, then, this 
element but be released, let the mysterious affinities that now hold it in restraint 
but cease, and the hardened rocks, or even the very waters of the ocean, would 
supply the fire and fervent heat that would consume the earth and the works 
that are therein. — Religion and Chemistry, Lecture III. 

Dr. Thomas Dick. — When, in reference to the dissolution of our globe and 
its appendages, it is said that "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise," 



SECOND PETER III. 943 

the aerial heaven, or the surrounding atmosphere, is to be understood. How 
this appendage to our world may be dissolved, or pass away with a mighty noise, 
it is not difficult to conceive, now that we have become acquainted with the 
nature and energies of its constituent parts. One essential part of the atmos- 
phere contains the principle of flame; and if this principle were not counter- 
acted by its connection with another ingredient, or were it let loose to exert its 
energies without control, instantly one immense flame would envelope the ter- 
raqueous globe, which would set on fire the foundations of the mountains, wrap 
the ocean in a blaze, and dissolve not only coals and wood and other combus- 
tibles, but the hardest substances in nature. It is more than probable that, 
when the last catastrophe of our globe arrives, the oxygen and nitr6gen, or the 
two constituent principles of the atmosphere, will be separated by the inter- 
position of Almighty Power. And the moment this separation takes place, it 
is easy to conceive that a tremendous concussion will take place, and the most 
dreadful explosions will resound throughout the whole expanse which surrounds 
the globe, which will stun the assembled world and shake the earth to its 
foundations. For if, in chemical experiments, conducted on a small scale, the 
separation of two gases, or their coming in contact with the principle of flame, 
is frequently accompanied with a loud and destructive explosion, it is impos- 
sible to form an adequate idea of the loud and tremendous explosions which 
would ensue were the whole atmosphere at once dissolved, and its elementary 
principles separated from each other and left to exert their native energies. A 
sound as if creation had burst asunder, and accompanied the next moment with 
a universal blaze, extending over sea and land, would present a scene of sub- 
limity and terror which would more than realize all the striking descriptions 
given in Scripture of this solemn scene. — Philos. of a Future State, Part II. 

Dr. William Fraser. — The heavens themselves, apparently the stablest of 
all existences, show very marvellous changes. Stars long known have been lost ; 
they have disappeared in the abysses of space, and their name alone remains. 
No later than May, 1866, the splendors of an apparently new star in the con- 
stellation Corona Borealis arrested the attention of astronomical students. 
Anxiously watched by competent observers, in separate localities, its changes 
were accurately noted and compared. It rose in magnificent brilliancy ; it 
slowly waned ; it disappeared. The Astronomer Royal has expressed his belief 
in the burning of that distant world. Inflammable gases, combining, it has 
been supposed, gave to it the appearance by which observers were dazzled and 
impressed. — Blending Lights, p. 30. 

Von Littrow. — In the year 1572, on the nth of November, Tycho observed 
in Cassiopeia, at a place where before he had only seen very small stars, a new 
star of uncommon magnitude. It was so bright that it surpassed even Jupiter 
"and Venus in splendor, and was visible even in the day-time. At the end of 
the year, however, it gradually diminished, and at length, in March, 1574, 
sixteen months after its discovery, entirely disappeared, since which no trace of 
it has ever been seen. When it first appeared, its light was of a dazzling white 
58 



944 TESTIMONY OF THE AkES. 

color; two months after, it became yellowish; in a few months more, it 
assumed a reddish hue, like Mars; in January and February of 1574, it glim- 
mered only with a gray or lead-colored light, and then totally vanished. — Die 
Wunder Himmels oder Gemeinfassliche Darstellung der Weltsy stems, § 227. 

Prof. E. Loomis. — Several instances are on record of temporary stars, which 
have suddenly become visible, and after remaining a while, apparently immov- 
able, have died away and left no trace behind. Such a star is said to have 
appeared about the year b. c. 125. Such stars are also recorded in the years 
a. d. 389, 945, 1264, 1572, 1604, and 1670. A similar phenomenon on the 
27th of April, 1848, was witnessed: this appeared in the constellation Ophin- 
chus ; its light was reddish in the telescope ; Dr. Peterson observed that the 
reddish color at times increased suddenly in intensity, and again as suddenly 
disappeared. Other observers noticed these peculiar red flashes. It gradually 
decreased in brilliancy till in June, 1850, when it became extinct. — Recent 
Progress of Astronomy, p. 124. 

THE NEW EARTH. 

2 Pet iii: 13. — Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — It is further to be observed 
that the biblical idea of a future state of this earth, in which its conditions 
shall become similar to those of the spiritual heaven, is not altogether foreign 
to science. A recent writer (Ponton) has well put this by a reference to the 
stages through which the earth has already passed in geological time. Suppose 
an earth wholly mineral, and that some prophetic intelligence were to endeavor 
to shadow forth in terms of the mineral the approaching introduction of plants, 
we can readily imagine the difficulties of such an attempt ; or suppose the plant 
introduced, and the effort to be made to shadow forth the new creation of the 
animal, in terms of the plant ; or suppose the lower animals introduced, and our 
imaginary prophet to have the task of explaining from their habits what man 
would think and do when introduced on the earth. All these changes we now 
know as actual facts ; but may there not be other changes in store for the uni- 
verse, and may not men, inspired by prophetic insight, be commissioned to 
shadow forth, in terms of the human and natural, the new and glorious manifes- 
tations of Divine power which are to be realized in the future state ? — Nature 
and the Bible, p. 72. 

Robert Hunt. — These experiments of Cagniard de la Tour and Boutigny, 
connect themselves, in a striking manner, with those of Mr. Grove and Dr. 
Robinson ; and they teach us that but a very slight alteration in the proportions 
of the calorific principle given to this planet would completely change the char- 
acter of every material substance of which it is composed, unless there was an 
alteration in the physical condition of the elements themselves. Supposing the 
ordeal of fiery purification to take place upon this planet, these experiments 
appear to indicate the mighty changes which would thence result. There would' 



SECOND PETER III. 945 

be no annihilation, but everything would be transformed from the centre of the 
globe to the verge of its atmosphere — old things would pass away, all things 
become new, and the beautiful myth of the phcenix be realized in the fresh 
creation. — Poetry of Science, p. 89. 

THINGS HARD TO BE UNDERSTOOD. 

2 Pet. iii: 16. — As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things : in which are some 
tilings hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do 
also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 

Bishop R. Watson, D. D., F. R. S. — What if there should be some incompre- 
hensible doctrines in the Christian Religion j some circumstances which in their 
causes, or their consequences, surpass the reach of human reason ; are they to 
be rejected on that account ? You are, or would be thought, men of reading, 
and knowledge, and enlarged understandings ; weigh the matter fairly, and 
consider whether revealed religion be not, in this respect, just upon the same 
footing with every other object of your contemplation. Even in mathematics, 
the science of demonstration itself, though you get over its first principles, and 
learn to digest the idea of a point without parts, a line without breadth, and a 
surface without thickness, yet you will find yourself at a loss to comprehend the 
perpetual approximation of lines which can never meet ; the doctrine of incom- 
mensurables, and of an infinity of infinities, each infinitely greater, or infinitely 
less, not only than any finite quantity, but than each other. In physics, you 
cannot comprehend the primary cause of anything ; not of the light by which 
you see ; nor of the elasticity of the air by which you hear ; nor of the fire by 
which you are warmed. In physiology, you cannot tell what first gave motion 
to your heart, nor what continues it, nor why its motion is less voluntary than 
that of the lungs ; nor why you are able to move your arm to the right or left, 
by a simple volition : you cannot explain the cause of animal heat, nor compre- 
hend the principle by which your body was first formed, nor by which it is 
sustained, nor by which it will be reduced to earth. In natural religion you 
cannot comprehend the eternity or omnipresence of the Deity; nor easily un- 
derstand how his prescience can be consistent with your freedom, or his 
immutability with his government of moral agents; nor why he did not make 
all his creatures equally perfect ; nor why he did not create them sooner ; in 
short, you can look into any branch of knowledge but you will meet with 
subjects above your comprehension. The fall and redemption of human kind 
are not more incomprehensible than the creation and conservation of the uni- 
verse; the Infinite Author of the works of providence and of nature is equally 
inscrutable; equally past our finding out in them both. — Letters to Edward 
Gibbon , closing appeal. 



First John. 

AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE. 
Rev. Frederick Meyrick, M. A. — The external evidence to the authenticity 
of the First Epistle of John is of the most satisfactory nature. Eusebius places it 
in his list of " acknowledged " books, and we have ample proof that it was ac- 
knowledged and received as the production of the apostle John in the writings 
of Polycarp, Papias, Irenasus, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and 
Cyprian : and there is no voice in antiquity raised to the contrary. On the 
other hand, the internal evidence for its being the work of St. John from its 
similarity in style, language, and doctrine to the Gospel bearing his name is 
overwhelming. Macknight has drawn out a list of nineteen passages in the 
epistle which are so similar to an equal number of passages in the Gospel that 
we cannot but conclude that the two writings emanated from the same mind. — 
Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 1439. 

NONE WITHOUT SIN. 

I John i : 8. — If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
Epictetus. — Is it possible, by observing these rules, to be faultless? Imprac- 
ticable ; but this is possible, to use a constant endeavor to be faultless. — Epict., 
IV., 12. 

Maximus Tyrius. — What man is so worthy as to pass through life securely 
and without blame? — Diss., 26. 

1 John ii : 18. — Little children, it is the last time : and as ye have heard that antichrist shall 
come, even now are there many antichrists ; whereby we know that it is the last time. 

See 2 Thess. ii: 1-10, and 1 Tim. iv: 1-4. 

CAIN'S ENVY. 

I John iii: 12. — Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And where- 
fore slew he him ? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 

Maximus Tyrius. — Those who are depraved cannot endure that the virtues 
should be exalted in their presence. — Diss., 29. 

Idem. — Socrates encountered the envy and hatred of those who rose against 
him, from their rage against things excellent. — Diss., 39. 

BROTHERLY LOVE. 

I John iii : 16. — Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: 
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 
(946) 



FIRST JOHN V. 947 

Tertullian. — Behold, how they love one another ; they are ready to die one 
for another. — ApoL, c. 39. 

Eusebius. — In a time of plague, the Christians visited one another, and not 
only hazarded their lives, but actually lost them in their zeal to preserve the 
lives of others. — Eccl. Hist., VII., 22. 

1 John iii : 18. — My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and 

in truth. 

Epictetus. — To all other pleasures prefer this — to know that you are obeying 
God, and performing, not in word but in deed, the duty of a wise and good 
man. — Epict., III., 24. 

APPROBATION OF CONSCIENCE. 

1 John iii : 21. — Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 
Seneca. — Many praise you, but are you satisfied with yourself, if you are 
what they take you for and applaud ? Let your goodness be approved by your 
own heart. — Epist., 6. 

LOVE WITHOUT FEAR. 

1 John iv: 18. — There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath 
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 

Aristotle.— Men love those who are not objects of fear, and in whom they 
can confide; for no one loves him ot whom he is afraid. — Dc Rhet., II., 4. 

Horace. — He who lives in fear is a slave, nor can he ever be anything better. 
— Epist., 16. 

Seneca. — God is reverenced and loved : love cannot accord with fear.— ? 
Epist., 47. 

THE LOVER OF GOB A LOVER OF HIS BROTHER. 

I John iv : 20. — If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar : for he that loveth 
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 

Cicero. — It is very inconsistent when we are disregarded and despised by one 
another, to entreat that we may be dear to and beloved by the immortal gods. 
— De Fin., III., 20. 

THE DIVINE COMMANDS NOT GRIEVOUS. 

I John v : 3. — His commandments are not grievous. 
Seneca. — Do you know why things commanded seem impossible ? I will tell 
you. It is because we think them so : they are not so in reality. We defend 
our vices because we love them, and we had rather find out some excuse for them 
than shake them off. Nature has given us sufficient strength, if we would exert 
ourselves in the use of it. We pretend we cannot, but the truth is, we will not. 
— Epist., 116. 



Second and Third John. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THESE EPISTLES. 

Rev. Frederick Meyrick, M. A. — Some doubt existed in an early day con- 
cerning the authenticity of this epistle. Clement of Alexandria alludes to it. 
The Adinnbratio?ies bears direct testimony to it. Dionysius and Alexander of 
Alexandria attribute this and the following Epistle to St. John. So does 
Irenseus. Aurelius quoted them in the council of Carthage, a. d. 256, as St. 
John's writings. Ephrem of Syrus speaks of them in the same way in the fourth 
century. In the fifth they were almost universally received. — Smith's Diet, of 
Bible, p. 1 44 1. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Though there were doubts among many of the 
Fathers respecting the genuineness of these epistles, yet they were admitted in 
several councils of the church to be genuine. In the 85th of the apostolic 
canons (so called) ; in the- 60th Canon of the Synod of Laodicea ; the coun- 
cil of Hippo, a. d. 393, and the third council of Carthage, a. d. 397, they 
were reckoned as undoubtedly pertaining to the Inspired Canon of Scripture. — 
Introd. to £pists., § 1, (e). 



Jude. 



CANONICITY OF THIS EPISTLE. 

Rev. Edmund Venables, M. A. — Although the epistle of Jude is one of the 
so-called Antilego7?iena, and its canonicity was questioned in the earliest ages of 
the church, there never was any doubt of its genuineness among those by whom 
it was known. It is quoted as Apostolic by Ephrem of Syrus. The earliest notice 
of the epistle is in the famous Muratorian Fragment, circa a. d. 170. It was 
recognized by Clement of Alexandria. Eusebius informs us that it was among 
the books of Canonical Scripture. Origen refers to it expressly as the work of 
"The Lord's brother." Of the Latin Fathers, Tertullian once expressly cites 
this epistle as the work of an Apostle ; so also does Jerome. It is likewise 
quoted by Malchion, a presbyter of Antioch, in a letter to the bishops of Alex- 
andria and Rome, and by Palladius, the friend of Chrysostom ; and it is 
contained in the Laodicene Catalogue, a. d. $6$ ; and in the Carthage^iian, 
(948) 



JUDE I. 949 

A. d. 397, as well as in those emanating from the churches of the East and 
West. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1505. 

REBEL ANGELS. 

Verse 6. — And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he 
hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 

H. Fox Talbot, F. R. S. — At the creation harmony prevailed in heaven. 
All the sons of God, says Job, shouted for joy. What caused the termination 
of this blissful state we are not informed ; but the Babylonians have preserved 
for us a remarkable tradition of it, which is found on a cuneiform Tablet, now 
in the British Museum. This Tablet describes the revolt of the gods or angels 
against their Creator. While the host of heaven were assembled and were all 
engaged in singing hymns of praise to their Maker, suddenly some evil spirit 
gave the signal of revolt. The hymns ceased in one part of the assembly, 
which burst forth into loud curses and imprecations on their Creator. In His 
wrath he sounded a loud blast of the trumpet, and drove them from his presence 
never to return. — Records of the Past, Vol. VII., p. 123. 

Babylonian Inscription. — The Divine Being spoke three times, the com- 
mencement of a psalm. The god of holy songs, Lord of religion and worship 
seated a thousand singers and musicians ; and established a choral band, who, 
to his hymn were to respond in multitudes. . . . With a loud cry of contempt 
they broke up his holy song, spoiling, confusing, confounding, his hymn of 
praise. The god of the bright crown with a wish to summon his adherents 
sounded a trumpet blast which would wake the dead, which to those rebel 
angels prohibited return, he stopped their service, and sent them to the gods 
who were his enemies. In their room He created mankind. The first who 
received life, dwelt along with Him. May He give them strength, never to 
neglect his word, following the serpent's voice, whom His hands had made. 
And may the god of divine speech expel from his five thousand that wicked 
thousand, who, in the midst of his heavenly song, had shouted evil blasphemies ! 
The god Ashur, who had seen the malice of those angels who deserted their alle- 
giance to raise a rebellion, refused to go forth with them. — Records of the Past, 
Vol. VII., p. 127. 



Revelation. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THIS BOOK. 

Rev. i : I, 2. — The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his ser. 
vants things which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent and signified it by his angel 
unto his servant John : who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus 
Christ, and of all things that he saw. 

Rev. W. T. Bullock, M. A. — It has been the general belief of Christians in 
all ages that St. John was the writer of this book. The evidence of its authen- 
ticity, internal and external, is conclusive. It is supposed to have been written 
somewhere in the period from a. d. 95 to 97. The historical testimonies that 
the Apostle John was its author are singularly distinct and numerous. Justin 
Martyr, about a. d. 150, says: "A man among us whose name was John, one 
of the Apostles of Christ, in a revelation which was made to him, prophesied 
that the believers in our Christ shall live a thousand years in Jerusalem." The 
author of the Muratorian Fragment, about a. d. i 70, speaks of St. John as the 
writer of the Apocalypse, and describes him as a predecessor of St. Paul in the 
office of Apostle. Melito of Sardes, about a. d. 170, wrote a treatise of the 
Revelation of John. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, about A. d. 180, in a 
controversy with Hermogenes, quotes passages out of the Revelation of John. 
Irenseus, about A. d. 195, often quotes the Revelation as the work of John, and 
describes him as the disciple who was leaning on Jesus' bosom at supper, and 
asked Him who should betray Him. The testimony of Irenaeus is the more 
important, as it mounts up into the preceding generation, and is virtually that 
of a contemporary of the Apostle. In vindicating the true reading of "the 
number of the Beast," he cites not only the old correct copies of the Book, but 
also the oral testimony of the very persons who themselves had seen St. John 
face to face. Apollonius of Ephesus, about a. d. 200, in controversy with the 
Montanists of Phrygia, quoted passages out of the Revelation of John, and nar- 
rated a miracle wrought by the Apostle at Ephesus. Clement of Alexandria, 
about a. d. 200, quotes the book of Revelation as the work of John the Apostle. 
Tertullian, a. d. 207, quotes by name " the Apostle John in the Apocalypse." 
Hippolytus, about a. d. 230, quotes it as the work of St. John. Origen, about 
a. d. 233, speaking of this apostle, says that "he wrote the Revelation." The 
testimony of later writers, in the third and fourth centuries, that John the 
Apostle wrote the Book of Revelation, are equally distinct and far more numer- 
ous. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 2723. 
(950) 



The Revelation of Jesus Lhrist 

Sent by his Angel unto his ^ervant jJohn. 




"WRJTE IN A J001C 
^— ^KE SEVEK GHUI^tf E* "WHICH ffRE IN T$\K 



«^° 



REVELATION I. 953 

THE ETERNAL ONE. 

Rev. i : 4. — Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to 

come. 

Plutarch. — The temple of Isis, in Egypt, bore this inscription: "I am all 
that was, and is, and shall be, and my veil no mortal can remove." — De Is. et 
Osir., c. 9. 

Orpheus. — Jupiter is the head, Jupiter is the middle, and all things are made 
by Jupiter. — In Auctor. Lib. de Mundo. 

Pausanias. — Jupiter was; Jupiter is; Jupiter shall be. — Phocic, c. 12.* 

THE FIRST AND THE LAST. 

Rev. i: 8. — I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. 
William Aldis Wright, M. A. — The expression, " I am Alpha and Omega," 
is illustrated by the usage in Rabbinical writers of Aleph and Tau, the first and 
last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Jalkut Rubenisaid: "Adam transgressed 
the whole law from Aleph to Tau," that is, from the beginning to the end. In 
the early times of the Christian church the letters Alpha and Omega were com- 
bined with the cross, or with the monogram of Christ. One of the oldest 
monuments on which this occurs is a marble tablet found in the catacombs 
at Melos, which belongs, if not to the first* century, to the first half of the 
second. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 73. 

PATMOS. 

Rev. ; : 9. — I John, . . . was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the 

testimony of Jesus Christ. 

Dr. John Kitto. — Patmos is a small island in the Icarian Sea, about thirty 
miles from the coast, of Asia Minor. It does not exceed fifteen miles in circum- 
ference, and is nothing but a continued rock, very mountainous and very barren. 
Its coast is high, and consists of a series of capes. Its port is a deep gulf on 
the northeast of the island, sheltered by high mountains on every side but one. 
The town is situated upon a high rocky mountain, rising immediately from the 
sea, anp 1 contains about 400 houses. In the middle of the town, near the top 
of the mountain, is the large monastery of St. John the Evangelist. About 
half-way down the mountain, from the town to the Scala, there is a natural 
grotto in the rock, in which, tradition says, St. John abode and wrote the 
Apocalypse. Over this grotto a small church has been built. On account of 
the stern and desolate character of the island, the Roman emperors thought it a 
suitable spot to which criminals might be confined. To this island, accord- 
ingly, the apostle John was banished by the Emperor Domitian, towards the 
end of his reign, or about a. d. 95 or 96. — Pict. Bible, in loco. 

THE LORD'S DAY. 

Rev. i : 10. — I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. 

Prof. Moses Stuart. — The term "Lord's Day" was used generally by the 



954 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

early Christians to denote the first day of the week. It occurs twice in the 
Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, about a. d. ioi, who calls the Lord's 
Day "the queen and prince of all days." Chrysostom, in Psm. 119, says: "It 
was called the Lord's Day because the Lord rose from the dead on that day." 
Later Fathers make a marked distinction between the Sabbath and the Lord" 1 $ 
Day, meaning by the former the Jewish Sabbath, or the seventh day of the 
week, and by the latter the first day of the week, kept holy by the Christians. 
So Theodoret, speaking of the Elionites, says: "They keep the Sabbath ac- 
cording to the Jewish law, and sanctify the Lord' s Day in like manner as we 
do."- — In loco. 

SEATS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

Rev. i : 11. — What thou seest write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are 
in Asia ; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto 
Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 

Pliny. — A great part of ^Eolia has recourse to the jurisdiction of Smyrna; 
but to Ephesus, that other great luminary of Asia, resort the more distant 
peoples. — Tergamos, by far the most famous city in Asia. — To the jurisdiction 
of Pergamos belong the people of Thyatira, and many other states less known 
to fame. — Twenty-five states resort to Cibyratica for legal purposes, together 
with the most famous city of Laodicea. — Sardis lies on the side of Mount Tmolus. 
The jurisdiction is now called by this name, and many people resort to it. — 
Hist. Nat., lib. v., c. 29, 30, 31, ^3- 

And send it unto the churches which are in Asia. 

Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, B. D. — That Christian churches had been 
established at this period throughout Asia Minor is sufficiently attested by Pliny, 
Governor of Pontus and Bithynia, in his letter to the emperor Trajan, written 
jn a. D. 107, requesting instruction as to the manner in which he should deal 
with those accused of being Christians. From this letter we learn the great 
progress Christianity had made. Christians, he tells us, there were everywhere, 
throughout the whole extent of his province, in cities, in villages, and in the 
open country. Among them were persons of all ages, of every rank and con- 
dition, and of both sexes; and some of them also were citizens of Rome. The 
prevalence of Christianity appears likewise from the universal decay of Pagan 
worship: the temples were deserted, and the sacrifices discontinued. Beasts, 
brought to market for victims, had few purchasers. So many were accused, and 
were in danger of suffering on account of the prevalence of this opinion, as gave 
the governor no small concern. Further, it is evident that there were not only 
many at this time who bore the Christian name, but that such people had been 
there for many years. — Introduction, I., 84. 

Rev. ii : 1. — Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, etc. 
See Acts xix: 1, etc. 



REVELATION II. 955 

THE CANDLESTICK REMOVED. 

Rev. ii : 5. — Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works ; 
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except 
thou repent. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — There is not the least evidence that the church of 
Ephesus did repent, and the threatening has been most signally fulfilled. Long 
since the church has become utterly extinct, and for ages there was not a single 
professing Christian there. Every memorial of there having been a church 
there has departed, and there are nowhere, not even in Nineveh, Babylon, or 
Tyre, more affecting demonstrations of the fulfilment of ancient prophecy than 
in the present state of the ruins of Ephesus. — Note, in loco. 

Gibbon. — In the loss of Ephesus, the Christians deplored the fall of the first 
Angel, the extinction of the first Candlestick of the Revelations; the desolation 
is complete ; and the temple of Diana, or the church of Mary, will equally elude 
the search of the curious traveller. — Decline and Fall, Chap. 64. 

SMYRNA. 

Rev. ii : 8. — And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna, write, etc. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Smyrna was a celebrated commercial town of Ionia 
(Ptol. V.), situated near the bottom of that Gulf of the ^Egean Sea which 
received its name from it (Mela. I.), at the mouth of the small river Meles, 320 
stadia, or forty miles, north of Ephesus. (Strab., XV.) It was a very ancient 
city, but having been destroyed by the Lydians, it lay waste for 400 years, or to 
the time of Antigonus. It was rebuilt at the distance of twenty stadia from 
the ancient city, and in the time of the first Roman emperor it was one of the 
most flourishing cities of Asia. It was destroyed by an earthquake, a. d. 177, 
but the emperor Marcus Aurelius caused it to be rebuilt with more than its 
former splendor. — Note, in loco. 

Prof. H. B. Hackett, LL. D. — Smyrna was forty miles from Ephesus. 
Paul preached the Gospel there at an early date. The Apostle John must often 
have passed between the two places during his long life at Ephesus. The spot 
where Polycarp is supposed to have been burnt at the stake is near the ruins of 
a stadium on the hill behind the present town. It may be the exact spot, or 
certainly near there, for it is the place where the people were accustomed to 
meet for public spectacles. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, touched at Smyrna on 
his voyage to Rome, where he was thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheatre, 
about a. d. 108. Two of his letters were addressed to Polycarp and the Smyr- 
neans. Smyrna is the only one of the Seven Churches which retains any 
importance at the present time. Its population is stated to be 150,000, nearly 
one-half of whom are Mohammedans. — Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 3064. 

TRIBULATION FOR TEN DAYS. 

Rev. ii: 10.— Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye 

shall have tribulation ten days. 



956 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — To the church of Smyrna it is predicted, 
that she should "have tribulation ten days," or ten years, according to the 
usual style of prophecy : and the greatest persecution that the primitive church 
ever endured, was the persecution of Diocletian, which lasted ten years, and 
grievously afflicted all the Asian, and indeed all the eastern churches. — Dissert., 
XXIV. 

PERGAMOS. 

Rev. ii: 12. — And to the angel of the church in Pergamos, write, etc. 

Prof. Charles Anthon, LL. D. — Pergamos was the most important city of 
Mysia, situate in the southern part of that country, on the Caicus. It is first 
mentioned by Xenophon. After passing through various vicissitudes, it con- 
tinued to flourish and prosper as a Roman city, so that Pliny does not scruple to 
style it the fairest city of Asia. To the Christian the history of Pergamos 
affords an additional interest, since it was one of the seven churches of Asia, 
mentioned in the book of Revelation. — Classical Dictionary. 

Bishop Thomas Newton, D. D. — Pergamos is still called Bergamo, and is 
situated sixty-four miles north of Smyrna. It has some good buildings, but 
more ruins. It is mainly occupied by Turks. One Christian church only 
remains, that dedicated to St. Theodorus. The cathedral church of St. John is 
buried in its own ruins; their "angel" or bishop long since removed ; and its 
fair pillars adorn the graves, and rotten carcasses of its destroyers, the Turks. 
Its other fine church, called Santa Sophia, is turned into a mosque, and daily 
profaned with the blasphemies of the false prophet. — Dissert., XXIV. 

THE WHITE STONE. 

Rev. ii : 17. — To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him 
a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that 
receiveth it. 

Dr. John Kitto. — It is a remarkable fact that in the vicinity of Pergamos an 
unusual number of white stones cover the ground in every direction, and the 
traveller can hardly fail to be struck with the applicability of the words in 
which the Scriptural promise to this church is couched. — Pict. Bib., in loco. 
Ovid. — A custom was of old, and still remains, 
Which life or death by suffrages ordains : 
White stones and black within an urn are cast ; 
The first absolve, but fate is on the last. — Metam., XV., 41. 
Plutarch. — Heaven was favorable both to Cimon and Lucullus, directing the 
one what he should do, and the other what he should avoid ; so that each 
obtained the stone from the gods as persons in whom there was something 
excellent and divine. — Comp. Cim. c. Lucul., c. 3. 

THYATIRA. 

Rev. ii : 18. — And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira, write, etc. 

Prof. Charles Anthon, LL. D. — Thyatira was a city of Lydia, near the 



REVELATION III. 957 

northern confines, situate on the small river Lycus, not far from its source. 
This city, according to Strabo, belonged originally to Mysia ; from the time of 
Pliny, however, we find it ascribed to Lydia. Its ruins are now called Ak- 
Hisar. — Classical Dictionary. 
See Acts xvi : 14. 

SARDIS. 

Rev. iii : I. — And unto the angel of the church in Sardis, write, etc. 

Rev. Albert Barnes. — Sardis was the capital of the ancient kingdom of 
Lydia, one of the provinces of Asia Minor, and was situated at the foot of 
Mount Tmolus, in a fine plain watered by the river Patoclus, famous for its 
golden sands. It was the capital where the celebrated Crcesus, proverbial for 
his wealth, reigned. The inhabitants of Sardis bore an ill repute among the 
ancients for their voluptuous mode of living : perhaps there may be an allusion 
to this fact, in the words which are used in the address to the church there, 
" Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments." 
— Note, in loco. 

Rev. J. Hartley. — The ruins of Sardis are, with one exception, more 
entirely gone to decay than those of most of the ancient cities which we have 
visited. No Christians reside on the spot : two Greeks only work in a mill here, 
and a few wretched Turkish huts are scattered among the ruins. We saw the 
churches of St. John and the Virgin, the theatre, and the building styled the 
Palace of Crcesus ; but the most striking object at Sardis is the temple of Cybele. 
I was filled with wonder and awe at beholding the two stupendous columns of 
this edifice, which are still remaining ; they are silent but impressive witnesses 
of the power and splendor of antiquity. — In Pict. Bib. 

THE SUDDENNESS OF THE VISITATION. 

Rev. iii : 3. — If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not 
know what hour I will come upon thee. 

Emerson. — I am not sufficiently versed in theological lore to trace the grada- 
tions of the fall of Sardis; but its overthrow came " like a thief in the night," 
during that earthquake which, in the reign of Tiberius, levelled its proudest 
compeers with the dust. — Letters from the Aegean. 

PHILADELPHIA. 

Rev. iii : 7. — And unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, etc. 
Rev. Albert Barnes. — Philadelphia stood about twenty-five miles southeast 
from Sardis, in the plain of Hermas. It was the second city in Lydia, and was 
built by king Attalus Philadelphus, from whom it received its name. In the 
year b. c. 133 the place passed, with the country in the vicinity, under the 
dominion of the Romans. The site is reported by Strabo to be liable to earth- 
quakes, but it continued to be a place of importance down to the Byzantine 
age; and, of all the towns in Asia Minor, it withstood the Turks the longest. 
It was taken by Bajazat, a. d. 1392. — Note* in loco. 



958 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

A PILLAR. 

Rev. iii: 12. — Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall 

go no more out. 

Dr. John Kitto. — At Philadelphia there are few ruins; but in one part are 
four pillars, which are supposed to have been columns of a church. One soli- 
tary pillar has been often noticed, as reminding beholders of the remarkable 
words in the Apocalypse, " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the 
temple of my God." — Kind's Cyclop. 

Gibbon. — This city at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. 
Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a 
column in a scene of ruins. — Decline and Fall, Chap. 64. 

And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God. 
Hartley. — The circumstance that Philadelphia is now called Allah-Shehr, 
the City of God, when viewed in connection with the promises made to that 
church, and especially with that of "writing the name of the City of God" 
upon its faithful members, is, to say the least, a singular occurrence. — In Keith's 
Evid. from Proph. 

LAODICEA. 

Rev. iii: 14. — And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write. 
Dr. John Saul Howson. — The two passages in the New Testament where 
the city of Laodicea is mentioned, define its' geographical position in harmony 
with other authorities. It was situated in the valley of the Maeander, on a small 
river called the Lycus, with Colosse and Hierapolis a few miles distant to the 
west. Built, or rather rebuilt, by one of the Seleucid monarchs, and named 
in honor of his wife, Laodicea became under the Roman government a place of 
some importance. The damage which was caused in the reign of Tiberius was 
promptly repaired by the energy of the inhabitants. It was soon after this oc- 
currence that Christianity was introduced into Laodicea. ... In subsequent 
times it became a Christian city of eminence, the see of a bishop, and a meet- 
ing-place of councils. It is often mentioned by the Byzantine writers. The 
Mohammedan invaders destroyed it, and it is now a scene of utter desolation ; 
but the extensive ruins near Denislu justify all that we read of Laodicea in 
Greek and Roman writers. Many travellers have visited and described the 
place. — Smith's Diet, of Bible. 

LUKEWARMNESS. 

Rev. iii: 16. — So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee 

out of my mouth. 
Dr. Alexander Keith. — Laodicea was the mother church of sixteen 
bishoprics. Its three theatres, and the immense circus, which was capable of 
containing upwards of 30,000 spectators, the spacious remains of which are yet 
to be seen, give proof of the greatness of its ancient wealth and population, and 
indicate too strongly that in that city, where Christians were rebuked, without 
exception, for their lukewarmness, there were multitudes who were lovers of 




> 



REVELATION XXI. 961 

pleasure more than lovers of God. The fate of Laodicea, though opposite, has 
been no less marked than that of Philadelphia. There are no sights of grandeur 
nor scenes of temptation around it now. Its own tragedy may be briefly told. 
It was lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot; and therefore it was loathsome in 
the sight of God. It was loved, and rebuked, and chastened, in vain. And it 
has been blotted from the world. It is now as desolate as its inhabitants were 
destitute of the fear and love of God ; and as the church of the Laodiceans was 
devoid of true faith in the Saviour and zeal in his service, it is, as described by 
Dr. Smith, "utterly desolate, and without any inhabitant, except wolves, and 
jackals, and foxes." A fearful significancy is thus given to the terrific denun- 
ciation, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew 
thee out of my mouth." — Evidence of Prophecy, p. 259. 

THE NEW EARTH. 

Rev. xxi : 1. — And saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth 
were passed away ; and there was no more sea. 

Principal J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. R. S. — If it pleased God to create in 
the beginning an earth "formless and void," and to elaborate from this all that 
has since existed, who are we, to say that the plan was not the best ? Nor would 
it detract from our view of the creative wisdom and power if we were to hold 
that in ages to come the sun may experience the same change that has befallen 
the earth, and may become "black as sackcloth of hair," preparatory, perhaps, 
to changes which may make him also the abode of life; or if the earth, cooling 
still further, should, like our satellite the moon, absorb all its waters and gases 
into its bosom, and become bare, dry and parched, until there shall be "no 
more sea," how do we know but that then there shall be no more "need of the 
sun," because a better light may be provided? Or that there may not be a 
new baptism of fire in store for the earth, whereby, being melted with fervent 
heat, it may renew its youth in the fresh and heavenly loveliness of "a new 
heaven and a new earth," free from all the evils and imperfections of the 
present? — Story of the Earth and Man, p. 15. 

Dr. William Fraser. — There is to be "dissolution," not annihilation; there 
is to be a new economy, "a new heaven and a new earth." The sublime 
announcements of St. Peter and of the Apocalyptic Seer, so long accepted by 
many apologists as invested with merely poetic drapery, and so long sneered at 
as sensational by rigorous physicists, have been rescued from misinterpretation. 
The statement that "there shall be no more sea," can only be ridiculed by 
those who are ignorant of the truths which the natural sciences have already 
evolved and vindicated. — Blending Lights, p. 31. 

See 2 Peter iii: 10 and 13. 

CONCLUSION. 

Daniel March, D. D. — So we might go over all the lands named in 
the Bible, and search through all the museums that are stored with relics from 
the graves of the past, and we should gather from all our researches increasing 



962 TESTIMONY OF THE AGES. 

light to throw upon the page of Divine Revelation. The student of the Bible 
has nothing to fear, but everything to gain, from the increase of knowledge on 
all subjects, from all sources, among all classes of men. No matter how far the 
boldest and keenest inquirers may carry their investigations, every real dis- 
covery, every established fact in science, in history, in nature, must be in 
harmony with the Word of God, and must promote its mission of light and 
instruction in the world. 

Let the astronomer explore the heavens and trace the pathway of worlds on 
the high fields of immensity. Let him analyze the floating fire-mist in the 
midnight sky, and conjecture the countless centuries that must pass while it is 
condensing and rounding itself into suns and systems. Let the geologist mine 
his way down to the foundations of the earth, and read the inscriptions which 
the centuries have written on the eternal rocks. Let the naturalist trace 
connection and development along all the ascending grades of being, from the 
floating slime of the sea to the full-formed and perfect man. Let the physiolo- 
gist trace, if he can, the electric chain with which the immortal mind is darkly 
bound to its perishable prison of flesh. Let the linguist find out what he can 
from the study of all languages and all literature concerning the unity or 
diversity of race. Let the sacred record itself be subjected to the most severe 
and exhaustive criticism in every statement of fact and in every declaration of 
principle. Let tireless millions run to and fro through all the earth, and in- 
crease all departments of human knowledge, until the student stands aghast at 
the mountainous accumulation. Still the one book of Divine Revelation shall 
be in harmony with all truth. For its full, perfect vindication before the world, 
it is only necessary that students, critics and common people shall become 
honest, diligent, candid disciples of the truth. — Researches and Travel in Biblt 
Lands, in ''Wood's Animals of the Bible," p. 710. 



A List 

Of the Principal Authors, Inscriptions and Records, 

WHOSE TESTIMONIES ARE GIVEN IN THIS WORK, 

WITH NOTES OF THE TIMES, LANGUAGES, AND PLACES IN WHICH THEY WERE WRITTEN. 



A. 

ABERCROMBIE, JOHN, M. D., an eminent Scotch physician, author of Intellectual Philos- 
ophy, The Philosophy of Moral Feelings, etc. 

ABGAR THE BLACK, king of Odessa on the Euphrates, a contemporary of Christ, and the 
author of a remarkable letter which he addressed to Him. 

ABYDENUS, a Greek historian of the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians ; flourished about 
B. C. 268. 

ADDISON, JOSEPH, an accomplished British Essayist, and chief contributor to the Spectator. 

yELIAN, a Greek writer, author of Various Histories, etc. ; flourished about A. D. 220. 

^ESCHYLUS, a Greek poet, author of seventy tragedies, of which seven only are extant, born 
B.C. 525. 

AGASSIZ, PROF. LOUIS, Geologist and Ichtheologist, author of the Natural History of the 
United States, etc. 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, a pupil of Aristotle, afterward king of Macedon, and Con- 
queror of the East ; died B. C. 323. 

ALEXIS, a Greek Comic Poet, author of numerous pieces for the stage ; flourished about B. C. 

330- 
ALFORD, REV. HENRY, D. D., a distinguished biblical scholar, Dean of Canterbury, author 

of Notes on the Greek New Testament, etc. 
ANACHARSIS, a Scythian philosopher, a friend of Solon, and the author of many wise 

sayings; flourished about B. c. 600. 
ANACREON, a Greek Lyric Poet, of whose writings a few fragments only have come down to 

us; flourished B. c. 559. 
ANAXANDRIDES, a talented Greek writer, the author of sixty-five comedies ; he was born at 

Camirus in Rhodes. 
ANDERSON, LIEUT. S., R. E., Surveyor of the Holy Land in the service of the Palestine 

Exploration Fund. 
ANTHON, CHARLES, LL. D., Professor of Greek in Columbia College, New York, author 

of Classical Dictionary, etc. 
ANTONINUS, a Roman emperor, distinguished for his wisdom, virtue, and mildness ; died 

A. D. 161. 
ANTONY, MARCUS, an illustrious Roman orator and statesman; died B. C. 87. 
APAM^EAN MEDAL, bearing the figures of the ark, of Noah and his wife going forth there- 
from, struck in the reign of Philip the Elder. 
APPIAN, a native of Alexandria, distinguished for his forensic abilities and the author of a 

Roman History ; flourished about A. D. 1 10. 

59 (963) 



564 A LIST OF AUTHORS. 

APOLLONIUS RHODIUS, a Greek poet, author of the Argonaut Expedition, and Chief 

Librarian at Alexandria; flourished B. c. 194. 
ARATUS, a poet and physician of Cilicia, author of Astronomical Poem, Signs from Jove, etc. ; 

flourished B. C. 270. 
ARGYLL, DUKE OF, a Scotch nobleman of great ability and learning, author of The Reign 

of Law, Primeval Man, etc. 
ARISTOPHANES, a Greek poet and actor, author of numerous comedies, of which eleven are 

still extant ; born in ^Egina, about B. c. 450. 
ARISTOTLE, a celebrated Greek philosopher, author of valuable works on logic, metaphysics, 

morals, etc. ; born B. C. 384, and died b. c. 321. 
ARRIAN, a Greek historian, author of Affairs of India, Epistle to Hadrian, Dissertations on 

Philosophy , etc. ; flourished A. D. 134. 
ARUNDELL, an English traveller, author of Discoveries in Asia Minor. 
ASSUR-BANIPAL, an Assyrian monarch, whose records have been recovered from the ruins 

of Nineveh ; flourished in the seventh century B. C. 
ASSYRIAN INSCRIPTIONS, written on Tablets of clay and marble, and exhumed from the 

ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, and other places; these tablets are very numerous, and con- 
tain the records of many kings and dynasties. 
ATHENyEUS, a native of Egypt, author of Deipnosophistce, a work illustrative of the private 

life of the ancient Greeks ; flourished in the beginning of the third century, A. D. 
ATHENAGORAS, an early Christian Father, author of an Apology for the Christians to Marcus 

Aurelius; flourished A. D. 180. 
AUGUSTINE, born A. D. 359, a teacher of Rhetoric at Rome, afterward Bishop of Hippo, 

and a voluminous writer. 
AULUS GELLIUS, a Latin writer of the second century; author of Attic Nights, a work 

containing much interesting information. 



BABYLONIAN TABLETS, belonging to the Library of Assur-banipal, and originally written 

in the seventeenth century B. C. 
BACHMAN, author of a very able work on the Unity of the Human Race. 
BACON, LORD FRANCIS, English statesman and philosopher, author of the celebrated 

Novum Organum Scientiarum, etc.; born A. D. 1561. 
BAILEY, REV. HENRY, B. D., Warden of St. Augustine's College, contributor to Smith's 

Dictionary of the Bible, etc. 
BARNABAS, companion of St. Paul, author of an interesting Epistle highly esteemed in the 

ancient church, and still extant. 
BARNES, REV. ALBERT, an eminent American Divine, author of Notes on Job, Isaiah, 

Daniel, and the whole of the New Testament. 
BARROW, ISAAC, D. D., an English scholar, distinguished both as a mathematician and a 

Divine ; born A. D. 1630. 
BARTOLEMEO, author of Critica Biblica. 
BEAUFORT, CAPTAIN, author of Karamania. 
BENOMI, JOSEPH, F.R. S., author of Aineveh and its Palaces, etc. 
BERKELEY, REV. GEORGE, D. D., a distinguished metaphysician, bishop of Cloyne, author 

of numerous works ; died A. D. 1753. 
BEROSUS, a Babylonian historian, astronomer and priest; lived B. C. 320. 
BERTHOLDT, the author of a learned work on the Prophecy of Daniel. 
BEVAN, WILLIAM LATHAM, M. A., Vicar of Hay, England, and contributor to Smith's 

Dictionary of the Bible. 
BION, a bucolic poet, born at Smyrna, B. c. 280. 



A LIST OF AUTHORS. 965 

BISCOE, author of a valuable Treatise on Roman Law. 

BLAKESLEY, REV. J. W., B. D., Canon of Canterbury, Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- 

bridge, contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bib'le. 
BLOOMFIELD, REV. S. T., D. D., editor of Greek New Testament. 
BOCHART, REV. SAMUEL, a French Divine, author of Hierozicon, etc. 
BONAR, REV. H., D. D., a Scotch Divine, author of the Land of Promise, etc. 
BORSIPPA INSCRIPTIONS, exhumed from ruins on the Euphrates. 
BOTTA, French consul at Mosul, Explorer of the ruins of Kouyunjik and Khorsabad, discov* 

erer of Inscriptions, etc. 
BOYLE, ROBERT, an English philosopher of the rank of Bacon and Newton ; died A. D. 

1691. 
BRADLEY, REV. CHARLES, Vicar of Glasbury, author of Discourses, etc. 
BROOKE, CHARLES, M. A., F. R. S., consulting surgeon of Westminster Hospital, London. 
BROUGHAM, LORD, a British Statesman, author of a work on Natural Theology, etc. 
BROWN, REV. JOHN, D. D., Professor of Exegetical Theology, Edinburgh. 
BROWNLEE, REV. WILLIAM C, D. D., an American Divine. 

BUCKINGHAM, a celebrated traveller, author of Travels in Mesopotamia, Arabia, etc. 
BUCKLAND, REV. WILLIAM, D. D., Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the univer« 

sity of Oxford, author of the fifth Bridgwater Treatise. 
BULLOCK, REV. W. T., M. A., secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel iu 

Foreign Parts. 
BUNSEN, CHEVALIER, author of a Treatise on Ethnology, Egypt s Place in History, etc. 
BURCKHARDT, a Swiss traveller through Syria, Nubia, Egypt and Central Africa. 
BURDER, REV. SAMUEL, author of Oriental Customs, Literature, etc. 
BURR, REV. E. F., D. D., an American Divine, author of Ecce Caelum, Pater Mundi, etc. 
BUSH, REV. GEORGE, D. D., Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in New York 

University, author of Notes on the Pentateuch, etc. 
BUSHNELL, REV. HORACE, D. D., an American Divine, author of Nature and the Super- 
natural, etc. 



CAESAR, JULIUS, Roman General and Dictator, the author of Commentaries on the Gallic 
Wars, History of the Civil Wars, etc. ; born B. c. 100. 

CALLIMACHUS, a poet and grammarian of Alexandria; flourished B. C. 256. 

CALMET, AUGUSTINE, an erudite French Divine, author of a Dictionary of the Bible. 

CAMPBELL, REV. GEORGE, D. D., F. R. S., a Scotch Divine, translator of the Gospels, etc 

CAMPBELL, a Scotch explorer, author of African Light. 

CARNE, an English traveller, author of Letters from the East. 

CARPENTER, DR. WILLIAM, a distinguished British scientist, author of General and Com- 
parative Physiology, etc. 

CAVE, REV. WILLIAM, D. D., author of The Lives, Acts, and Martyrdoms of the Apostles. 

CATO, an illustrious Roman statesman and military commander, author of a work on Agriculture, 
Orations, etc. ; born B. C. 232. 

CATULLUS, a Latin writer, author of a number of poems ; born at Verona, B. c. 87. 

CELSUS, an Epicurean philosopher and a violent enemy of Christianity; author of a work 
entitled A True Discourse, and of another on Magic and Sorcery ; flourished about A. D. 
140. 

CENSORINUS, a Latin Grammarian and Philosopher, author of works entitled The Birth- 
Day, Metrics, Geometry, etc. ; flourished A. D. 238. 

CHiEREMON, a philosopher and historian of Alexandria, tutor of Nero, author of Egyptian 
Antiquities, Egyptian Religion, etc. ; died about A. D. 50. 



966 A LIST OF AUTHORS. 

CHALDEAN GENESIS; under this title have been grouped the accounts discovered among 

the ruins of Nineveh of the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Deluge, the Tower of Babel 

and the Times of the Patriarchs* 
CHALMERS, REV. THOMAS, D. D., an eminent Scotch Divine, the author of Astronomical 

Discourses, Evidences of Christianity, and numerous other valuable works. 
CH AMPOLLION, Interpreter of Egyptian Hieroglyphics, author of Egypt under the Pharaohs, 

etc. 
CHANDLER, REV. SAMUEL, D. D., one of the most eminent scholars of his day, author 

of A Vindication of the Christian Religion, The Nature and Use of Miracles, etc. ; died 

A. D. 1766. 
CHARDIN, SIR JOHN, author of Travels through Persia, etc. 
CHILD, DR. CHAPIN, an English Physician, author of Benedicite. 
CHINESE, the ancient books of the, embracing the Doctrines of Confucius, etc. 
CHRYSOSTOM, a Christian Father, born A. d. 344, Patriarch of Constantinople, and a volu- 
minous writer. 
CICERO, a Roman knight, orator and statesman ; the most accomplished character in the 

annals of Rome; author of Orations, etc.; born B. C. 106. 
CLARKE, REV. ADAM, LL. D., a distinguished linguistic scholar, and author of Commentary 

on the Bible. 
CLARKE, DR. E. D., author of Travels in the Holy Land. 

CLEANTHES, a Stoic, author of the celebrated Hymn to Jupiter ; born B. c. 300. 
CLEMENT, OF ALEXANDRIA, author of several Theological works; born a. d. 217. 
CLEMENT, Bishop of Rome, author of two Epistles addressed to the church at Corinth ; died 

A. D. 100. 
COMBE, DR. TAYLOR, author of Articles in Calmel's Dictionary. 
COOK, REV. F. C, M. A., chaplain in ordinary to the queen, contributor to Smith's Dictionary 

of the Bible. 
COOKE, JOSIAH P., Professor of Chemistry in Harvard University, author of Religion and 

Chemistry, The New Chemistry, etc. 
COOPER, W. R., Secretary of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, England. 
COTTON, RT. REV. G. E. L., D. D., Bishop of Calcutta, author of Articles in Smith's Dic- 
tionary of the Bible. 
COUCH, an English naturalist, author of The History of Fishes. 
CREATION TABLETS, embracing numerous very ancient records, exhumed from the ruins of 

Nineveh. 
CURTIUS, a Latin historian, author of The Life and Wars of Alexander the Great ; lived 

about the beginning of the Christian era. 
CYPRIAN, bishop of Carthage, an eloquent writer, author of an Exposition of the Lord's Prayer 

and numerous Epistles ; born A. d. 200. 
CYRUS THE GREAT, conqueror of Babylon and king of Persia; flourished B. C. 540. 

D. 

D'ARVIEUX, a French writer and explorer, author of Travels in Arabia. 

DANA, JAMES, LL. D., Professor of Geology in Yale College, author of Manual of Geology, 

etc. 
DARWIN, PROF. CHARLES, LL. D., author of the Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, 

etc. 
DAVY, SIR HUMPHREY, an eminent British chemist, inventor of the Safety Lamp, etc. 
DAWSON, J. W., LL. D., F. R. S., Principal of McGill University, author of The Origin of 

the World, Story of the Earth and Man, etc. 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE of the United States of America. 



A LIST OF AUTHORS. 967 

DELTTZSCH, author of a learned Commentary on Daniel. 

DEMOSTHENES, prince of Greek orators; born B. c. 385. 

DICK, THOMAS, LL. D., author of The Philosophy of Religion, Sidereal Heavens, The Chris- 
tian Philosopher, etc. 

DIODORUS SICULUS, author of a Universal History, written in forty books, of which fifteen 
are extant ; lived B. c. 50. 

DIOGENES LAERTIUS, a historian of Cilicia, author of The Lives of the Poets, written in 
ten books; flourished about A. D. 2IO. 

DION YSIUS H ALICARN ASSUS, a Greek Rhetorician, author of a History of Rome in twenty- 
two books ; flourished B. c. 20. 

DIUS, author of a Phoenician History referred to and quoted by Josephus in Contra Apion. 

DODDRIDGE, REV. PHILIP, D. D., author of the Family Expositor, Rise and Progress 
of Religion in the Soul, etc. 

DRUMMOND, SIR WILLIAM, author of a learned work entitled Origines. 

DWIGHT, REV. TIMOTHY, D. D., LL. D., President of Yale College, author of A System 
of Theology. 

E. 

EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS, their pictorial representations and Hieroglyphic Records. 
ELLICOT, REV. CHARLES JOHN, D. D., bishop of Gloucester, England, a writer in 

Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
ELSNER, author of Observations Sacra in Novi Fcederis Libros. 
EMMERSON, the writer of the Letters from the yEgean. 
EPICTETUS, a Stoic philosopher, author of eight books of Dissertations, and a manual of 

mor il precepts ; flourished A. D. 90. 
ERPEN, T., author of Arabic Grammar, Notes on Arabic Poetry, etc. 
ESAR HADDON'S Records, inscribed in the seventh century b. c, and found in the ruins of 

Nineveh. 
ESDRAS, author of the book bearing his name in the Apocrypha. 
EUPOLEMON, fragments of whose writings have been preserved in those of Eusebius and 

Polyhistor. 
EURIPIDES, an accomplished Greek scholar, and the author of numerous Tragedies ; born at 

Salamis b. c. 480. 
EUSEBIUS, the father of ecclesiastical history, and the author of several other valuable works; 

born A. D. 270. 

F. 

FABER, REV. GEORGE STANLEY, B. D., a clergyman of the Church of England, author 

of Difficulties of Infidelity, Dissertations on the Prophets, etc. 
FARRAR, REV. F. W., D. D., F. R. S., Master of Harrow School, England, author of the 

Life of Christ, the Life and Work of Paul, etc. 
FFOULKES, PROF. EDWARD S„ M. A., Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford; and author of 

numerous Articles in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
FISHER, REV. GEORGE PARK, D. D., Professor in Yale College, contributor to Smith's 

Dictionary of t lie Bible. 
FIGI ISLANDERS, their traditions, as collected by several missionaries. 
FIGUIER, LOUIS, a French Geologist, author of Primitive Man, The World before the 

Deluge, etc. 
FRANCIS, MAJOR B. A., author of Notes from my Journal. 
FRASER, REV. WILLIAM, LL. D., a Scotch Divine, author of Blending Lights. 

G. 

GAGE, REV. W. L., author of Studies in Bible Lands, and editor of Ritter's Comparative 
Geography of Palestine. 



968 A LIST OF AUTHORS. 

GARDEN, REV. FRANCIS, M. A., Dean of Her Majesty's Chapel Royal; contributor to 
Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

GEIB, author of a Treatise on Roman Law. 

GENTOO CODE., or the Hindoo System of Laws and Ethics. 

GIBBON, EDWARD, historian, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 

GINSBURG, DR., Translator of the Moabite Stone. 

GOGUET, author of Origine des Lois. 

GOOD, DR. MASON, F. R. S., author of The Book of Nature, etc. 

GRAHAM, CYRIL, an English scholar and explorer, author of Travels in Syria. 

GREGORY NAZIANZEN, a native of Cappadocia, Bishop of Constantinople, author of 
sermons, poems and letters ; born about A. d. 300. 

GROTIUS, the learned author of Annotations on the Old and New Testaments, etc. 

GROVE, GEORGE, of Crystal Palace, an eminent antiquarian, and contributor to Smith's Dic- 
tionary of the Bible. 

GUYOT, ARNOLD, Professor of Physical Geography in Princeton College, author of Earth 
and Man, 

H. 

HACKETT, H. B., D. D., LL. D., Professor of Theology in Rochester Seminary, editor of the 
American Edition of Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

HALDANE, ROBERT, author of Evidence of Divine Revelation. 

HALL, CAPTAIN BASIL, English Navigator, author of Voyages of Discovery. 

HALLEY, DR., British mathematician and astronomer, contributor to The Philosophical Trans- 
actions. 

HARMER, REV. THOMAS, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, author of 
Observations on Scripture. 

HARRIS, JOHN, D. D., President of New College, London; author of Pre-Adamite Earth, 
Man Primeval, etc. 

HARTLEY, REV. JOHN, author of Researches in Greece. 

HAWSON, REV. JOHN SAUL, D. D., Principal of the Collegiate Institution of Liverpool, 
author of the Life and Epistles of St. Paul, etc. 

HAYMAN, REV. HENRY, B. D., Head master of Cheltenham Grammar School, Fellow of 
St. John's College, Oxford, and contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

HELL, HOMAIRE DE, author of Book of Travels. 

HENGSTENBERG, author of sEgypten und Mose, etc. 

HERODIAN, a Greek historian; flourished in the third century of the Christian era. 

HERODOTUS, an extensive traveller, and the Father of History ; born B. C. 484. 

HERSCHEL, SIR JOHN, Astronomer Royal of England, author of Outlines of Astronomy ', 
Lectures on Scientific Subjects, etc. 

HESIOD, one of the most ancient of Greek writers, and the author of Opera et Dies; flourished 
about B. c. 735. 

HIEROGLYPHICS, of Egypt, as deciphered on her Temples, Tombs and Obelisks. 

HINDOO SACRED BOOKS, see Gentoo Code. 

HITCHCOCK, EDWARD, LL. D., Professor of Geology in Amherst College, author of Ele- 
mentary Geology, etc. 

HODGE, CHARLES, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Theology in Princeton Seminary, author of 
a System of Theology, etc. 

HOLLAND, F. W., F. R. G. S., an extensive traveller in Bible Lands, author of Peninsula of 
Sinai, etc. 

HOGG, DR., author of A Visit to Alexandria, Damascus, and Jerusalem. 

HOMER, the well-known Greek Poet, author of the Iliad, and Odyssey ; lived B. C. 968. 

HORACE, a lyric Latin Poet, author of Satires and Epistles; born b. c. 65. 



A LIST OF AUTHORS. 969 

HORNE, THOMAS HARTWELL, B. D., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; author 

of Introduction to the Critical Study of the Bible. 
HOUGHTON, REV. WILLIAM, M. A., F. L. S., Rector of Preston, England; author of 

Articles in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
HUMBOLDT, BARON, a celebrated German Traveller, author of Cosmos, Travels, etc. 
HUNT, ROBERT, author of Panthea, Poetry of Science, etc. 
HUNTER, REV. HENRY, D. D., author of Sacred Biography. 
HUXLEY, THOMAS HENRY, LL. D., F. R. S., a distinguished English naturalist, author of 

Man's Place in Nature, Lay Sermons, etc. 

I. 

INDIANS, North and South American, their various Traditions. 

IRBY AND MANGLES, the celebrated authors of Travels in the East. 

IREN^EUS, author of a great work, in five books, against Heresies ; Bishop of Lyons, in France; 

died a martyr, A. D. 202. 
IRVING, a Scotch Divine, author of a Discourse on the Visions of Daniel. 
ISOCRATES, an Athenian orator, author of numerous Orations, of which twenty-one are 

extant ; born B. c. 436. 
IZDUBAR, the Legend of, relating to the Deluge, from the Nineveh Tablets. 

J. 

JAHN, DR. JOHN, Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Vienna, author of 

Biblical Archceology. 
JAY, REV. WILLIAM, an English Divine, author of Morning and Evening Exercises. 
JENKS, PROF. W., D. D., Editor of Co77iprehensive Co?nmentary. 
JEROME, ST., a learned Christian Father, Reviser of the Vulgate, or Latin translation of the 

Bible; born A. D. 331. 
JOHNSTON, PROF. J. T., M. A., F. R. S., author of Chemistry of Common Life. 
JORTIN, JOHN, D. D., an eminent English Theologian, author of Notes on Ecclesiastes. 
JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS, the Jewish historian, author of Jewish Antiquities, Jewish Wars, 

etc. ; born at Jerusalem A. D. 37. 
JUSTIN, a Christian Father, born at Shechem, author of two Apologies for Christians ; died a 

martyr, A. D. 165. 
JUVENAL, a Latin Satirist ; flourished A. d. 82. 

K. 

KALISCH, DR., author of a Commentary on Exodus. 

KEITH, ALEXANDER, D. D., author of Evidence from Prophecy, Demonstration of the 

Truth of Christianity, etc. 
KENDRICK, J., M. A., author of Ancieitt Egypt under the Pharaohs. 
KEPPEL, MAJOR, author of Narrative of a Journey from India to England. 
KING, DAVID, LL. D., author of Principles of Geology Explained. 
KITTO, JOHN, D. D., author of Pictorial Bible, Daily Biblical Illustrations, etc. 
KORAN, the Mahommedan Code of Religion. 
KOUYUNJIK, ancient Relics and Inscriptions found there. 

KUINOEL, PROF., a learned writer on the book of Hosea, and the Acts of the Apostles. 
KURTZ, REV. JOHN HENRY, D. D., Professor of Church History in the University of 

Dorpat, author of Bible and Astrono?ny, etc. 

L. 

LARDNER, REV. NATHANIEL, D. D., author of Credibility of the Gospels, etc. 



970 A LIST OF AUTHORS. 

LAYARD, SIR AUSTEN H., D. C. L., author of Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and 

Babylon, etc. 
LENGERKE, Professor of Theology at Konigsberg, and author of a learned work on 

Daniel. 
LENORMANT, author of Manuel d ' Hisloire. 
LEPSIUS, an eminent linguist, author of Letters from Egypt. 
LEWIS, PROF. TAYLOR, author of Six Days of Creation. 
LIGHT, CAPTAIN, author of Travels in Egypt and the East. 
LIGHTFOOT, REV. JOHN, D. D., a distinguished Scholar and Divine of England, author 

of numerous books on the Scriptures. 
LIGHTFOOT, PROF. J. B., D. D., contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
LLOYD, REV. WILLIAM, D. D., Bishop of St. Asaph, author of Dissertation on Daniel. 
LINUS, one of the earliest heathen writers; his exact date is unknown. 
LIVY, a famous Latin writer, author of a History in 142 books, of which thirty-five are still 

extant ; born B. C. 59. 
LOOMIS, ELIAS, LL. D., Professor of Philosophy and Astronomy in Yale College, author of 

Meteorology, etc. 
LOWTH, REV. ROBERT, D. D., Bishop of Limerick, author of a New Translation of 

Isaiah, etc* 
LUC AN, a Latin writer, author of various Poems, of which the Pharsalia only has been pre- 
served ; died a victim of Nero, A. D. 65. 
LUCIAN, an Epicurean satirist, wrote in Greek, over eighty of whose productions still remain ; 

flourished A. D. 160. 
LYCOPHRON, a poet of Alexandria, author of Cassandra ; flourished B. C. 259. 
LYELL, SIR CHARLES, a distinguished English geologist, author of Principles of Geology, 

Elements of Geology, etc. 
LYMAN, author of the Historical Chart. 

M. 

MACCABEES, two Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament. 

MACHIAVEL, author of History of Florence, and The Prince. 

MACLAURIN, COLIN, author of Account of Newton's Philosophy. 

MACMILLAN, REV. HUGH, an English Clergyman, author of First Forms of Vegetation, 

Bible Teachings in Nature, etc. 
McCOSH, JAMES, LL. D., President of Princeton College, author of Divine Government, 

Typical Forms, etc. 
MADLER, J. H., Professor of Astronomy in Dorpat University, author of Popular Astronomy, 

etc. 
MAGI, the ancient caste of Priests and Wise Men among the Persians, whose principles and 

practices are set forth in the Zendavesta of Zoroaster. 
MAIMONIDES, a Jewish Doctor of the Law, author of a Commentary on the Mischna ; born 

A. d. 1121. 
MALCOLM, SIR JOHN, author of a History of Persia. 
MALDONATO, JOANNES, author of Commentarii in Quatuor Evangelia. 
MANETHO, an Egyptian writer, author of History of Egypt ; lived B. c 250. 
M ARCELLINUS, a Latin writer, author of a History of the Roman E?nperors ; died A. D. 390. 
MARCH, DANIEL, D. D., an American Divine, author of Night Scenes of the Bible, Walks 

and Homes of Jesus, etc. 
MARIANA, author of a History of Spain. 

MARTIAL, a Roman Courtier and Poet, author of Epigrams in fourteen books ; born A. D. 43. 
MAUNDRELL, a celebrated traveller, author of a Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, etc. 



A LIST OF AUTHORS. 971 

MAXIMUS TYRIUS, a Gnostic philosopher, author of forty-one Dissertations on Theology, 

Morals and Philosophy, all extant ; flourished A. D. 200. 
MEAD, DR. RICHARD, author of Medica Sacra. 
MECHOACHANS, their Traditions of the Deluge. 
MENANDER, a comic poet of Athens, author of 108 comedies, of which a few fragments 

only remain ; born B. C. 342. 
MESOPOTAMIA, its ancient monuments and inscriptions. 
MEXICANS, their Traditions of Biblical events. 
MEYRICK, PROF. FREDERICK, M. A., Tutor of Trinity College, Oxford; contributor to 

Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
MEZENTIUS, king of Caere, whose exploits are related by Virgil ; reigned about b. c. 1000. 
MICHAELIS, J. D., author of Comment on the Laws of Moses. 
MIGNAN, CAPT., author of Travels, etc. 
MILLER, HUGH, a Scotch Geologist, author of Testimony of the Rocks, Footprints of the 

Creator, etc. 
MILLINGTON, REV. THOMAS, M. A., author of Testimony of the Heathen. 
MILMAN, REV. H. H., author of History of Christianity, Notes to Gibbon, etc. 
MIS UNA, or the Traditions of the Jews. 
MIVART, ST. GEORGE, F. R. S., an eminent English naturalist, author of Genesis of Species, 

etc. 
MOABITE STONE, an inscribed monument of great antiquity and interest, discovered in the 

territory of the Moabites, in 1 868. 
MONROE, REV. VERE, author of Summer Rambles in Syria. 
MOORE, GEORGE, M. D., author of the Power of the Soul over the Body, etc. 
MORIER, author of a Journey through Persia. 
MORRISON, REV. ROBERT, D. D., Missionary to China, Translator of the Scriptures into 

Chinese, etc. 
MOSCUS, a Poet of Syracuse, author of four Idyls still extant ; lived B. c. 250. 
MOSHEIM, J. L., D. D., a German Divine, author of Ecclesiastical History, etc. 
MURRAY, JOHN, F. S. A., author of Revelation Demonstrated. 
MUS/EUS, a Grecian Bard, supposed to have lived B. C. 1400. 

N. 

NEIL, DR., contributor to the Philosophical Transactions. 

NEWMAN, REV. J. P., D. D., author of From Dan to Beersheba. 

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC, the great astronomer and philosopher of England, author of Optics, 
Principia, etc. 

NEWTON, REV. THOMAS, D. D., Bishop of Bristol, author of Dissertations on the Proph- 
ecies. 

NUGENT, LORD, author of Classical and Sacred Lands. 

o. 

OBELISK, THE BLACK, an Assyrian monument, bearing important inscriptions, discovered 
at Nimroud. 

OLEARIUS, author of Travels in Palestine, etc. 

OLIN, DR., author of Travels in the East. 

OPPERT, PROF. JULES, of Paris, Translator of Assyrian Inscriptions. 

ORIGEN, a Christian Father, a great scholar, and a great writer, and one of the most won- 
derful of men; born A. D. 185. 

ORPHEUS, one of the earliest of heathen writers, supposed to have flourished before the 
Trojan War, 



972 A LIST OF AUTHORS. 

OVID, a Roman Poet, author of Metamorphoses, etc. ; born b. C. 43. 

OWEN, PROFESSOR, F. R. S., an eminent English scientist, author of a work on Paleon- 
tology, etc. 

P. 

PADMA-PURANA, a sacred book of the Hindoos. 

PALEY, DR. WILLIAM, author of Natural Theology, Evidences of Christianity, Horce 
Polince, etc. 

PALMER, E. H., M. A., Professor of Arabic in Cambridge University, member of the Ord- 
nance Survey of Sinai, author of The Desert of the Exodus. 

PAPIAS, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, author of Traditional Accounts of Christ and his 
Apostles ; flourished about A. D. 1 00. 

PAPYRI, ancient Egyptian Records, of which a great number have been discovered. 

PATRICK, REV. SIMON, D. D., Bishop of Ely, author of Comments and Paraphrases on 
the Old Testament. 

PAUSANIAS, a Grecian traveller and geographer, author of Travels Through Greece, in ten 
books; lived in the beginning of second century. 

PEARCE, REV. ZACHARY, D. D., Bishop of Rochester, England, author of Comments on 
the Gospels and Acts. 

PENROSE, SIR CHARLES, author of a Manuscript work on St. Paul's Voyage and Ship- 
wreck. 

PEROWNE, PROF. JOHN JAMES, B. D., Vice- Principal of St. David's College, Lampeter, 
Wales; contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

PEROWNE, REV. T. T., B. D., Fellow of Corpus Christi, Cambridge; author of several 
articles in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

PERSIUS, a Roman Poet, author of six satires ; born A. D. 34. 

PETRONIUS, a Roman, author of Satyrion ; lived in the reign of Nero. 

PHCENICIAN RECORDS, as quoted by Josephus, in Cont. Ap. 

PHILEMON, a Comic Poet of Greece, of whose works fragments only remain; born B. C. 371. 

PHILLOTT, REV. HENRY WRIGHT, M. A., Rector of Stanton, England; contributor to 
Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

PHILO JUD/EUS, a Jew of Alexandria, a very learned man, and author of several important 
works ; born A. D. 40. 

PHILOSTRATUS, author of the Life of Apollonius, Heroes of the Trojan War, Lives of the 
Sophists, etc. ; lived in the second century of the Christian era. 

PHOCYLIDES, an Ionian Poet, of whose writings some fragments only remain; flourished 
about b. C. 544, 

PILATE, Roman governor of Judea, whose Public Acts were preserved in the Roman 
Archives. 

PINDAR, a lyric Poet of Greece, five of whose poems are extant, complete ; died B. c. 442. 

PLATO, the Greek Philosopher, whose writings, which are on various subjects, have been pre- 
served complete; born B. C. 429. 

PLAUTUS, a Latin Comedian, twenty of whose productions are extant; born B. C. 254. 

PLINY, the Elder, bcrn A. D. 23; author of Historia Naturalis. 

PLINY, the Younger, born A. D. 61 ; Governor of Bithynia, and author of an interesting 
Epistle, concerning the Christians, to Trajan. 

PLUMTREE, PROF. EDWARD, M. A., a writer in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 

PLUTARCH, a Philosopher and Biographer of Beotia, the author of The Lives of forty-four 
distinguished men; lived A. D. 1 10. 

POLYvEMUS, a sophist of the time of Julius Caesar, author of Stratagematum. 

POLYBIUS, a historian of Arcadia, author of Universal History, of which the first five books 
are extant; born B. c. 204. 



A LIST OF AUTHORS. 973 

POLYCARP, a disciple of the Apostle John, Bishop of Smyrna; author of Epistles to the 

Philippians, partly preserved; suffered martyrdom A. D. 164. 
POLYNESIANS, their Traditions as collected by Missionaries. 
POOLE, EDWARD STANLEY, M. R. A. S., of S. Kensington Museum, England; author of 

Articles in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
POOLE, REGINALD STUART, of the British Museum, translator of Assyrian Inscriptions, 

and a contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
POPE, ALEXANDER, the English Poet. 
PORTER, J. LESLIE, M. A., Professor of Sacred Literature in Belfast College, author of 

Giant Cities of Bashan. 
PORTER, SIR ROBERT K., author of Travels in the East. 
PORTER, COMMODORE, an American Officer, author of Letters from Turkey. 
PORTEUS, REV. B., D. D., Bishop of Chester, author of Lectures on Matthew. 
POST, GEORGE E., M. D., Missionary in Syria, a writer in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
PRICHARD, JAMES COWLES, M. D., F. R. S., author of Physical History of Mankind. 
PRICHARD, PROF. CHARLES, Oxford, author of Address before the Church Congress, at 

Brighton, England. 
PRIDEAUX, REV. HUMPHREY, D. D., author of Connection of the Old and New Testa- 
ment History. 
PROCTOR, PROF. RICHARD A., F. R. A. S., English Astronomer, author of Other Worlds 

*han Ours, etc. 
PROPERTIUS, a Roman Poet ; flourished B. c. 50. 
PYTHAGORAS, the Grecian Philosopher, author of Aurea Carmina ; flourished b. c. 540. 

Q. 

QUINTILIAN, a Roman Rhetorician, author of Institutes of Eloquence, in twelve books; born 

A. D. 40. 
QUINTUS CURTIUS, a Latin Historian, author of the Life and Wars of Alexander ; flour- 

ished A. d. 50. 

R. 

RABBIS, the Jewish, their various writings on the Old Testament, the Mishna, etc. 

RAWLINSON, REV. GEORGE, M. A., Professor of Ancient History in Oxford University, 
Editor of Herodotus, author of Ancient Monarchies, etc. 

RAWLINSON, SIR HENRY, Translator of Cuneiform Inscriptions, contributions to the 
Journal of the Asiatic Society, etc. 

REAUMUR, author of Art de faire eclore les Poulots. 

RENAN, author of The Life of Jesus, The Life of Paul, etc. 

RHODIUS APOLLONIUS, a Poet of the second century, author of The Argonautic Expedi- 
tion. 

RICANT, SIR PAUL, author of Travels through Turkey. 

RICHARDSON, DR., author of Universal History. 

RITTER, KARL, author of Geography of Sinai and Palestine. 

ROBERTS, REV. J., member of the Royal Asiatic Society, and author of Oriental Illustra- 
tions. 

ROBINSON, EDWARD, D. D., author of Biblical Researches, etc. 

ROGET, P. M., F. R. C. P., Professor of Physiology in the Royal Institute of Great Britain, 
author of Animal and Vegetable Physiology, etc. 

ROLLIN, CHARLES, M. R. A. I., Principal of the University of Paris, author of Ancient 
History, etc. 

ROSELLINI, author of Monumenii dell 'Egilto. 



974 A LIST OF AUTHORS. 

R.OSENMULLER, author of Scholia, Mineralogy and Botany of the Bible, etc. 
ROUSSEAU, JOHN JAMES, an accomplished French writer, author of Emilius, etc. 
RULE, WILLIAM HARRIS, D.D., author of Oriental Records, Historical and Monumental. 

s. 

S ARGON, king of Babylon; began to reign B. c. 721 ; his annals were discovered at Khorsa- 

bad, and are the most extensive of all the Assyrian Inscriptions. 
SCHOTTGEN, C, author of Hone Hebraica et Tahnudicce in Universum Novum Testa- 

mentum. 
SCHUBERT, G. H. VON, author of Weltgeb, Naturlehre, etc. 
SCORESBY, CAPTAIN, R. N., an English Navigator, author of a Voyage to the Arctic 

Regions. 
SCOTT, REV. THOMAS, D. D., author of Commentary on the Scriptures, The Force of 

Truth, etc. 
SCOTT, SIR WALTER, the great Scotch writer, author of Waver ly Novels, Life of Napoleon, 

Ivanhoe, etc. 
SEDGWICK, PROF., an eminent English Geologist, and writer on that science. 
SEETZEN, an extensive German Traveller, and writer of Travels. 
SENECA, a Roman Moralist and Philosopher, author of fifteen works that are extant ; born 

b. c. 6. 
SENNACHERIB, son of Sargon, king of Babylon, began to reign B. c. 702; many of whose 

Inscriptions have been found at Kouyunjik. 
SHAKSPEARE, WILLIAM, the prince of British Dramatists. 
SHAW, DR. THOMAS, author of Travels through Barbary and the Levant. 
SILIUS ITALICUS, a Latin Poet, born A. D. 25. 

SIMONIDES, a Greek Poet, of whose writings but a fragment remains; died b. C. 490. 
SKINNER, MAJOR, the writer' of Journey over Land. 
SMITH, GEORGE, of the Department of Oriental Antiquities in the British Museum; author 

of Chaldean Account of Genesis, History of Assur-banipal, etc. 
SMITH, GOLD WIN, author of Lectures on the Study of History. 
SMITH, SIR J. E., author of Voyage of St. Paul. 
SOCRATES, the Athenian philosopher ; born B. c. 469. 
SOLON, the Athenian Law-giver; died B. c. 559. 

SOPHOCLES, a Greek Poet and Statesman, author of numerous Tragedies ; born B. C. 495. 
SPENCER, HERBERT, a distinguished English writer, author of numerous philosophical 

works. 
STANDARD INSCRIPTION, of Nebuchadnezzar, found at Babylon, engraved on a column 

of black basalt, in 619 lines. 
STANLEY, REV. ARTHUR PENRHYN, D. D., Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, 

Oxford ; author of Sinai and Palestine, etc. 
STATIUS, a distinguished Latin scholar, Preceptor of Domitian, and author of several poems ; 

born A. D. 61. 
STEPHENS, a celebrated English traveller through the East, author of Travels, etc. 
STOB/EUS, a writer of the fifth century ; author of An Anthology of Extracts. 
STOWE, PROF. CALVIN E., D. D., author of History of the Books of the Bible, of Articles 

in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, etc. 
STRABO, a Geograph r of Pontus, a native of Pontus, author of a Geography, in seventeen 

books, all extant ; born B. C. 54. 
STUART, MOSES, Professor of Sacred Literature in Andover Theological Seminary, author of 

Notes on Hebrews and Revelation. 
SUETONIUS, a Latin writer, author of The Lives of the Twelve Casars, extant; flourished 

A. D. Il6. 



A LIST OF AUTHORS. 975 

T. 

TABLET OF NEBO, found in the ruins of a temple of that deity. 

TACITUS, a Latin writer, author of The History of the Roman Emperors, extant in part; born 

a. d. 61. 
TALBOT, H. FOX, F. R. S., a translator of Cuneiform Inscriptions. 
TATIAN, a learned Christian writer, who flourished A. D. 1 50-190. 
TAYLOR, DR., author of Articles in Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible. 
TERRENCE, a Latin writer, author of six comedies; born B. c. 195. 
TERTULLIAN, a Roman Lawyer, and a Christian writer, author of Apologies for Christianity, 

Ecclesiastical Discipline, etc.; born A. D. 1 60. 
THEOCRITUS, a Poet of Syracuse, author of numerous Idyls ; flourished B.C. 285. 
THEODORET, a Greek Christian Father, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria, and a writer of Commen- 
taries ; born A. D. 390. 
THEOGNIS, a Greek Poet; flourished B. C. 550. 

THEOPHILUS, Bishop of Antioch, author of a work against Antolycus ; flourished A. D. 1 70. 
THEOPHRASTUS, a Greek philosopher, and the author of several books, of which a few are 

extant; flourished B.C. 322. 
THEOPHYLACT, a Greek Father, author of Commentaries on the Scriptures ; flourished A. D. 

1070, 
THOLUCK, A., D. D., Professor of Theology in the Royal University of Halle, author of 

Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, etc. 
THOMSON, SIR WILLIAM, a distinguished British Scientist. 

THOMSON, REV. W. M., D. D., missionary to Syria, author of The Land and the Book. 
THOMSON, REV. WILLIAM, D. D., Archbishop of York, contributor to Smith's Dictionary 

of the Bible. 
THOMPSON, REV. J. P., D. D., Pastor of the Tabernacle church, New York, and contributor 

to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
THOMPSON, REV. ROBERT ANCHOR, M. A., author of the Burnett prize-essay on Chris- 
tian Theism. 
THUCYDIDES, an Athenian writer, author of the History of the Peloponnesian War ; born 

B.C. 47I. 
TIBULLUS, a Roman knight, author of several Elegies and Panegyrics ; flourished B. c. So. 
TICHENDORF, an eminent linguistic scholar, author of Reise in den Orient, Wann wurden 

unsere Evangelien verfasst, etc. 
TRENCH, REV. RICHARD CHENEVIX, M. A., a writer on the Parables and Miracles of 

Christ. 
TRISTRAM, PROF. H. B., LL. D., F. R. S., author of Natural History of the Bible, The 

Land of Israel, etc. 
TWISLETON, HON. E. T. B., M. A., Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford ; author of Articles 

in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
TYNDALL, JOHN, LL. D., F. R. S., Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Royal Institution, 

London; author of Fragments of Science, The Theory of Sound, Heat a Mode of 

Motion, etc. 

u. 

ULPIAN, a Roman Jurist, author of Regulce Juris, Edictum Perpetuum, etc. ; flourished A. D. 

210. 
UKERT, author of JEgypten und Mose. 

UNITED STATES EXPEDITION, to the Jordan and Dead Sea. 
UPHAM, PROF. THOMAS, author of Mental Philosophy, etc. 
USHER, REV. JAMES, D. D., Archbishop of Armagh, author of Scripture Chronology. 



976 A LIST OF AUTHORS. 

V. 

VALERIUS MAXIMUS, a Roman writer, author of Memorable Events and Sayings ; died 

A. d. 31. 
VAN-LENNEP, REV. H. J., D. D., missionary in Syria, and author of Bible Lands. 
VEGETIUS, a Latin writer; flourished A. D. 386. 

VENABLES, REV. EDMUND, M. A., contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
VINCENT, DR., author of Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients. 
VIRGIL, the prince of Latin poets, born at Mantua, B. c. 70. 
VISHNU-PURANA, a Hindoo Sacred Book. 
VITRINGA, author of De Synagoga, Dissertationes Sacra, cc. 
VOLNEY, a French traveller, author of Ruins of Empires, etc. 
VON LITTROW, author of a Treatise on Astronomy. 

w. 

WALLACE, ALFRED RUSSELL, a British Naturalist, author of Natural Selection, etc. 
WARBURTON, REV. WILLIAM, D. D., Bishop of Gloucester, author of Divine Legation, 

etc. 
WARD, REV. WILLIAM, missionary to the Hindoos. 
WATSON, REV. RICHARD, D. D., F. R. S., Bishop of Llandaff, author of Reply to Gibbon, 

Reply to Paine, etc. 
WATSON, THOMAS, M. D., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, author of Practice 

of Physic, etc. 
WELLS, DR., author of Historical Geography of the Bible. 
WESTCOTT, PROF. B., M. A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Master of Harrow 

School, contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
WETSTEIN, author of Criticism on the New Testament. 
WHATELEY, REV. RICHARD, D. D., Archbishop of Dublin, author of numerous able 

works. 
WHEWELL, PROF. WILLIAM, D. D., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, author of the 

Bridgwater Treatise on Astronomy and General Physics. 
WHITBY, REV. DAVID, D. D., author of Comment on the Neiu Testament. 
WILKINSON, SIR. J. G., a distinguished Egyptologist, author of Ancient Egypt, etc. 
WILSON, CAPTAIN, R. E., Member of the Ordnance Survey of Palestine. 
WILSON, RAE, author of Travels in the Holy Land. 

WOLCOTT, REV. SAMUEL, D. D., contributor to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. 
WOOD, J. G., M. A., author of Animals of the Bible, etc. 
WORDSWORTH, REV. C. W., D. D., Canon of Westminster. 
WOLSEY, THEOD., D. D., LL. D., President of Yale College. 
WRIGHT, WILLIAM ALDIS, M. A., Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge. 

X. 

XENOPHON, an Athenian General, Historian and Philosopher; author of Cyropcedia, Memo-, 
rabilia, etc. 

Y. 

YOUNG, REV. EDWARD, D. D., author of Night Thoughts. 

YOUNG, DR. JOHN, author of Christ of History, and Creator and Creation. 



General Index. 



Aaron, scene last surveyed by, 201. 

Tomb of, 200. 
Abgar the Black, his letter to Jesus, 654. 
Ability, not sure of success, 458. 
Ablutions, religious, 177, 184. 
Abominations, secret, 891. 

Planted in the Temple, 594, 721. 
Abraham at Bethel, 82. 

Death of, 1 00. 

In Egypt, 81. 

Oak of, 92. 
Acoustics of Gerizim and Ebal, 232, 273. 
Acta Pilati, reference to, 738. 
Acts of the Apostles, when written, 789. 
Adder, character of, 121. 

Deaf, the, 409. 
Adoration, idolatrous, 381. 
Adramyttium, site and remains of, $36. 
Adria, the bounds of, 842. 
Adullam, the cave of, 268. 
Adultery, laws against, 211. 
^Egean Sea, voyage across, 82 1. 
^Egeadae, the origin of, 585. 
Affection, matrimonial, 190. 
Affections, set on things above, 900. 

Vile, among the heathen, 856. 
Affliction, public effects of, 484. 

Sent not willingly, 542. 
Agag, hewed in pieces, 262. 
Age, honor due to, 192. 
Golden, the, 46. 

Old, how warmed, 285. 
Silver, the, 56. 
Agitation, preceding Nebuchadnezzar, 574. 
Agora, the, at Athens, 812. 
Agrippa and Bernice, 834. 
dgrippina's revenge on her rival, 685. 



Ahab, in the Assyrian Inscriptions, 304, 321. 
Ahasuerus, character of, 355. 

Feast of, 357. 

War tent of, 357. 
Ahriman, 48, 49. 
Ai, site and remains of, 83. 
Air, beating the, 872. 
Alabaster, vessels of, 729. 

Alcyone, the pivot of the solar system, 392, 403. 
Alexander, adoration claimed by, 572. 

Booty of Babylon divided by, 533. 

Death of, 5S7, 596. 

Empire of, universal, 558. 

Empire of, divided, 577, 588, 596. 

Grief of, over Hephoestion. 619. 

Heirs of, murdered, 596. 

Leopard, a type of, 576. 

Pursuit of Darius, 586. 

Victories of, rapid, 577, 586, 587. 

Way prepared for, 491. 

Will of, supreme rule, 596. 
Alexandria, site and population of, 821. 

A corn port, 845. 
Almond tree, blossoming of, 199, 508. 
Alms, given in secret, 660. 
Alpha and Omega, 953. 
Alps, marine remains on, 22, 59. 
Altar, the, a refuge, 285. 

At Bethel, 335. 

Before the temple, 658. 

Noah's, 65. 

On Carmel, 307, 308. 

To the unknown God, 817. 
Altars of the Ninevites, 626, 
Altitude, influence of, on climate, 23. 
Amasis, Egypt in the reign of, 551. 
Ambition insatiable, 633. 
America, N., physical geography of, 24. 

(977) 



978 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Amestris, her woven robe, 685. 
Ammon, made as Gomorrah, 634. 

Ruins of, described, 547. 
Ammonites, the, extinguished, 548. 
Amphitheatres, exhibitions of, 869, 875. 
Amytis, queen of Babylon, 564. 
Ananias, high priest, 831. 

The house of, 794. 
Anaximenes, his request of Alexander, 459. 
Anchors cast from the stern, 843. 
Andes, effects of their position, 24. 
Angels, the fall of, 949. 

Ministry of, 925. 

Worship of, 900, 913. 
Anger, the folly of, 441, 444, 457. 

To be suppressed, 891. 
Angling, practised in Egypt, 632. 
Animal food in Egypt, 114. 
Animals, clean and unclean, 184. 

First, the, in the Sea, 31. 

Number of species, 424. 

Symbols of nations, 574. 

Tamable, all, 932. 
Annas and Caiaphas, 752. 
Announcement of the angels, 751. 
Answer, a soft, 442. 
Ant, the, storing food, 440. 

Wisdom and industry of, 439, 447. 
Ants, the agricultural, 448. 
Antediluvians, giants among the, 55. 

Longevity of, 54. 
Antioch in Pisidia, 802, 

In Syria, 797. 
Antiochus Epiphanes, ambition of, 588. 

Craft and deceit of, 591, 603. 

Death of, 591. 

Egypt invaded by, 602, 603. 

Jews subjugated by, 589. 

Kingdom gained by flattery, 602. 

Laws, new, made by, 604. 

Liberality of, profuse, 602. 

Temple defiled and plundered by, 589, 
604. 
Antiochus Magnus, death of, 601. 

Defeated by the Romans, 601. 

Egypt invaded by, 599. 

Islands captured by, 600. 

Syria recovered by, 598. 
Antiochus Theus, divorce and marriage of, 597. 

Poisoned by his wife, 597. 
Antipatris, site and remains of, 832. 
Antonia, the tower of, 829. 



Anxiety for the future, 662. 

Apamean, the, medal, 64. 

Aphek, the wall of, 3 12. 

Apis, golden calf an imitation of, 179, 181. 

How lodged and fed, 141. 
Apollonius, his cruelty to the Jews, 604. 
Apostacy, general, foretold, 906, 912. 
Apparel, royal, 364. 
Appeal to Caesar, 834, 835, 836. 
Appian Way, 847. 
Appii Forum, 848. 
Apples in Palestine, 461. 
Apries, pride* and presumption of, 523, 551. 
Arabia, the desert of, 393. 
Arabs, attempts to conquer the, 88. 

Character of, 86. 
Arbaces, his defeat of the Assyrians, 625. 
Arch, triumphal, of Titus, 714. 
Archaeology, summary of its testimonies, 494, 
Archelaus appointed king, 649. 

Great cruelties of, 650. 
Archery, drilling in, 276. 
Archimedes saving Syracuse, 459. 
Areopagus, the court of, 815. 
Aretas, war of, with Herod, 68l. 
Argob, the cities of, 207. 
Argos, maids of, 568. 
Ark, command to build the, 56. 

Birds sent out of, 63. 

Noah and family leaving, 64. 

Resting on a mountain, 63. 
Arms, building under, 353. 

Burning of, 406. 

Consecrated, 268, 338. 
Armor, spiritual, 904. 

Army, Roman, its approach to Jerusalem, 724. 
Arnon, identified, 206. 
Aromatics, laid with the dead, 748. 
Aroer, it's cities become folds, 478. 
Arrows, poisoned, 371. 
Artaynta, her request of Xerxes, 682. 
Arts, development of the, 53. 

Practised in the East, 178, 180. 

Tyrians excelled in, 340. 
Ashdod, situation of, 256, 613. 
Asher, predictions concerning, 122. 
Astaroth or Asterte, 240, 247. 
Asia, coasts of, 836, 837. 

Minor, provinces of, 806. 
Askelon, desolation of, 633, 639. 
Assembling, the, of Christians, 928. 
Asses, laden, 1 14. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



979 



Asses, wild, 393, 509. 
Assos, description of, 826. 
Assurbanipal, library of, 40. 
Assur-nasir-pal, annals of, 337. 
Assyria, relation of, to Babylonia, 75, 631. 

A field of evidences, 6. 
Assyrians, carrying away the gods, 489. 
Astarte, or Baal, 305. 
Astrologers, Chaldean, 499. 

Of the East, 647. 
Astyages, dreams of, 555. 
Atheism, the folly of, 401. 
Athenians seeking news, 816. 
Athens, description of, 81 1. 

Idolatry abounding in, 812. 
Atoms, not eternal, 16. 
Attalia, situation of, 805. 
Attitude in prayer, 293, 406. 
Augustus' Band, 836. 
Auroras, remarkable, 19. 
Authority of Christ demanded, 698. 
Avarice, the evils of, 447. 

The folly of, 456. 
Avenger of blood, 204. 
Ayoun Mousa, 155, 156. 
Azoic, the, period, 18. 
Azotus, site and condition of, 793. 

Baal, the figure of, 305. 

Prophets of, slain, 309. 
Babel, mound of, 475. 

Tower of, 78, 80. 
Babylon, brought down, 498. 

Conquered by the Medes and Persians, 
532. 

Decline and decay of, 474. 

Defence of, against Darius, 498. 

Description of, 472. 

Entered by the river's bed, 495, 536. 

Excavations in her ruins, 476. 

Extent and grandeur of, 565. 

Filled with enemies, 537. 

Gates of, 495. 

Grinding for Cyrus, 498. 

Her men of war as women, 537. 

Night of her capture, 572. 

Occupied by wild beasts, 475, 536. 

Present aspect of her site, 475, 534, 535. 

Prophecy concerning, fulfilled, 476, 518. 

Plundered by Demetrius, 534. 

Summary of predictions of, 541. 
60 



Babylon, taken in a night of revelry, 480, 536, 

538. 

Uninhabitable, 474. 

Walls and quays, 474. 

Walls of, destroyed, 534, 541. 

Wealth of, taken and divided, 533. 
Babylonia, primitive, 73, 75. 

A region of waste, 534. 
Babylonian Captivity, end of, 518, 519. 
Babylonians in dismay, 471, 537. 
Baldness, disgrace of, 315. 
Balm of Gilead, medicinal, 512, 524. 
Baptist, the, Death of, 682. 

Doubts and depression of, 674. 

Food and raiment of, 650. 

Imprisonment of, 681. 

Influence over the people, 699. 

Ministry of, 740, 751. 

Whence his Baptism, 698. 
Barak, the victory of, 240. 
Barbarians, who so called, 844. 
Bargain, oriental, 95 
Barley, time of harvesting, 144. 
Bashan, a place of refuge, 281. 

Cities of, 206. 

Hill of, 409. 

Oaks of, 464. 
Basilica, Church of the Nativity, 648. 
Basket, escape in a, 795. 
Bathing in Egypt, 131. 
Bats and Moles, houses of, 465. 
Battering Ram, 544. 
Bear, the symbol of the Medo-Persian power, 

.575- 
Beard, wearing and cutting of, 109. 
Bears, children destroyed by, 315. 
Beast, the dreadful and terrible, 577. 
Beasts fasting with men, 619. 

Fighting with, 875. 

Kindness to, 441. 

Vision of the four, 574. 

Wild, afraid of fire, 638. 

Wild, awed by man, 740. 
Beautiful, the gate, 790. 
Bed, the, taken up, 670. 
Bedouins, rude and ignorant, 616. 
Beersheba, the well of, 93. 
Bees, wild, in Palestine, 651. 
Beetle, or scarab, 140. 
Beginning, evidence of a, 15. 
Beitsan, description, 276. 
Bel, the temple of, 554. 



980 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Bel and Nebo, 497. 

Bellows, early use of, in Egypt, 511. 

Bells, on horses, 641. 

On priests' robes, 176. 
Belshazzar, the feast and death of, 538, 571. 
Benefactors, the king's, rewarded, 363. 
Benjamin, predictions concerning, 123. 
Berea, situation of, 81 1. 
Bernice, character of, 835. 

Dowry of, immense, 597. 

Murder of, by Laodice, 597. 
Bethany, site and condition of, 783. 

Roads from Jerusalem to, 697. 
Bethel, altar at, 303, 335. 

Brought to naught, 614. 

View from, 82, 33. 
Bethesda, the pool of, 778. 
Bethgamul, without an inhabitant, 528. 
Bethhoron, the battle of, 409. 
Bethlehem, the Saviour's birth-place, 647. 

Ephrata, 623. 
Bethshemesh, 324. 
Bethzur, site of, 353. 
Bible, has nothing to fear, 961. 
Birds, affinity of, to fishes, 32. 

Alighting on men, 109. 

Around the Sea of Galilee, 663. 

Creation of, 32. 

On the nest, 216. 

Sent out of the ark, 63, 64. 
Birs Nimroud, 80. 
Birthday, cursing of, 36J. 

Observed, 109. 
Bittern, chosen habitation of the, 477. 
Bitumen, on the Dead Sea, 86, 92. 
Black Obelisk, records of, 305, 321, 630. 
Blemishes, disqualifying, 192. 
Blood, life in the, 190. 

His, be on us, 733. 

Not to be eaten, 184. 

Of past ages required, 818. 

Of the righteous required, 708. 

Plague of, 136. 

Sprinkled on ihe altar, 183. 

Stain of, 339. 
Bloody sweats, instances of, 773. 
Boanerges, or sons of thunder, 741. 
Boar, the wild, 411. 
Body, man's, changing perpetually, 877. 

Kept in subjection, 873. 

Machinery of, in operation, 433. 

Marvellous in construction, 432. 



Body, members of, 874, 890. 

Of death, 861. 

Returns to the earth, 460. 

Tabernacle of the soul, 880, 939. 

The glorious, 896. 
Boils, the plague of, 142. 
Bondage of sin, 781, 940. 
Bones burnt into lime, 613. 

Burnt upon the altar, 335. 
Borsippa, inscription of, So. 

Temple of, 80. 
Botany of Moses' true science, 25. 
Bottles made of skin, 671. 
Bozrah, the ruins of, 485. 
Brahma, announcing the Deluge, 56. 
Brass, a symbol of the Greeks, 557. 
Bread, broken, not cut, 689. 
Breakers, sound of, 842. 
Breast, smiting upon the, 765. 
Brickmaking in Egypt, 129, 135. 
Bridles and bits, 404. 
Brooks, deceitful, 371. 
Brother, offending, treatment of, 693. 
Brutus, sentencing his sons, 261. 
Budhism on longevity, 54. 
Builder more honorable than the building, 927. 
Bulrushes, ark of, 130. 
Burdens, bearing one another's, 885. 
Burial, dishonorable, 516. 
Burning, an Assyrian punishment, 563. 
Burrhus Afranius, 848. 

c. 

Caesar, household of, 898. 

Tribute paid to, 701. 
Cassarea, description of, 793, 831, 832. 

Philippi, history of, 690. 
Caiaphas, appointment of, 729. 
Cake-offering to the moon, 511. 
Calah, by whom founded, 75. 
Calamities foretold, 219. 

Of Job, 365. 
Calf, Golden, formed after Apis, 179, 181. 

Hill of the, 164. 
Cambyses destroying Egyptian idols, 552. 
Camel kneeling to receive its rider, 97. 

Milk of the, 104. 

Ornaments of the, 246. 
Camels, hair of, used for garments, 650. 

Numerous in Syria, 204, 245. 
Camp, asleep in the, 272. 

Of war, forsaken, 320. 



genera: 



NDEX. 



981 



Camp, strategy of the, 321. 
Camphire and myrrh, 461. 
Cana of Galilee, 776, 778. 
Canaan, a land of brooks and fountains, 213. 

Richness of, 132, 214. 

Woman of, 688. 
Candace, queen of Ethiopia, 793. 
Candlestick, the golden, 714. 

Removed out of its place, 955. 
Canon of Ptolemy, confirmed, 490. 
Capernaum, site and ruins of, 651. 

White synagogue of, 779. 
Captain of the guard, 848. 
Captives, of war, disabled, 238. 

In ropes, 313, 489, 6 1 3. 

Spared, 313. 
Captivity, Babylonian, end of, 5 1 8, 519. 
Caranus, history of, 585. 
Circass and the eagles, 724. 
Carmel, Mount, 307, 308. 

Fountain of, 309. 
Carob tree, pods of, 763. 
Carousing of the Ninevites, 625. 
Carts, Egyptian and Assyrian, 257. 
Carving in wood, 291. 
Cassander, kingdom of, 588. 
Castor-oil tree, 620. 
Castor and Pollux, 846. 
Cattle, creation of, 34. 

Sacred in Egypt, 141. 
Cave of Adullam, 268. 

Of Engedi, 269. 

Of the Nativity, 750. 
Caves, in Mount Carmel, 615. 

Numerous in Palestine, 306. 

Places of Refuge, 244. 
Cedar, used in temples, 289. 
Cedars of Lebanon, 347, 423. 
Celibacy of the clergy, 914. 
Cenchrea, description of, 821. 
Census, Moses,' in the wilderness, 195. 

Roman, of the empire, 749. 
Centres, specific, 47. 
Centurions, their office, 667. 
Chain, a gold, m. 
Chaldean record of Creation, 40* 

Story of the Flood, 67. 
Chaldeans, a cruel people, 632. 

Given to divination, 555. 
Challenge to single combat, 265. 

The Divine, 494. 
Chance, author of confusion, 36. 



Chariot, royal, III. 

Chariots of war, 155, 237, 546. 

Raging in the streets, 627. 
Charity, the cloak of, 938. 

Described by its fruits, 874. 
Charles the Great, gifts of, to the Pope, 581. 
Chastisement for good, 929. 
Chebar, the river, 543. 
Chedarlaomer and his allies, 84. 
Chemosh, the chief deity of Moab, 528. 
Cherith, or Kelt, 305. 
Cherubim with flaming swords, 50. 
Chiefs of Asia, 824. 
Child, right training of, 445. 
Childhood and manhood, 874. 
Children, blessed of Christ, 695. 

Duty of, 210, 893. 

Offered in sacrifices, 547. 
Chinese, traditions of, 46, 49, 57, 58. 
Chittim, the ships of, 603. 
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, 674. 

S:ene of, still lovely, 675. 
Chreshna, trampling the serpent, 50. 
Christ, bearing his cross, 735. 

Crucifixion of, 736. 

Divinity of, confessed, 737. 

Excellency of, supreme, 896. 

Preaching of, 865. 

Teachings of, incomparable, 780. 

Testimony of Josephus to, 739, 

Weeping over Jerusalem, 767. 
Christs, many false, 714. 
Christianity, humane influence of, 915. 
Christians, devotion of early, 826, 828. 

Disciples called, 797. 

Hated of all men, 673. 

Imprisoned, cared for, 799. 

Persecuted by the Jews, 718. 

Persecuted by Nero, 718. 

Persecuted by the Romans, why, 7 1 8. 

Primitive, purity of, 938. 
Chronicles, of the Persian court, 362. 
Chronos, his warning of the Flood, 56. 
Circularity in nature, 453. 
Circumcision, at Gilgal, 231. 

Practised still, 90. 

Times of performing, go. 
Citizens, Roman, their privileges, 810, 830. 
City set on a hill, 657. 
Classics, Bible contemporaries, 4. 
Clauda, island of, 840. 
Cleopatra, dress of, 406. 



982 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Cloud, the little, rising, 310. 
Cnydus, situation of, 838. 
Cock-crowing, its regularity, 746. 
Coffin, Alexander's, 587. 
Coffins, Egyptian, 126. 
Coincidence, undesigned, 850, 924. 
Cold, on the night of crucifixion, 785. 
Colors, adjustment and distribution of, 39. 
Colosse, site and history of, 898. 
Colossians, epistle to, 898. 
Colossus of Rhodes, 562. 
Combats, single, 265. 
Comforters in adversity, 367. 
Commandment, the great, 704. 
Commandments, the Ten, 167. 

Divine origin of, 168. 

Superiority of, to human laws, 1 67. 
Communications, evil, 877. 
Communion of saints, 643. 
Community of property, 79I. 
Companions, influence of, 441. 
Concubine, Abraham's, 86. 
Condescension, Divine, 400. 
Confidence, vain, 400, 407. 
Conflict, inward, 860, 884. 
Conflagration, the final, 942. 
Confusion of tongues, 75, 78, 79. 
Conies, homes and habits of, 423, 449. 
Conqueror, returning, welcomed, 267. 
Conquests, the Roman, 578. 
Constantine, his cruelty to the Jews, 224. 
Conscience, an approving, 865. 

A natural faculty, 858. 

Power of, to alarm, 681, 833. 

Torture of, 408, 447. 
Conspiracies, murderous, 831. 
Contemporaries of sacred writers, 4. 
Contentment, 897, 917. 
Continents, arrangement of, 390. 
Conversation by feet and fingers, 440. 
Conveyance, Assyrian deed of, 521. 

Egyptian deed of, 520. 
Corn, treading out the, 218. 
Corinth, ancient remains of, 820. 

Corruption of, 870, 882. 

Church of, 865. 

Situation and commerce of, 819. 
Corinthians, First Epistle to, 865. 

Second Epistle to, 879. 
Cosmogony, the Bible's, unequalled, 15. 

Egyptian, Greek, etc., 15. 
Costume, Babylonish, 564. 



Cotes, sheep, 269. 

Counsel of one at ease, 375. 

Court officers of fine forms, 554. 

Covenant confirmed for one week, 593. 

Covering, the fatal, 364. 

Covetousness, law against, 21 1. 

Crane, migrations of the, 512. 

Creation, work of, complete and good, 39. ... 

Changing, 925. 

Chaldean record of, 40. 

Unsearchable, 370. 
Creditor, claims of, 318. 

Power of, over debtor, 694. } 

Cretans, character of, 921. . ' 

Crete, situation of, 839. 
Crimes committed in the heart, 445. 
Criminals mocked before execution, 735, 737. 
Croesus, giving up his treasures, 496. 
Cross, bearing the, 735. 

Ignominy of the, 929. 
Crown of righteousness, 920. 
Crowns, ancient, 281. 

Corruptible, 872. 
Crucified, the, watched, 737. 
Crucifixion of Christ, 736. 
Cruelties of the Assyrians, 628, 631. 
Cruse of water, 311. 
Ctesiphon, taken by Severus, 534. 
Cup of suffering, 697. 
Cupbearer, duty and honor of, 350. 
Cups, for divination, 115. 
Curse pronounced on man, 50. 
Cursing of enemies, 202. ■ 
Cushites, in Asia and Africa, 73. 
Custom, the receipt of, 671. 
Cycles, celestial, 424. 
Cyprus, the island of, 801. 
Cyreneus, his enrollment, 750. 
Cyrus, ancestry of, 584. 

Army of great, 537. 

Character and religion of, 346. 

Decree of, 348. 

Dividing the spoils of Babylon, 533. 

Empire of, 346. 

Entering Babylon, 495. 

Favored of Heaven, 496. 

Gates opened before him, 495. 

Generosity of, 472. 

Medes and Persians united in, 557. 

Nations subdued by, 495, 576, 584. 

Shepherd of his people, 495. 

Standard of, an eagle, 498. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



98$ 



Cyrus, treasures taken by, 496, 497. 

D. 

Dagon, the fish-god, 252, 256. 
Damascus, taken by David, 278. 

Taken by Tiglath Pileser, 326. 
Site and size of, 793. 
Dan, predictions concerning, 121. 
Dancing and Idolatry, 179, 278. 

Women in request, 682. 
Daniel, the tomb of, 584. 
Daphne, grief for, 620. 
Darius, captures Babylon, 498. 
Defeated at Issus, 587. 
Signet of, 573. 
Tomb of, 348, 349 
Darkness, Plague of, 148. 
Darts, fiery, 893. 
Dead, the, called up, 274. 

Defilement from, 199. 
Dishonoring of, 275, 276. 
Return not, 372. 
Still in being, 280. 
Sorrow for, 904. 
Death, awaits all, 927. 
A refuge, 368. 
A gain, 894. 
Fear of, 926. 
Inevitable, 407, 458. 
Met without fear, 920. 
Debt of benevolence, 850. 
Debtor, with his family sold, 693. 
Deborah, grave of, 105. 
Deception in marriage, 102. 
Decoys for birds, 510. 
Defence, none condemned without, 835. 
Defilement, the real, within, 688. 
Deluge, Chaldean account of, 67. 
Facts corroborative of, 60. 
How produced, 60. 
Life destroyed by, 61. 
Procuring cause of, 56. 
Proved possible, 58. 
Similar occurrences, 59. 
. , Testimony to a general, 65. 
Traditions of the, 62. 
Demoniacs, from the tombs, 669. 
Demons, good and bad, 912. 

Opposing, 48. 
Departed, the, condition of the, 764. 
D Spr'ivity universal, 374. 
Deputy of Cyprus, 802. 



Derision, expressions of, 353. 

Descent from Nazareth to Capernaum, 754, 776. 

Desire, the, of all nations, 637. 

Desolation of the city and temple, 709. 

Desolations of Judea, 593. 

Destiny, the common, 456. 

Destruction of Sodom, etc., 92. 

Deucalion, preservation of, 57, 63. 

Development, theory of, 33, 34, 35, 36. 

Devils, the cup of, 873. 

Devoted thing, sacred, 194. 

Dew of Hermon, 4 2 &- 

The morning, 608. 
Diagoras in a storm, 618. 
Dials, ancient, 334. 
Diana, image of, 825. 
Shrines of, 822. 
Temple of, S23. 
Dichotomy, an ancient practice, 727. 
Deities of special localities, 312. « 

Ridiculed, 307. 
Difficulties, in science as in religion, 945. 
Direction, divine, needed, 514. 
Disciples, rubbing ears of corn, 675. 

Sent forth to preach, 672. 
Diseases in Egypt, 212. 
Dispersion of the Jews, 517. 
Dissatisfaction, universal, 454. 
Divination, by arrows, etc., 545, 555. 
By cups, 115. 
By rods and staves, 607. 
Divisions, the Gospel a cause of, 760. 
Divorce, the question of, 694. 
Dogs, howling and savage, 313, 322. 
Dominion of man, 38. 
Door, inscription over, 212. 
Dothan, pasture and pits of, 106. 
Dove, silver and gold feathers of, 409. 
Dream of Nebuchadnezzar, 555. 
Of Pilate's wife, 732. 
Of Xerxes, 556. 
Dreams of Pharaoh and his officers, 108, 109, 
no. 
Of Astyages, 555. 
Revelations through, 383. 
Drink-offering of blood, 401. 
Dromedary, the swift, 508. 
Drought, in time of Ahab, 306. 
Drunkenness, evils of, 445. 

Of Noah, 71. 
Drowning, punishment, 693. 
Drusilla, history of, 832. 



984 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Dura, plain of, 563. 
Dyeing in Egypt, 182. 
Dyers, guild of, 808. 
Dying for another, 858. 
Daily, 875. 

E. 

Eagle, habits and description of, 397. 

The bald, 622. 

Young of, 227. 
Eagles and the carcass, 724. 
Ear, the structure of, 414. 

Vibratory action of, 416* 
Ears, boring of the, 169. 
Earth, antiquity of, great,. 386. 

Dark and void, 17. 

Geometry of its structure, 389. 

Mineral treasures ©f, 377. 

Origin of, nebular, 1 7. 

Poised on nothing, 377. 

Reserved for fire, 941. 

The new, 944, 961. 

Without life, 24. 
Earthquakes frequent in Syria, 6 1 2. 

In diverse places, 717. 
Echensis re mora, use made of, 55 1. 
Eclipse of the sun, 615. 
Eclipses regarded as omens, 513. 
Eden, a plantal and animal centre, 47. 

Garden of, 46. 

Geographical account of, 45. 

Geological view of, 44, 
Edicts of Antiochus Epiphanes, 605. 
Edom, abounding in birds of prey, 4S7. 

Desolated by Mohammedans, 486, 617. 

Ruins of numerous, 486, 615. 

Seat of learning and science, 530. 

Shunned by travellers, 486. 
Edomites, called Troglodites, 615. 

Subjugated by the Jews, 616. 
Edrei, aspect of, 206. 
Eglon and Lachish, 237. 
Egypt, anarchy in, after Sabacon. 479. 

Base kingdom, 551. 

Diseases of, 212. 

East wind in, 1 10. 

Field rich in evidences, 4. 

Flight of Holy Family into, 648* 

Gods of, 855. 

Idols of, destroyed, 552. 

In the time of Abraham, 81. 

In the time of Joseph* 107. 

Judges of, 175. 



Egypt, plundered by Ochus, 553. 

Seat of learning, 791. 

Slavery in, 116. 

Without a native prince, 553. 
Ekron, desolation of, 634. 
Elam, independence of, 85. 
Elim, the wells of, 158. 
Eloquence, the gift of God, 134. 
Embalming, the process of, 124. 
Embroidery, 244, 406. 
Emerods, nature of, 257. 
Endor, the scene of, 274. 

Witch of, 274. 
Endurance, firm, 928. 
Enemies, hated by the Jews, 659. 

Loved by the good, 660. 
Enemy, kisses of an, 446. 
Engedi, camphire of, 461. 

Cave of, 269. 

Palms of, 342. 
Ensigns, Roman, planted on temple, 594, 721. 
Entertainments, freedom at, 756. 
Enumeration of the people, 284. 
Envy excited by excellence, 946. 

Evils of, 442. 
Ephesian books and letters, 822. 
Ephesians, epistle to, 885. 
Ephesus, description of, 82 1. 

Theatre of, 824. 

Town clerk of, 825. 

Utter ruin of, 955. 

Worshipper of Diana, 825. 
Ephraim, predictions concerning, 1 17. 
Epicureans and Stoics, 815. 
Esau, descendants of, vanish, 616. 
Eschol, grapes of, 198. 
Esdraelon, richness of, 120. 
Esarhaddon, record of, 333. 
Essenes, chaste habits of, 695. 
Ethbaal, or Astarte, 305. 
Euergetes, his invasion of Syria, 598. 
Eunuchs, from various causes, 694. 
Euroclydon, character of, 840, 842. 
Europe, geographical charms of, 23. 

Relative position and climate of, 24. 
Evaporation, 428, 429. 
Evidences, development of, 3. 
Evil over-ruled for good, 125. 

Return to, 354. 
Excavations of Nineveh, Babylon, etc., 5. 
Excellency, the Divine, 400. 
Exclusiveness of the Jews, 212. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



985 



Exodus, the, proof of, 152. 

Exorcists, Jewish, 822. 

Expediency, what, 869. 

Expectation, general, of a Saviour, 637, 646. 

Eye, the right, destroyed, 259, 522. 

The right, a symbol, 658, 

Structure of the, 418. 
Eyes, given for another, 884. 

To the blind, 380. 
Eyebrows, painted, 322. 

F. 

Fables, lying, 913. 

Face, the, between the knees, 310. 

Turning away of the, 313. 
Faith, the, kept, 920. 

Indispensable, 927, 928. 

The trial of, 935. 
Fall of man, 48, 49. 
Fallen, the, to be restored, 884. 
Falsehood, hateful, 440. 
Fame of Jesus spread, 653. 
Families, whole, executed, 574. 
Family, duty of providing for, 917. 
Famines, in Egypt, 113, 115. 

In Italy, Greece and Palestine, 797. 

In Rome and Judea, 716. 
Fare, the common, in Egypt, 195. 
Fast, a true, at Rome, 508. 
Fat, not to be eaten, 184. 
Fathers, sins of, visited on children, 210. 
Favors, swift, charm, 438. 
Feasts, the great, of the Jews, 171. 

Divine protection at, 172. 

Marriage, invitations to, 700. 

Marriage, garments for, 700. 

Of Tabernacles, 19. 

Of Ahasuerus, 357. 

Poor to be called, 700. 
Felix, governor of Judea, 831, 832, 833. 
Festus, governor of Judea, 833. 
Fight, the good, 918, 
Figs, the first, 608. 

Medicinal use of, 334, 490. 

Very naughty, 517. 
Fig-tree, sitting under the, 623. 
Fig-trees, on Olivet, 698. 

In vineyards, 76 1. 
Figi Islands, tradition of the Deluge in, 58. 
Fire, breaking out of, 169. 

Element of, abundant, 941, 942. 

Sacred, not to go out, 184. 



Fire, saved as by, 866. 
Firmament, defined, 20. 

Water above the, 21. 
First-born, plague of, 148. 
First-fruits, offering of the, 170, 1 72. 
Fish, abundant in Egypt, 196. 

Abounding in the Sea of Galilee, 754. 

Worshipped, 209. 
Fishes, bad, thrown away, 681. 

Clean and unclean, 186. 

Fecundity of, ^t,. 

Similarity to fowls, 32. 
Fishing, ancient modes of, 632. 
Fishermen, working naked, 788. 
Flesh, abstinence from, 915. 
Flies, dead, breed corruption, 459. 

Plague of, 140. 
Flight, the, into Egypt, 648. 
Flocks, journeying, 105. 

Numerous, 337, 365. 

Resting at noon, 460. 

Watering of the, 101, 131, 
Folly, incurable, 446. 
Food, certain, interdicted, 806. 

Diversity of, 426, 
Fool, import of the word, 657. 

The rich, 760. 
Forbearance, Divine, abused, 458. 
Forerunner of Messiah, 643. 
Forests of Bashan, 464. 
Forgiveness of injuries, 66 1. 
Fornication, prevalency of, 870. 
Fortifications, rapid building of, 354. 
Fortuitous variations, 36. 
Fossils, depth at which found, 37. 

Delicacy of many, 36. 
Foundation, Christ the, 889. 

On the rock or sand, 665, 
Fountain for sin and uncleanness, 641, 

Healing, at Lebanon, 655. 

Of Elisha, 315. 

On Carmel, 309. 
Fowls, clean, and unclean, 1 86. 

Similarity of, to fishes, 32. 
Fox, the, fond of grapes, 462. 
Foxes, among ruins, 543. 

Samson's, 249. 
Friend, the, of God, 931. 
Friends, deceitful, 371. 
Friendship, true, 434, 444, 904. 
Fruit, the, proves the tree, 665. 
Fruit-trees, not to be destroyed, 2 1 6. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Frogs, plague of, 139. ..' '..'.., ! 
Fulvia piercing Cicero's tongue, 685. 
Furnace, the burning, fiery, 563. 
Future State, hope of a, 880, 904. 

Knowledge in the, 875. 
Future, the, presumed on, 934. 

G. 

Gad, predictions concerning, 12 1. 
Gaebtus, at the capture of Babylon, 572. 
Galauans, character of, 883. 

Epistle to, &S3. 
Gallio, character of, 820. 
Games, Isthmian, 871. 
Ganges, washing in the, 184. 
Garments of the crucified, perquisites, 737, 774. 

Mean, worn for effect, 639. 

Spread in the way, 698. 
Garden of Eden, 46. 
Gardens of Solomon, 455. 
Gates, a place of concourse, 452. 

Decreeing justice in the, 614, 

Of Gaza, 250. 
Gaza, present condition of, 613, 639, 

Situation of, 792, 
Gazelle, nature and habits of, 462. 
Genealogies, endless, 910, 
Genealogy of Noah's sons, 72, 
Generation, spontaneous, unknown, 25* 
Gennesaret, the land of, 686, 689. 
Geology in harmony with Moses, 32. 
Gergesa, site and ruins of, 669. 
Gerizim and Ebal, 232, 
Gethsemane, present aspect of, 730. 
Giant, six-fingered, 284. 
Giants, antediluvian, 55. 

Dwellings of, 208, 
Gibea, site of, 259. 
Gibeon, site of, 233. 
Gifts, differing, 866, 

Presented to infants, 648. 
Gilead, pastures and cattle of, 203. 

Spices of, 106. 
Gilboa, battle of, 273. 
Gilding, practised in Egypt, 182. 
Giving more blessed than receiving, 826. 
Gladiators, murderous conflicts of, 857, 876, 
Glory, the, to be revealed, 861. 
Gluttons, 896. 

Gnostics, philosophy of, 900. 
Goat, the one-horned, 585, 
Goats, their value, 446. 



Goats, wild, 423. 

Gobryas,' slays Belshazzar, 572. 

God, agency of, seen, 805, 853, 886, 889. 

All-sufficiency of, 435. 

Alone to be glorified, 513. 

Avenger of evil and wrong, 904. 

Cause of all existence, 818. 

Changes not, 643. 

Condescension of, 400. 

Confidence in, 663. 

Creator of all, 354, 491. 

Directs the steps, 443. 

Efficient cause, 373. 

Eternal, 953. 

Example of, to be followed, 660. 

Giver of all things, 339. 

Good and evil from, 366. 

Good to all, 434. 

Incomparable, 491. 

In need of nothing, 817. 

Known to the heathen, 854. 

Men the offspring of, 818. 

Nothing too hard for, 522. 

Not confined to temples, 817. 

Omnipresence of, 429, 517, 674, 693. 

Omnipotence of, 405, 491, 696. 

Omniscience of, 430, 556, 806, 865,927. 

One only living and true, 889. 

Our Father, 661. 

Reverence toward, 456. 

Rules supreme, 406, 507. 

Sovereign Disposer, 255, 411, 886. 

Success from, 458. 

Takes but His own, ^^6. 

True and faithful, 921. 

Universal agency of, 374, 422.' 

Unsearchable, 372, 775. 

Wisdom of, 405. < 

Works of, glorious, 402. 

Worship due to, only, 209. 
Godliness profitable, 915. 
Gods, the, among men, 803. 

Number of, 871. 

Of conquered, carried away, 489. 

Of Egypt, recovered, 598. 

Tidings brought to the, 337. 
Gold, adornments of, 340. 

Incorruptible, 935. 
Golden Rule, the, 664. 
Goliath, conflict of, with David, 262. 
Good, all, from God, 931. 

All things working for, 861. -■'■ 



GENERAL INDEX. 



987 



Good, Cyrus's estimate of, 618. 

Samaritan, scene of the parable, 758. 

The chief, 400. 

The, ceasing, 401. 

The, the happy, 441, 465. 

The, ever safe, 937. 
Goshen, the land of, 154. 
Gospel, the, effects of, on society, 470. 

Of Matthew, written in Hebrew, 646. 

Power of, 853. 

Preached in all the world, 720. 

Specific as to times, places, etc., 752, 753. 
Gospels, the four, genuineness of, 645. 

Received by the Fathers, 645. 
£ourd of Jonah, 620. 
Granicus, battle of the, 586. 
Grapes of Eschol, 198. 
Grass, characteristics of, 26. 

Sought in famine, 306. 
Gratitude, ceaseless, 426. 
Graves, the, of lust, 197. 
Greetings, honorable, 705. 
Grief, expressions of, 349, 366, 743. 

Tender, 255, 282. 
Grinding, the sound of, 517, 727. 
Groves, consecrated, 335, 544, 607. 
Guilt, water cannot cleanse, 372. 
Guilty, the, fearful, 408. 
Gulf between man and beasts, 38. 
Gymnosophists, tested, 294. 

H. 

Habakkuk, date of his ministry, 632. 
Habit, the power of, 515. 
Hadadezer, defeat of, 278. 
Haggai, time of his ministry, 637. 
Hail, armies d stroyed by, 234. 

Plague of, 143. 

Storms, 144, 235. 
Hair, cut oft" in grief, 511. 

Eong or short, 874. 

Plaiting of the, 936. 
Hairs, all numbered, 673, 769. 
Hand, on the right or left, 729. 
Hands, lifting up of, 406. 

Hanging by the, 543. 
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 564. 
Harbinger of the Messiah, 490. 
Hatred of Christians, universal, 673. 
Hauran, depredations in the, 365. 

Storms in the, 366. 
Hazael, on the Black Obelisk, 321. 



Hea, curse pronounced by, 50. 
Head, the, covered, 282, S73. 

The hoary, 443. 
Heads, of vanquished, 246, 267, 323. 
Hearers, the careless, 553. 
Hearing and doing, 665. 

Without doing, 931. 
Heart, the, deceitful, 515. 
Heat, on the Assyrian plains, 620. 

Signs of coming, 761. 
Hebran, primeval houses of, 208. 
Hebrews, epistle to, 924. 
Hebron, mosque of, 100, 124, 125. 

When founded, 197. 
Hedge, the Divine, 365. 
He-goat, a symbol of Alexander, 585. 
Heirlooms, highly valued, 542. 
Helena, queen, her benevolence, 716. 
Hell, the gates of, 691. 
Hen, gathering her brood, 709. 
Heraclitus, cruelties of, 225. 
Hercules, statue of, kissed away, 608. 
Hermon, the dew of, 428. 
Herod the Great, king of Judea, 647. 

Murders of, numerous, 648. 
Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, 650, 751, 
761. 

Alarmed by conscience, 681. 

Army of, defeated, by Aretas* 6S2. 
Herod Philip, 752. 
Herod Agrippa, death of, 799. 
Herodians, a political party, 701. 
Heroes, the, of Homer, 264. 

Deified, 855. 
Heshbon, ruins of, 202. 

Pools of, 462. 
Hezekiah, sickness of, 334. 
Hierapolis, situation of, 902. 
Hinges, ancient, 446. 
Hiram, king of Tyre, 2S8. 
Historic difficulty solved, 570. 
Honey, abundant in Palestine, 192, 228, 261. 

In a carcass, 248. 
Honor to others, 862. 
Hooks, put in captive's lips, 613. 
Hope, deferred, 441. 

That blessed, 922. 
Hor, Mount, 200. 
Horn, the little, 579. 
Hornets, formidable enemies, 213, 238. 
Horns, the three uprooted, 580. 
Horse, the war, 397. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Horse, riding on the Icing's, 364. 
Horses, bells and inscriptions on, 641. 

Bred in Egypt, 215. 

Of the Chaldeans, 632. 

Of the Sun, 335. 
Hospitality, oriental, 672. 

Patriarchal, 91, 99. 
House, the latter, 637. 
Housebreaking, 377. 
Houses, without windows, 763. 
Human Images, symbols of empires, 556. 
Humility commended, 863. 
Hunger and thirst after righteousness, 656. 
Hunter, the mighty, 73. 
Husbands, the duty of, 892. 
Husks, what meant by, 763. 
Hymns of the early churches, 892. 
Hyrcanus, his subjugation of Edom, 616. 

L 

I AM THAT I AM, 1 32. 
Ichtheophagi, tradition of, 155, 410. 
Ichtheosauri, Pleisiosauri, etc., 33. 
Iconium, situation of, 803. 
Idolatry, permeating society, 855. 
Idols, clothed in blue and purple, 514. 

No similitudes of God, 819, 823. 

Upright as the palm tree, 514. 

Vanity of, 494, 870. 
Images, made of gold, 561. 

Not seen among the Jews, 643. 

Use of, forbidden, 209. 
Immortality, believed in, 281. 

Hope of, 880. 

Revealed, 918. 
Imports of Solomon, 299. 
Impostor, the Egyptian, 829. 
Impostors, among the Jews, 715, 720, 724. 
Imprecations, 312. 
Incarnation, Hindoo record of, 751. 
Incense, burning of, 749. 

Composition of, 178. 
Incongruity, image of, 445. 
Industry in business, 863. 
Infant, devoured by its mother, 722. 
Infanticide, prevalence of, 857. 
Inn,, the, in Palestine, 750. 
Innocents, slaughter of the, 648. 
Insanity, charge of, 742. 
Inscription, that stood in the temple, 828. 
Inscriptions, on rocks, 375. 

On stone pillars, 375. 



Inspiration of the Scriptures, 919. 
Instruments, feeble, 866. 
Instructors, work of, 871. 
Intelligence, achievements of, 381, 400. 

The Supreme, 421. 
Intermixture, laws against, 25. 
Invitations to feasts, 700. 
Invasion of Shishak, 341. 
Iron, in Lebanon, 214. 

In Pontus, 515. 

Symbol of the Romans, 558. 
Isaiah, date of his ministry, 505. 
Ishmael, predictions concerning, 86. 

Twelve princes from, 90. 
Ishmaelites, traders, 106. 
Isolation of Canaan, 202. 
Israel, carried captive, 328. 
Israelites, number of, 195. 
Issachar, predictions concerning, 120. 
Issus, battle of the, 587. 
Italian bands and cohorts, 796. 
Ivory, ornaments of, 314. 
Izdubar, account of the Flood by, 67. 

Wanderings of, 66, 74. 

J. 

Jackals, numbers and noise of, 250. 
Jacob, burial of, 123, 125. 

Dying benedictions of, 1 16. 

Well of, description, 776. 
Jailers, responsibility of, 799) 809. 
James, Epistle of, 930. 

The Greater, killed by Herod, 798. 
Jebel Musa, description of, 161. 
Jebus, the stronghold, 277. 
Jehovah, title supreme, 136. 
Jephthah, vow of, 247. 
Jericho, a centre of Publicans, 765. 

Curse of rebuilding, 231. 

Situation of, low, 697. 
Jerusalem, besieged, 485, 554. 

Elevation of, above the sea, 697.. 

Encompassed by a wall, 767. 

Escape of Christians from, 722. 

Fortifications of, 713. 

Lamented, 709.* 

Sufferings at the siege of, 722, 723. 

Time of the destruction of, 726. 
Jethro, the polity of, 160. 
Jew, the true, 858. 
Jews, a proverb, 221. 

An amazement, 227. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



989 



jews, banished from Rome, 820. 
Captives at Babylon, 429. 
Church and state of, subverted, 725. 
Crafts taught among, 820. 
Destroyed indiscriminately, 221. 
Distress of, in sieges, 221. 
Enemies of, destroyed, 519, 525. 
Forbidden to return, 223. 
Madness of, 220. 
Numbers of, cut off, 222. 
Oppressed evermore, 220, 223. 
Perverseness of, 903. 
Providential preservation of, 519, 525, 

607. 
Scattered among all nations, 223, 361, 

517. 
Scattered through the provinces, 789. 
Shipped to Egypt, 226. 
Slaughter of, great, 708, 716, 723, 769, 

774- 

Subdued by the Romans, 221. 

Suffering everywhere, 223. 
Jewels, abundance of Egyptian, 149, 180, 203. 

For ears and arms, 98, 461. 

Of God, 644. 
John, Gospel of, its authenticity, 775. 

Epistle First of, 946. 

Epistle Second and Third of, 948. 
Jonah, a contemporary of Homer, 617. 
Joppa, situation of, 795. 

Description of, 617. 
Jordan, time of overflowing, 230. 
Joseph, arrayed by Pharaoh, no, III. 

Carried into Egypt, 107. 

Death of, 125. 

Prediction concerning, 122. 

Two sons of, blessed, 117. 
Journeying from Athens to Jerusalem, 819-828. 
Judah, prediction concerning, 118. 
Judas of Galilee, 791. 
Judas Iscariot, remorse of, 731. 

Testimony of, to Christ, 732. 
Jude, epistle of, 948. 
Judea Capta. medals of, 468, 770. 
Judgment Balances, 571, 864. 

Of men, 866. 

Of Solomon, 286. 

Seat, Caesar's, 834. 
Judgments, denounced, 193. 

Evidence of their execution, 194. 
Juno, golden statue of, 562. 
Juniper tree, 311, 427. 



Jupiter, image of, forced on the Jews, 605. 

Belus, temple of, 472. 

Belus, statue of, 561. 
Justice, equal, to rich and poor, 171. 
Justinian, cruelty of, to the Jews, 224. 

K. 

Kane, Dr., in polar darkness, 459. 

Kebla, what to the Jews, 294. 

Kedar, black tents of, 650. 

Keiroth, present condition of, 529. 

Kelt, wady, description of, 306, 758. 

Ketos, a sea monster, 618. 

Key, great size of, 481. 

Keys of the kingdom of heaven, 691. 

Khans, in Palestine, 750. 

Kibroth-hataavah, remains of, 197. 

Kid, the, prepared, 248. 

Kind, after their, ^3- 

King, Christus another, 81 1. 

Person of, sacred, 270. 

Title given to inferior rulers. 469. 
Kingdom, going to receive a, 766. 
Kings, four, to succeed Cyrus, 595. 

Of the North and of the South, 596. 
Kishon, the river, 243. 
Kissing of images, 312, 608. 
Knees, face between the, 310. 
Knives, made of stone, 134, 231. 
Knowledge, in the Future State, 875. 

And Practice, 783. 
Kurun Hattin, description of, 655. 

L. 

Laban, the family of, 99. 

Label, of the crime committed, 737, 747. 

Laborers, in the market-place, 696. 

Lachish, near Eglon, 237. 

Lachrymatories, ancient, 408. 

Ladies, Assyrian, ornaments of, 467. 

Oriental, jewels of, 461. 

Persian, trinkets of, 467. 

Roman, extravagances of, 466. 
Lambs, earned by shepherds, 491. 
Land, the dry, contour of, 23, 390. 
Landmarks, ancient, found, 216. 

Not to be removed, 215, 218. 
Languages, all from one origin, 77, 79, 
Laodicea, history and fate of, 958. 
Law, the Moral, 209 ,657. 

Mount of the, 161. 

Of love, comprehensive, 704. 



990 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Law, perfection of, 167, 403. 

Scene of its delivery, 162. 
Lawgiver, the One, 933. 
Laws, Natural, imply wisdom and power, 385. 

Not agents, 385, 432. 

Not changeable to man, 393. 

Of England, 167. 

Roman, concerning religion, 808. 

Suspended, 668. 

Valerian and Sempronian, 810. 
Lead, ancient use of, 156. 

Employed in fusing metals, 546. 
Leaven, how made and used, 679, 690. 
Lebanon, cedars of, 347. 

Palace of, 292. 

Rich odors of, 462, 609. 

Scenery of, 608. 

Snow of, 516. m 

Lejah, the ruins of, 207. 
Lentiles, or adis, 101. 
Leopard, still found in Syria, 509. 

Symbol of Macedonian power, 576. 
Lepers, miserable condition of, 764. 
Leprosy, evidences of, 188. 

Garments affected by, 188. 

Nature and symptoms, 133, 666. 

Swine's flesh productive of, 186. 
Letter, an extant, addressed to Jesus, 654. 
Letters, treacherous, 279. 
Levant, currents of, 873. 
Levi, prediction concerning, 118. 
Lex talionis, among the Jews, Greeks, etc., 1 69. 
Libations to the gods, 177. 
Liberality, Christian, 881. 

Measured by ability, 745. 
Lice, the plague of, 139. 
Lictors, their office, 809. 
Licentiousness, Corinthian, 882. 
Life, fleeting, 372, 413, 421. 

How lengthened, 432. 

Once gone, gone forever, 374. 

The path of, 402. 
Light, before the sun, 18, 19. 

Imparted by religion, 886. 

Importance of, 30. 

Pleasant to the eye, 459. 

The Greater, 28. 

The Lesser, 30. 

Theories of, 390. 
Lightning, production and regulation of, 379. 
Lilies, of Palestine, 663. 
Lime, made from bones, 613. 



Linen, fine, Egyptian, in, 177. 
: Linnaeus, botanic system of, 25. 
Lion, strength and courage of, 450. 

Symbol of Babylon, 575. 
Lions, kept in dens, 573. 
Living for others, 864. 
Locusts camping in the hedges, 630. 

Carried into the sea, 147. 

Eaten, 187, 651. 

How preserved and cooked, 187. 

Invasions of, 146, 449, 610. 

March of, irresistible, 610. 

Plague of, 146.. 

Stench of dead, pestilential, 6ll.' 

Stripping trees, 609. 
Lodge, the watcher's, 464. 
Lombards, kingdom of the, 581. 
Longevity, antediluvian, 54. 
Look, the sinful, 658. 
Lord, a title given to Nero, 835. 
Lord's Day, observance of, 953. 
Love, the badge of Christians, 785. 

Brotherly, 946, 947. 

Casting out fear, 947. 
Lucifer, son of the morning, 476. 
Luke, Gospel of, its authenticity, 748. 
Lust, the effects of, 856. 
Lycaonia, where situated, 803. 
Lycanthropy, instances of, 568. 
Lycurgus, his forbearance, 863. 
Lydda, situation of, 795. 
Lydia, conquest of, by Cyrus, 576. 
Lydians, giving up their treasures, 496. 
Lying, a common vice, 890. 
Lysanias, tetrarchy of, 752. 
Lysimachus, kingdom of, 588. 

M. 

Maccabean mother, the, 563. 
Macedonia Prima, 807. 

Cities of, 810. 
Macedonian Empire, divided, 588. 
Machaerus, the fortress of, 674. 
Machpelah, cave of, 123, 125. 
Madness, of the Jews, 220. 

Feigned, 268. 
Magdala, present condition of, 689. 
Magi, at the tomb of Plato, 647. 
Magistrates, Roman, 810, 811. 
Malachi, date of his ministry, 642. \ 
Mammalia, introduction of, 34. 
Mammals, marine, 543. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



991 



Man, consists of three parts, 905. 

Curse pronounced upon, 50. 

Dissatisfied ever, 454. 

Fall of, 48, 49. 

Head of creation, 38. 

Insignificance of, 400. 

Last of the creations, 36. 

Made in the likeness of God, 37. 

Of sin, 906. 

Original innocence of, 46. 

Profits not God, 376. 

Superiority to brutes, 384, 400. 

The good, never dies, 792. 

The New, 890. 
Manasseh, prediction concerning, 1 1 7. 

Carried to Babylon, 344. 
Mandrakes, nature and virtue of, 103^ 
Manlius, sentencing his son, 261. 
Marah, waters of, 156. 

How sweetened, 157. 
Mardonius, at Platea, 680. 
Mark, Gospel of, its authenticity, 740. 
Market, or Agora, 812. 

Place, laborers in, 696, 697. 
Marriage, among the Hindoos, 728. 

Among the Jews, 728. 

Deception in, 102. 

Engagement, 99. 

Forbidden, 914. 

Restrictions in, 190. 
Mars Hill, at Athens, 815. 
Martyrs, the, of Popery, 583. 
Maslstus", grief at his death, 619. 
Masters, duty of, 893. 

Two, cannot be served, 662. 
Mastery, striving for, 872. 
Matthew, Gospel of, 646. 
Maxim, a false, 877. 
Medea, in a storm, 618. 
Medes, regardless of gold and silver, 471. 
Medes and Persians, laws of, 572. 
Meditation, subjects for, 897. 
Medium, resisting, in space, 16. 
Medo-Persian conquests, 584. 
Megiddo, battle of, 336, 344. 
Melita, description of, 844. 
Memphis, destruction of, 524. 
Men, all sinners, 457, 502. 

By creation equal, 381. 

Offspring of God, 818. 
Menahem, paying tribute, 325. 
Merodach-Baladan, 490. 



Merodach and Bel, $33. 

Mercury laughing at the hypocrite, 623. 

Messengers, insulted, 279. 

Of God, persecuted, 708. 
Messiah, a man of sorrows, 501. 

Born of a virgin, 469. 

Burial of, 503. 

Denied a fair trial, 502. 

Despised and rejected, 500. 

Evil entreatment of, 499. 

Expectation of, general, 646. 

Forsaken, 641. 

Humble in aspect, 500, 517. 

Innocent, 504. 

Kingdom of, indestructible, 560. 

Kingdom of s set up, 560. 

Made his soul an offering, 504. 

Magnified the Law, 493. 

Meekness and gentleness of, 493. 

Miracles of, benevolence of, 488. 

Pierced by his enemies, 64 1 . 

Prolonged his days, 50 .[- 

Prophecies fulfilled in, 505, 594. 

Riding into Jerusalem, 640. 

Silent and submissive, 502. 

Smitten, bruised and wounded, 501. 

Sold for thirty pieces of silver, 640. 

Testimony of the Spirit to, 493, 499- 

Time of his cutting off, 592. 

Tranquillity of his kingdom, 470. 

Wisdom of, 469. 

Wise Teacher, 499. 
Metallurgy, Phoenician, 293, 546. 
Meteorology, science of, 378. 
Mexico, traditions of deluge in, 57. 
Mice, invasion of, 257. 
Micha, period of his ministry, 621. 
Michmash, 259, 260. 
Midian, Moses in, 131. 
Midianites, depredations of, 244. 
Midwifery, in Egypt, 130. 
Migration of birds, 511. 
Mill, grinding at the, 727. 

Samson at the, 251. 
Milk for children, 927, 936. 
Milky way, stars in the, 492. 
Mind, traceable in animal relations, 35. 

Carnal and spiritual, 861. 
Mint and Anise, tithing of, 707. 
Miracles, not contrary to nature, 668. 
Miracles, when performed, 895. 
Mirrors, how made, 183. 



992 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Mirrors, used by the Hebrews, 468. 

Misfortunes, like waves, 405. 

Mishna, precepts of, 704. 

Mitylene, Chios, etc., 826. 

Moab, desolation of, 478, 526, 527, 634. 

Pillaged by hoards, 528. 

Revolt of, 314. 

Sheep country, 316. 
Moabite Stone, the, 304, 314, 318. 
Moderation to be observed, 897. 

Commended, 457. 
Modesty, female, 911. 
Mohammed, enemy of the Jews, 225. 
Mohammedans, ruin Edom,6i7. 
Molecules ever the same, 16. 
Moles and bats, home of, 465. 
Moriarchs, way prepared before, 490. 
Money, the love of, 917. 
Moon, dimensions and light of, 30. 

Influence of, on the eyes, 428. 

Worship of, 511. 
Mordecai, at the gate, 358. 
Morea, myrtle grovesln, 638. 
Morrow, the, to care for itself, 664. 
Mortar, pounded in a, 446. 
Moses, infant, rescued, 131. 

Mount of, 161. 

Seat of, occupied by Scribes, 705. 
Mosul, summer heat at, 620. 
Mote and beam in the eye, 664. 
Mother, the blessed, 759. 
Moths, destruction by, 662. 
Motion, cause of all, 30. 
Mount of Olives, situation of, 697. 
Mountain, ark resting on a, 63. 
Mountains, once under water, 22. 
Mourners, hired, 512. 
Mouth, smitten on the, 831. 
Multitude, the, fed in the wilderness, 685,688. 
Mummies, 126. 
Murder ever avenged, 845. 
Murderer, punishment of, 205, 21 1. 
Murders committed by Herod, 649. 
Murrain, plague of, 141. 
Music, instrumental, 563. 

Influence of, on mind, 262. 
Mustard plant, size of, 679. 
Mutilation of the dead, 276. . 

Self, forbidden, 191. 
Myra, site and remains of, 838. 
Myrtle trees, oriental, 638. 
Mysteries, Divine, 373. 



Mysteries, natural, 368. 
Religious, 945. 

jr. 

Nabal, shearing, 270. 

Nabonedus and Belshazzar, 570. 

Nahum, date of his ministry, 624. 

Nain, the village, 756. • 

Names, significant, 337. 

Naphthali, prediction concerning, 122. 

Natal Stars, 647. 

Nation, exalted by righteousness, 442. 

Nations, ancient, extinct, 525. 

Nativity, cave of the, 750. 

Nature, witnessing for God, 805. 

Navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates, 494. 

Nazareth, return of Joseph to, 649. 

Nebuchadnezzar, besieges Jerusalem, 336, 554. 

Carries away the sacred vessels, 554. 

Inscription of, 336. 

Madness of, 567. 

Palace of, 564. 

Pre-eminent sovereign, 556. 

Puts out Zedekiah's eyes, 336. 

Record of building Babylon, 566, 567. 

Reward given to, 552. 
Nebulae, number of, 437. 
Nebular Hypothesis, 16. 
Necho, Pharaoh, 336, 345. 
Necks, enemies', trodden upon, 236. 
Needle's eye, passing through, 696. 
Negeb, or South country, 515. 
Negotiation, oriental, 95. 
Nests, sacred, 412. 
Net, for catching men, 624. 

Sacrificing to, 632. 
Nets, kinds used anciently. 68r. 
News, sought and retailed, 816. 
Nicias alarmed by an eclipse, 513. 
Nicopolis, situation of, 922. 
Night, the last and fatal, 572. 
Nile, rise and fall of, 1 13. 
Niloa, the Egyptian deity, 138- 
Nimrod, strangling a lion, 74, 

Kingdom of, 74. 
Nimroud, Birs of, 80.. 
Nineveh, bloody city, 628, 631. 

Cedar work uncovered, 635. 

Commerce of, extensive, 630. 

Destruction of, complete, 624, 628, 630, 

635- 
Destroyed by fire and water. .629. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



993 



Nineveh, discovery of, 5, 624. 

Gods of, cut off, 626. 

Great city, 617, 619, 635. 

Library of, 6. 

Sculptures of, 5. 

Treasures of silver and gold, 628. 

Walls swept away, 628. 
Ninus, builder of Nineveh, 617. 
Noah, uprightness of, 58. 
No Amon, destruction of, 524. 
Noph, site of, 524, 
Norfolk coast, fossils of, 59. 
Nose-rings, worn in Arabia and Persia, 467. 
Nose, the, cut off, 546. 
Novel, the oldest, 108. 

a 

Oak of Abraham, 92, 105. 
Oannes, the fish-man, 619. 
Oath of peace, 101, 104. 

Official, in Egypt, 113. 
Oaths, evaded by Jews, 706. 
Obedience better than sacrifice, 262. 
Obeisance, refused, 362. 
Obelisk of On, 1 12. 

The Black, 305, 321, 630. 
Ochus, his destruction of Sidon, 612. 

Plundering Egypt, 553. 
Offerings, abominable, 217. 

Acceptable, 464. 

Defective and unworthy, 642. 

Household, 189. 

Peace, 285. 
Oil, an article of merchandise, 608. 

Rivers of, 623. 
Ointments, use and value of, 730, 757. 
Oleaster, the grafting of, 862. 
Olives, flowers of the, 375. 

Of Palestine, 214. 

The grafting of, 862. 
Omens, natural, 513. 

And prodigies at Jerusalem, 768. 
Omnipotence, Divine, 696. 
Omnipresence, Divine, 429, 517, 693. 
Omniscience, Divine, 430. 
Omri, house of, 303. 

On the Moabite Stone, 304. 
On, temple of, 112. 
Onesimus, a freedman, 924. 
Ophthalmia in Syria, 102. 
Oracles, false, 314, 497. 
Order of creation work, 31, 34. 



Ordinances of nature immutable, 393. 
Ordnance Survey of Sinai, 165. 

Conclusions reached by, 166. 
Origen, self-mutilation of, 695. 
Origin of Races, 70. 

All men from one, 818. 
Orion, bands of, 392. 

Constellation of, 492. 

Type of immutability, 392. 
Ornaments, personal, 246, 466. 
Osiris, legend of, 65. 

Worship of, 179. 
Ostrich, doleful noise of, 622. 

Feathers of, 394. 

Habits of, 396. 

Speed of, 396. 
Ovens, how heated, 663. 
Overseer, in the field, 253. 
Ovid, a story of, 804. 
Ox, the, knoweth his owner, 463. 

Not to be muzzled, 218, 871. 
Ox-goad,' description of, 240. 
Oxygen, prevalence of, 942. 

P. 

Pachyderma, in Britain, 59. 
Paint, applied to the face, 322. 
Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, 564. 
Palestine, survey of, 6. 
Palm tree, emblematic, 413. 
Paneas, description of, 691. 
Panic, effects of a, 320. 

Cause of, 260, 
Papal power, origin and growth of, 579. 
Papyri, description of, 520. 
Papyrus, arks and boats of, 130, 479. 
Parable, the draw net, 680. 

Hidden treasure, 679. 

Leaven in the meal, 679. 

Mustard seed, 679. 

Of the ewe lamb, 279. 

Pearl of great price, 680. 

Sower, 677. 

Wheat and tares, 678. 
Parables, the, suited to Palestine only, 677. 

True to nature, 676. 
Paradise, caught up into, 882. 
Parents, duty of, 893. 

To be honored, 210. 
Part, the good, 759. 
Passions, evil, injure health, 368, 442. 
Passover, institution of, 149. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Passover, a historic demonstration, 150. 

Pass- word, 246. 

Pasteur, experiments of, 24. 

Path of life, 402, 439. 

The narrow, 664. 
Paths, old, inquired for, 510. 
Patmos, situation of, 953. 
Patriarchs, hospitality of, 91. 
Paul, speech of, in Areopagus, 8 1 9. 
Pausanias in Xerxes' tent, 357. 
Peace, buying of, 323. 
Pearls before swine, 664, 

Where found, 6S0. 
Pella, the refuge of Christians, 721. 
Pelopidas, grief at his death, 619. 
Penalty, for violating decrees, 349. 
Penny, Roman, value of, 696, 702. 
Pepin, his gift to the pope, 581. 
Perfumes, oriental, 461. 
Perga, situation of, 802. 
Pergamos, history of, 956. 
Perils, by rivers and robbers, 88 r. 
Perisabor, taken by Julian, 534. 
Perjury, law against, 21 1. 
Persecution, foretold, 672. 

For ten days, 955. 

Undeserved, harmless, 656. 
Persian Empire, corruption and decline of, 557- 
Pestilence, from dead locusts, 611. 
Peter, First Epistle of, 935. 

Second Epistle of, 939. 
Petra, ancient reference to, 531. 

Lofty rock-dwellings of, 616. 

Predictions concerning, 488. 

Sepulchres, etc., of, 487, 531, 532. 
Pharaoh, arrogance of, 135. 

Baker of, 109. 

Birth-day of, 109. 

Butler of, 108. 

Counsel of, no. 

Deified, 1 12. 

Guard of, 107, 

Leading his army, 155. 

Swearing by, 113. 
Pharaoh Hophra, on the monuments, 523. 
Pharaoh Necho, defeat of, 523. 
Pharisees, origin of, 690. 
Phenice, situation of, 840. 
Phylacteries, description of, 705. 
Philemon, epistle to, 922. 
Philadelphia, site and ruins of, 957, 
Philippi, a colony, 807. 



Philippians, epistle to, 894. 
Philistia, judgments of, 613. 

Without inhabitants, 634. 
Philology, comparative, 78. 
Philosophy, vain, 900, 918. 
Phocion, his forgiveness of injury, 792. 
Phoenicia, now silent and mournful, 482. 
Physical, the, related to the moral, 24. 
Physicians, not for the whole, 671. 

Egyptian, 124, 142. 
Pigeons, flocks of, 425. 
Pilate, appointed governor, 73 1. 

His dread of Tiberius, 786. 

His guilt and cowardice, 785. 

Records of, 738. 

Washing his hands, 732. 
Pillars, inscriptions on, 375. 
Pillow, in the boat, 742. 
Pious, the, God's jewels, 644. 
Pisgah, Moses on, 229. 

View from, 229. 
Place, each to his own, 789. 
Plagues, Egyptian, 136, 148. 
Plain of Jordan, 83. 
Planets, worship of the, 334. 
Plant-life, a new thing, 25. 
Plants, for man's service, 39. 
Pledges to be restored, 217. 
Pleiades, description and influences of, 391. 
Pliny, epistle of, to Sabinianus, 923. 
Plough, drawn over ruins, 622. 

Drawn over the site of the temple, 622-. 
714. 
Ploughman, looks not back, 757. 
Polar Regions, absence of the sun in, 459. 
Pomegranate, ornament of, 293. 

Seeds of, 462. 

Tree, 260. 
Pool, the upper, 468/ 
Pools of Heshbon, 462. 

Solomon's, 455. 

On the site of Babylon, 477. 
Poor, equal justice to the, 171. 

Kindness to the, 445. 

The, to be invited, 762. 

Not honored, 441, 444, 458. 
Pope, assumptions of, 906. 

Arrogant claims of, 907. 

Characteristics of, 582. 

Checked by Roman power, 908. 

Power of, peculiar, 582. 

Temporal power of, 582. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



995 



Popery, lying wonders of, 908, 913. 
Popillius, embassage of, to Antiochus, 604. 
Population, by the Sea of Galilee, 760. 

Of Palestine, 338. 
Posts, Persian, 361. 

Potiphar, wife of, steward of, etc., 107. 
Pottage, the red, 101. 
Potters' Field bought, 640. 

Jews were, in Egypt, 41 1. 
Pottery, operations of, 515. 
Poverty, when better than riches, 442. 
Praise, of men not to be sought, 660. 

And Thanksgiving, 901, 905. 

Unceasing, 405. 
Prayer, attitude in, 293. 

Effectual, the, 934. . 

For all men, 91 1. 

Hieroglyphic of, 294. 

Ignorance in, 861. 

In the closet, 660. 

Offered to saints, 914. 

To be seen of men, 661. 

Without ceasing, 765, 905. 
Preaching of Christ, 865. 
Precipice of Nazareth, 754. 
Predictions fulfilled, 219, 227. 
Preparation for man's advent, 37. 
Presents, essential, 99, 258. 

The giving of, 862. 
Pretonum, description of, 747. 
Pride hateful, 440, 443. 
Priesthood, Christians an holy, 936. 
Priests, blemishes in, 192. 

Duty of, 642. 

Egyptian, reverenced, 642. 

Heathen, self-laceration of, 307. 

Land of, 116. 

Robes of, 176. 
Princes, young, associates of, 300. 
Prison, the inner, 809. 
Prisoners, sent to Rome, 836. 

Led by rings and ropes, 330, 333. 
Prize, how bestowed, 872. 

Pressing for the, 896. 
Prodigal, reception of, 764. 
Prcetus, daughters of, 568. 
■ Promise of Ahasuerus to Esther, 682. 

Of Herod to Herod ias' daughter, 682. 

Of Xerxes to Artaynta, 682. 
Prophecy, marvelous fulfilment of, 476. 
Prophet, where without honor, 681. 
Prophetic paradox, 544. 
61 



Prophets, false, 314. 
Proselyting, done by Jews, 706. 
Prosperity, breeding corruption, 354. 

Destruction of fools, 438. 

Secures praise, 407. 
Protection, Divine, 413. 
Proud and humble, 933. 
Providence, proof of, 402. 
Provisions, daily, for courts, 287. 
Psalms and hymns, 892, 901. 
Pthah, worshipped as a frog, 139, 
Ptolemais, situation and trade of, 827. 
Ptolemy, dissoluteness of, 599. 
Ptolemy Philopator, conquers Antiochus Mag- 
nus, 599. 

The kingdom of, 588, 597. 
Publicans, exactions of, 753. 

Their standing, 671. 
Publius, governor of Melita, 845. 
Purana, Vishnu, 49. 
Pure, the, in heart, 656. 
Purification after childbirth, 187. 
Purim, feast of, 364. 
Purity of hands and heart, 404. 
Puteoli, description of, 847. 
Pythagoras, a maxim of, 864. 
Pythias and Damon, friendship of, 859 
Pythoness, account of, 808. 

Q- 

Quadrupeds, tropical, in "Britain, 59. 

Quails, numbers and migrations of, 159, 196. 

Quaternary, deluges of the, 60, 61. 

Quaternion, of what composed, 798. 

Queen Amytis and the hanging gardens, 564. 

Of heaven, bas-relief of, 523. 

Of heaven, incense offered to, 523. 

Of heaven, worshipped in China, 523. 

Of Sheba, 294. 
Questions, hard, 294. 
Quickening the Spiritual dead, 889. - 
Quicksands, in the Levant, 841. 

R. 

Rabbah, predicted ruin of, 529, 530. 
Rabbis' views of the Sabbath, 676. 
Raca, import of the word, 657. 
Race, how run, 871, 896. 
Races, human, from one origki, 70. 
Rachel, images of, 103. 

Tomb of, 105. 
Rafts of timber, 289. 



996 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Rain, at the Deluge, 61. 

Cold, 349. 

Early and latter, 934. 

Formation- and fall of, 21, 370, 378, 
384- 

Given or withheld, 614. 
Ram, a symbol of Persian power, 584. 

And hegoat, vision of, 583. 
aphia, battle of, 599. 
Raptor es among the birds, 187. 
Ras Sufsafeh, 161. 
Ravenna, exarchate of, 581. 
Real Estate, purchase of, 520. 
Reaping what has been sowed, 885. 
Reason given to man only, 381. 
Rebekah, 100. 

Redi Francesco, experiments of, 24, 
Red Sea, tongue of, destroyed, 470. 

Tradition of, 155. 

Where crossed, J 54* 
Refuge, cities of, 204. 
Rehoboam, picture of, 342. 
Relatives, persecuting one another, 673. 
Relics, veneration for, 913. 
Religion, influence of, on life, 915. 

Influence on character, 915. 

Influence on nations, 915. 

Limits to, 457. 

Roman Laws concerning, 808. 
Repetitions, vain, 661. 
Rephidim, battle of, 160. 
Reputation, a good, 438. 
Reproof, duty of, 19 1. 
Reservoirs, natural, 422. 
Resignation, 282. 
Rest, seventh day's, 43, 44. 
Restriction, natural effects of, 860. 
Resurrection of the body, 877, 878. 

Denied by Sadducees, 703. 

Intimation of, 484. 
Retaliation forbidden, 905. 

Greek and Roman Laws of, 659. 

Hebrew law of, 169. 
Retribution, 437. 

Upon the Jews, 500. 
Reuben, predictions concerning, 1 17. 
Revelation, book of, 950. 
Revenge forbidden, 191,863. 
Reverence in approaching God, 456. 
Revolts from Assyria, 631. 
Rhea, golden statue of, 562. 
Rhegium and Puteoli, 846. 



Rhinocolura, name of, 547. 
Rich, luxuries of the, 380. 

Tokens of honor to, 380. 
Riches, come of God, 339. 

Cannot redeem, 407. 

Danger of, 695. 

Gathered for others, 457. 

Must be left behind, 457. 
Riddles, 249. 

Right, natural sense of, 857. 
Righteousness, exalting, 442. 
Rimmon, the rock, 253. 
Ring in captives' lips, 489. 

Signet, no. 
Rings, in general use, 203. 
Rivers, their origin and end, 454. 
Roads, Roman, 792. 
Robes, fine and costly, 509. 
Rocks, abode of bees, 228. 

Absorbing water, 422. 

Formed in the sea, 22. 

Formation of the first, 18. 
Rocky Mountains, position of, 24. 
Rod, Aaron's, budding, 199. 

Turning into a serpent, 136. 
Rods of Costi, 417. 
Roe, nature and habits of, 464. 
Rolls, house of the, 347. 
Roman Empire divided, 559, 579. 
Romans, alliances and intermarriages of, 559. 

Cruelty of the, 221, 558. 

Epistle to the, 849. 

Symbolized by iron, 558. 

Weakened by mixture, 559. 
Rome, church of, oppressor of the Jews, 225. 

Population of, 849. 

The Duchy of, 581. 
Ruins, Judea, a land of, 194. 
Rulers, civil, appointed of God, 864. 
Ruminants, the class, 184. 
Runners before chariots, 311. 



Sabbath, ancient testimony to, 43, 210. 

Rabbis' views of, 676. 

Ridiculed by heathen, 541. 

Seventh year, 193. 

Sabeans, riches of the, 297. 
Sacrifice, before battle, 259. 

Human, 318, 623. 
Sacrifices, how offered, 177. 

Of the wicked, 442. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



997 



Sacrifices, when ceased to be significant, 594. 

What animals offered in, 183. 
Sacrilege of the Jews, 643. 
Sadducees, origin of, 690. 

Deny the resurrection, 703. 
Saints, persecuted and wasted, 583. 
Salcah, without an inhabitant, 527. 
Salt, emblematic of, what, 656. 

Losing its saltness, 656. 

Valley of, 324. 
Salt Sea, analysis of, 85. 

Desolate region of, 93. 
Salutation in the East, 672. 
Salutations, oriental, 253. 

Tedious, 757. 
Samaria, judgment of, 621. 

Magnificence of its ruins, 621. 

Taken by the Assyrians, 328. 
Samothracia, situation of, 807. 
Samson, exploits of, 248. 
Sand drifting over Ascalon, 633. 
Sandals, the bearer of, 651. 
Saphet, conspicuous, 657. 
Sarah, burial of, 94. 
Saracus, self-destruction of, 628. 
Sardis, history and fate of, 957. 
Sargon, inscription of, 131. 

Cylindar of, 479, 480. 
Satraps over conquered provinces, 572. 
Saul, or Paul, place of his conversion, 793. 
Saulmaginda, cast into a furnace, 563. 
Savor of life or death, 879. 
Scape-goat, how marked, 189. 
Scarabasus, no, 140, 141. 
Sceptre, the golden, 362. 
Science, harmony of, with Bible, 4, 31, 34. 

Falsely so-called, 918. 
Scoffers, the early, 940. 
Scopus, defeated by Antiochus, 600. 
Scorpions, abound in Palestine, 758. 
Scourging before crucifixion, 734. 

Examination by, 830. 
Scribes, teaching of, 665. 

Position and duty of, 705. 
Scrofula, produced by pork, 188. 
Sculpture on Mars Hill, 819. 

Scythians, self-mutilation of, 191. 
Sea, animals first in, 31. 

The molten, 341. 

The Salt, analysis of, 85. 

Desolation of, 93. 

Of Galilee, abounding in fish, 653. 



Seal of love, 463. 

Seals, impressions of, 1 10, 354. 

Use of, 573. 
Seat, the highest, 358, 705, 762. 
Sebaste, great ruins of, 621. 
Seed, returns from the, 677. 
Seir, Mount, 104. 
Seleucia, site and remains of, 801. 
Seleucus, kingdom of, 588. 
Seleucus Nicator, a powerful ruler, 597. 
Seleucus Philopator, a raiser of taxes, 601. 
Self-deception, 885. 
Self-denial, difficulty of, 691. 
Self-examination, 882. 
Self-government, 443, 444. 
Senate, Roman, decree infants' death, 649. 
Sennacherib, assassination of, 330. 

Before Lachish, 342. 

Besieging Jerusalem, 485. 

Cruelty of, 628. 

Destruction of his army, 330. 

Hezekiah's tribute to, 329. 

Invasion of Judea by, 329, 488. 
Senses, limits of the, 318. 
Sepulchres, whited, 707. 
Sergeants, office of, 810. 
Sergius Paulus, deputy of Cyprus, 802. 
Sermon on the Mount, 655. 
Serpent, represented on monuments, 50. 

Rod turned into a, 136. 

Subtilty of, 48. 
Serpents, charmed, 409. 

Fiery, 201, 215,488. 

In walls, 614. 

Sagacity of, 48. 
Servants, duty of, 893. 
Seven churches of Asia, 954. 
Seventy Weeks, the, 591. 
Shade of vine and fig-tree, 287. 
Shadow, watching the, 372. 
Shalom, the salutation, 672. 
Shark, size of, vast, 618. 

Swallowing men, 618. 
Shaving practised in Egypt, 109. 
Sheba, queen of, 294. 
Sheep and goats separated, 729. 

Know the shepherd's voice, 783. 

Names given to, 782. 

The lost, an ancient emblem, 763. 
Shells, marine, on mountain tops, 22. 
Shepherd, an abomination to Egyptians, 1 15. 

Carrying the lambs, 491. 



998 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Shepherd, life of a, 104. 

The smitten, 641. 
Shield, inventors of the, 524. 
Shields, Assyrian, painted red, 627, 
Shipping, Chaldean, 494. 
Shipwreck, place of Paul's, 843, 844. 
Shishak, record of, 300, 303. 

Invasion of Judea by, 341. 
Shoes, putting off of the, 132. 
Showers, formation of, 378, 384. 

Signs of coming, 760. 
Shrines of Diana, 822. 
Shur, wilderness of, 156. 
Shusan, description of, 356, 

Palace of, 356. 
Sibmah, the vine of, 529. 
Sick, the, brought to Jesus, 655. 
Sidon, destroyed by Ochus, 612. 

Situation of, 837. 
Sidonians, artistic skill of, 289. 
Siege of Jerusalem, 222. 

Of Babylon, 498. 
Sieges, extremities in, 319, 498. 
Signal of war, 323. 
Signals, a system of, 510. 
Signet, royal, 361. 
Signs, the four sacred, 626. 
Siloam, the pool of, 782. 
Silos, description of, 522. 
Simeon, predictions concerning, 118. 
Simoon, prediction concerning, 118, 219. 
Sin, wilderness of, 159. 
Sin, bondage of, 781. 

Dead unto, 859. 

Inward conflict with, 860. 

Servants of, 859. 
Sinai, survey of, 6. 
Sinners, all men are, 457, 946. 
Sirius, the star, 435. 
Sirocco, description of, 219. 
Sister, marriage with, 190. 
Sitting at meals, 114. 
Slavery in Egypt, 116. 
Slaves, boring the ears of, 169. 
Slime for mortar, 77. 

Pits of Siddim, 86. 
Slingers, accuracy of, 252, 266. 
Sluggard, field of the, 445. 

Sent to the ant, 439. 
Smyrna, site and history of, 955. 
Snails, melting away, 409. 
Snow, beauty of, 391. 



Snow, in Lebanon, 516. 

Time of, 284. 
Sobacco, rule of, over Egypt, 328. 
Socrates, teachings of, 662. 
Sodom, destruction of, 92. 
Solar System, changes in, 427. 

Stability ot, 426. 
Soldier, the true, 919. 
Sons, numerous, 323. 
Soul, the, beyond price, 691. 

Cannot be killed, 673. 
Souls, all, are God's, 545. 
Soundings on the coast of Malta, 843. 
Sparrow and swallow, 411. 
Sparrows, objects of providence, 673. 
Species, number of animal, 424. 

Continue unchanged, 33, 35. 
Spectacles, apostles made, 869. 
Speech, organs of, 133. 

Seasoned, 901. 
Spider, cunning and industry of, 450. 
Spies, courage of, 245. 
Spinning and weaving, 452. 
Spirit, return of, to God, 460. 

Wounded, 444. 
Springs of water, 422. 
Stability, necessity of, 890. 
Staff of office broken, 640. 

For divination, 607. 
Stars differ in glory, 877. 

Distances of, 377, 435. 

Dimensions of, 436. 

Double, triple, etc., 436. 

Lost, 943, 944. 

Number of, 436, 492. 

Observation of, at Babylon, 544. 
Stater, value and circulation of, 693. 
Stature, kingly, 257. 

Men of great, 263. 
Steadfastness in the faith, 916, 930. 
Steel, a sharpening, 446. 
Sternness, parental, 261. 
Stocks, in prisons, 809. 
Stoics and Epicureans, 815. 
Stone, crying out, 180. 

The white, 956. 

Writing on, 180. 
Stones, precious, cut and graven, 180. 

Very large, 289, 290, 292. 
Storehouses, Egyptian, 113. 
Stork, appearance of, on the wing, 639. 

migration of, 51 1. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Storms in the Houran, 366. 
Strait, between life and death, 895. 
Stranger, kindness to the, 1 70. 
Strategy in war, 321. 
Straw, for brick, 135. 
Street, the, called Straight, 794. 
Strife, to be avoided, 919. 
Stripes, number of, 217. 
Strychnos Potatorum, 157. 
Succession, eternal, untenable, 14. 
Sucking-fish, adhesion of, 551. 
Sun, dimensions, light, heat of, 28. 
Horses of the, 335. 
Magnetism of, 29. 
Orbit of, 403. 
Spots of, 29. 
Stroke of, 428. 
Sun and moon darkened, 725. 
Sun of Righteousness, 644. 
Sunbeam, a compound, 29. 
Sunstroke, 428. 

Superiors, honor yielded to, 281, 
Supper, the Lord's, 730. 
Survey of Palestine, 6. 

Of Sinai, 6. 
Susa, enriched by Alexander, 583. 
Palace of, 349. 
Situation of, 583. 
Sword, falling upon, 275. 

Turning every way, 50. 
Swine, unclean and unwholesome, 1 84. 
Swearing, evil of, 658. 

By earth or heaven, 659. 
By the head, 659. 
By the temple or altar, 706. 
Sycamore, fruit of, 614. 
At Jericho, 766. 
Symbol of peace, 406. 
Sympathy from experience, 926, 929* 

Mutual, 863. 
Syracuse, situation of, 846. 
Syria, picture of, 324. 
Syro-Phenicians, the, 688. 
System, Solar, work of Intelligence, 28. 
Syrtes, location of, 841. 



Taanach, site of, 237. 
Tabernacle, construction of, 172. 
Tabernacles, Feast of, 193. 
Tables, used in Egypt, 114. 
TabletSj astronomical, 43. 



Tablets, cut of fractured, 67. 

Library of, 6. 

Of creation, 40, 43, 50, 79. 
Tabor and Hermon, 412. 
Tadmor, present condition of, 341. 
Talents, differing, 862. 

Employed for masters, 728. 
Taninim, 32, 34. 
Tanner, house of the, 796. 
Tares, resembling wheat, 678. 

Separated from the wheat, 679. 
Tarshish, a colony of Tyre, 482, 617. 
Tarsus, in Cilicia, 794, 830. 
Taxation, decree for, 749. 
Teacher, the incomparable, 780. 
Teachers should be doers, 858. 
Teaching of Christ and of the scribes, 665. 
Tears treasured up, 408. 
Tekoa, site of, 282. 

Tempests on the Sea of Galilee, 668, 686. 
Temple, at Babylon, 291. 

Of Diana, at Ephesus, 823. 

Of Jupiter Belus, 472. 

Of the Jews in Egypt, 648. 
Temple at Jerusalem, building of, 288, 

Abominations planted in, 589, 594. 

Burning of, 522. 

Cleansing of, 590. 

Defiled by Antiochus, 589. 

Final destruction of, 709. 

Gentiles excluded from, 828. 

Magnificence of, 710. 

Precious ornaments of, 340. 

Time of its erection, 290, 291. 

Time occupied in its construction f 76. 

Tribute for, 692. 

Trouble in rebuilding, 593. 

Two pillars of, 293. 

Swearing by, 706. 
Temples of Nineveh, 625. 
Temptation, way to escape, 873. 
Temptations, whence, 931. 
Teraphim, or household gods, 103. 
Termes, their ravages, 662. 
Testimonies, general historical, 345. 
Thar, or law of blood, 204. 
Theft, law against, 211. 
Theodoric affrighted by conscience, 68l. 
Thessalonians, First Epistle to, 902. 

Second Epistle to, 905. 
Thessalonica, a centre of commerce, 903. 
• Thigh, smiting upon the, 519, 545. 



1000 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Thirst, under crucifixion, 786. 
Thomas, how convinced, 788. 
Thothmes III., fears the Hebrews, 128. 
Threshing-floor, 254. 
Thrones, Assyrian and Egyptian, 298. 
Thumbs and toes, cut off, 238. 
Thyatira, a seat of dyers, 808. 

Site and fate of, 956. 
Tiberias, ancient and modern, 779. 
Tiberius, misery of, 691. 
Tiglath-Pileser, capture of Damascus, 326, 327. 

Hunting, 74, 75. 

Inscription of, 325, 326. 
Tigrannes, flight of his army, 320. 
Tiles, as writing-tables, 544. 
Time to be redeemed, 891. 
Timothy, First Epistle to, 910. 

Second Epistle to, 918. 
Tirhakah, mention of, 330. 
Titus, Epistle to, 921. 

Vespasian, arch of, 714. 
Toes, great, cut off, 238. 
Tomb of Aaron, 200. 

Of Daniel, 584. 

Of Darius, 348, 349. 
Tombs, dwellings of demoniacs, 669, 670. 

Egyptian, pictures in, 113. 

Incense in, 178. 

Of the prophets, 707. 
To-morrow uncertain, 446. 
Tongue, the evil, 434. 

Untamable, 932. 

World of iniquity, 931. 
Tongues, confusion of, 75. 
Trades, beginning of, 53. 
Tradesman, the deceitful, 623. 
Transmutation, Agassiz on, 35. 
Travellers, numerous discoveries by, 8. 
Treachery, 279. 
Treasures, buried, 680. 

Earthly, insecure, 662. 

Hidden in fields, 522. 
Tree, of life, 53. 

Of good and evil, 48. 
Trees known by their fruit, 665. 
Trial, civil, time of, 832. 

Often delayed, 848. 
Tribute, the Temple, 692. 

To Caesar, the question of, 701. 
Triumphs, Greek and Roman, 879. 
Troglodites, 104. 
Trouble, fleeing from, 403. 



Trouble, heirs of, 368. 

Truth, emblem of, 175. 

Truths, great, established by science, 3. 

Tullianum, the prison, 809. 

Turtle dove, 410, 512. 

Tyrants, policy of, 129. 

Tyre, arts of, 340. 

Antiquity of, 482. 

Besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, 481, 483, 

548. 
Besieged by Alexander, 549. 
Christianity established in, 484. 
Dust of, cast into the sea, 549, 550. 
Forgotten seventy years, 483. 
Harbor of, destroyed, 481. 
Hardships of her besiegers, 552. 
Inhabitants of, sold for slaves, 61 1. 
Made a place for drying nets, 549, 550. 
Present condition of, 549. 
Riches of, 639. 
Walls of, 548. 

Wealth of her churches, 484. 
Tyrians escaping with their treasures, 482. 

u. 

Uncircumcision, practised, 870. 
Uncleanness from the dead, 199. 
Undergirding of ships, 841. 
Unguents, use and value of, 730, 757. 
Unity of the human race, 70, 818, 862, 874. 
Universe, vastness of, 492. 

Waxing old, 421. 
Unknown God, the, 817. 
Unwashed hands, 686. 
Urim and Thummim, 175. 

y. 

Valerian trampled upon, 237. 
Vashti, feast of, 358. 
Vegetation, variety of, 26. 
Vengeance visited on the Jews, 708. 
Ventriloquists, ancient, 808. 
Vermilion, figures painted in, 546. 
Veronica and her statue, 743. 
Vertebrata, introduction of, 32. 
Vices of the great, 286. 
Victims, hand laid upon, 183. 

Defective and unworthy, 642. 
Vinegar mingled with gall, 736. 
Vineyards, laborers hired for, 696. 

Let on shares, 699. 

Walls and towers of, 699. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



1001 



Vineyards, winepress in, 699. 
Vipers, Italian and African, 845. 
Virgil, prophetic verses of, 646. 
Virgin, shall bear a son, 469. 
Virtue ensures peace, 438. 

And Vice, have no fellowship, 88l. 
Vishnu, warning of Deluge, 57. 
Visits, rare, best, 445. 
Vow of Jephthah, 247. 
Vows, remaining unpaid, 456. 
Voyage from Caesarea to Melita, 836-844. 

Corinth to Ephesus, 821. 

Melita to Puteoli, 846, 847. 

Miletus to Patara, 827. 

Patara to Tyre, 827. 

w. 

Wady-Sheikh, plain of, 160. 
Wagons, Egyptian, 115. 
Wailing, the Jews' place of, 709. 
Wall, cast around Jerusalem, 767. 

Of fire, 638. 
Walls, covered with pictures, 544, 546. 
War implements used for fuel, 554. 
Wars, whence they come, 932. 

And rumors of wars, 715. 
Washing of hands, 688. 
Washings cannot remove guilt, 508. 

Connected with worship, 177. 
Water above the firmament, 21. 

Carried, how, 98. 

Drawing of, 98. 

Holy, 184. 

Spouts, nature of, 405. 

The, first inhabited, 31. 
Waves, type of misfortunes, 405. 
Wealth, pastoral, 337, 365. 
Weather, indications of the, 690. 
Weaving, done by women, 452. 
Weights, false, 2 1 8. 
Welcome, Oriental, 99. 
Wells of Beersheba, 93, 102. 

Closed and opened, 641. 
Whales, the first breathing animals, 32. 
Wheat, Egyptian, no. 

And Tares, separated, 679. 
Whirlwinds in Babylonia, 480. 
Wicked, bad influence of, 443. 
Have no peace, 507. 
Prosperity of, 410. 
To be avoided, 439. 



Wicked, unhappy, 465. 
Wife, a good, 452. 

Best or worst gift, 444. 
Seeking for a, 97, 99. 
True ornament of a, 937. 
Turn with husband, 358. 
Wilderness, multitude fed in, 685, 688. 

Of Sinai, its vegetation, 153. 
Will, the Divine, omnipotent, 666. 
Wind, circuits of, 453. 

Bloweth where it listeth, 776. 
Directions of, in the Levant, 837, 839, 
East, in Egypt, no. 
The adverse, 686. 
The east, 407. 
Windows, houses without, 763. 
Wine and oil, 422. 

Evils of drinking, 445. 
Noah drinking, 71. 
Rules in drinking, 357. 
Spiced, used in the East, 463. 
Wine-press, shout of the, 518. 
Wings, symbols of swiftness, 575. 
Wisdom better than gold, 438, 459. 
Prayed for, 286. 
Hidden, 866. 
Wise, folly and idolatry of, 854. 
Witch of Endor, 274. 
Witnesses, cloud of, 10. 
False, 211, 216. 
For Christ, 774. 
Hired, 313. 
Wives, marital turn of, 358. 

Numbers of, 299. 
Wolf, still in Palestine, 509. 
Woman, death by the hand of a, 247. 
Elevated by the Gospel, 695. 
The strange, 439, 440. 
Taken from man, 47. 
Women, Egyptian, fecundity of, 128. 
In public assemblies, 689. 
Liberty of, in Egypt, 107. 
Wood of Ephraim, 282. 
Works of God, glorious, 402. 
World, right use of the, 870. 
Worms, men eaten of, 800, 801. 
Worship, delight in, 412. 

With reverence, 456. 
Writing on rocks and stones, 180. 

On the wall, 569. 
Wrong, better suffer, than inflict, 869. 



1002 



GENERAL INDEX. 



X 

Xenophon, his description of Arabia, 393. 
Xerxes, character of, 355. 

Abundant riches of, 595. 

Attended by scribes, 363. 

Dream of, 556. 

Vast army of, 595. 
Xisuthrus, building an ark, 56. 

Sending forth birds, 63, 



Zebulun, prediction concerning, 119. 
Zechariah, date of prophecy, 638. 
Zedekiah, eyes put out, 336, 522. 
Zephaniah, date of ministry, 633. 
Zidon, merchants of, 482. 
Zion, foundations of, exposed, 278. 

Ploughed as a field, 518, 622, 714, 
Zoan, the ruins of, 197. 



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